The Gospel Reading for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Mark 10:2-16, comes with two themes: the Sacrament of Matrimony and children. And these are mutually relevant, as children are idealistically brought to existence in the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. Furthermore, for children’s optimal developmental benefits, the presence of parents in steady matrimony is necessary.
In the first part of the Gospel Reading (Mark
10:2-12, the shorter version for the Gospel Reading), Jesus teaches clearly
against divorce, in response to a question from the Pharisee, whether it is
lawful for a man to divorce his wife.
Because the way it is written in the Law about
divorce can make it “legal” for a man to divorce his wife. However, as Jesus
makes it clear, what is made “legal” is not always necessarily right. And a
case of divorce is certainly so. To make his point, Jesus goes back to God’s
intent about marriage. Jesus takes us to be very basics. So, he has said:
From
the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man
shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall
become on flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God
has joined together, no human being must separate
(Mark 10:6-9).
Basically, Jesus bases his point in defending
marriage against divorce on what we read in the First Reading (Genesis 2:18-24),
recalling why God the Creator made both male and female when created humans. It
is to unite them as one flesh (Genesis 2:24), and Jesus tells that this
one-flesh union between a man and a woman – between husband and wife – is
inseparable. As said in a wedding vow, “Till
death do us part”, a man and a woman in matrimonial union are inseparable
until death of a spouse. There is nothing else that can separate husband and
wife who are enjoined in sacramental union of matrimony by God.
So, in regard to those who defy matrimonial union in
God’s will rooted in Genesis 2:18-24, Jesus said sternly:
Whoever divorces his wife and
marries another commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and
marries another, she commits adultery (Mark 10:11-12).
Jesus would have said this to Henry VIII, in 1530, when he decided to divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for Anne Boleyn. Then, Henry would say to Jesus, as the Pharisees did (Mark 10:2, 4), “As I find her not good any more, isn’t it legal for me to divorce Catherine, according to Deuteronomy 24:1-5?”
In 1530, king of England, Henry VIII, sought Pope Clement VII’s permission for him to divorce from Catherine, in order to marry Anne Boleyn, whom he found more attractive than Catherine. But Pope rejected Henry’s request for his permission and even warned Henry in his bull that he would be excommunicated if he chose to divorce.
Alas, Church leaders at that time all sided with Henry VIII and supported his divorce from Catherine. But, John Fisher and Thomas More opposed the divorce, defending marriage against divorce at the expenses of their lives. Henry VIII executed them for standing against his vice, while all other leaders gave in. So, we venerate them as St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More.
Henry VIII followed his own selfish desire and divorced from Catherine and married to Anne in May 1533. And, he also “divorced” himself from the Catholic Church and established his own church to suit for himself in 1534. And those leaders who failed to stand with Jesus’ teaching for fear of being executed also became the founding members of Henry VIII’s church, “legitimizing” his divorce, as Thomas Crammer called it “annulment”. St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More stood with Jesus, defending marriage against divorce – siding Pope Clement VII.
The church that Henry VIII established legitimized his divorce. So, Thomas Crammer, as archbishop of Henry VIII’s church, legitimized the king’s divorce as “annulment”, as Moses had to permit divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-5) because of the hardened heart of the Israelites (Mark 10:5).
In 1536, the successor of Pope Clement VII, Pope Paul III, excommunicated Henry VIII. According to Jesus (Mark 10:11-12), Henry VIII committed adultery, and this grave sin merit his excommunication.
In the second part of the Gospel Reading (Mark 10:13-16), Jesus defends children for them to come to him and to be touched by him, against his disciples’ attempt to prevent them.
Jesus values children even though society of his time belittled them. And the disciples’ action in trying to keep children from Jesus reflects the society’s rather negative view on children.
Remember, Jesus has placed a child among the twelve disciples, putting his hand on the child, and said:
Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me (Mark 9:37).
Jesus has said this to teach the disciples on the virtue of humility for being good servants to let them become able to care for those who are regarded as unimportant, like children. And he indicated that receiving little ones to care for means to do the same to Jesus.
So, Jesus received children as they come and said:
Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it (Mark 10:14-15).
Carrying the theme of humility on, Jesus uses children as a metaphor for this important virtue necessary to enter and inherit the Kingdom of God.
And children are gift from God, idealistically coming through the sacramental union of husband and wife, as marriage is oriented for procreation, for matrimonial union is rooted in the Creation, as Jesus has reminded, in his defense of marriage against divorce (Mark 10:6-9; cf. Genesis 2:18-24).
In the Gospel Reading (Mark 10:2-16) to celebrate the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, on Cycle B, Jesus defends marriage against divorce and children against belittlement, as it is God’s desire for a man and a woman come together to God to be consecrated into the sacramental union as one flesh for procreation. And this blessing of God on marriage with children began with God’s covenant with Abraham, which means “exalted father of many children” (Genesis 15:1-6) and incorporated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2366-2379. Therefore, nobody can make an offense against marriage and its fecundity in procreation and children.
In the Second Reading (Hebrews 2:9-11), we see all lives, including us, have been created by God through and for Christ. And he himself is a child, the Son, coming to us incarnated in the human flesh, to go through human humiliation and even to experience death, so that we, as God’s children, brothers and sisters of the Son, to make our salvation perfect, as we are consecrated by him as we consecrate him.
Given marriage’s root in God’s Creation (Mark 10:6-9; cf. Genesis 2:18-24) and its orientation for procreation, marriage is related to Christ and his defense of marriage and children. And both marriage and children are to be blessed and consecrated by God through Jesus.
Also, let us remember that Jesus’ first sign was made to defend marriage from embarrassment (John 2:1-11).
Unless a man and a woman created by God in the image of the triune God (Genesis 1:26-27), became one flesh in their matrimonial union as in God’s will (Genesis 2:24), we might not have existed as children of God. And because Christ came in the human flesh of Jesus to have suffered and died in humiliation, we may enjoy the perfect salvation (Hebrews 2:9-11) to be in matrimonial union with Christ (Revelation 19:6-9).
So, we sing as a refrain from the Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6) in praising the fruitfulness of God’s Creation work:
May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
As, we, the children of God, are in this fruitfulness of God’s Creation. So, men and women are brought to matrimonial unions to multiply for further blessings. And Jesus defend it all.
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