Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Genesis 2: 18-24
Second Reading: Hebrews 2: 9-11
Gospel: Matthew 10: 2-16
On the Indissolubility of marriage
In today’s Gospel, we are told that some Pharisees came to test Jesus. They asked Him, “is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife?” The Torah makes it clear that divorce was permissible. Deuteronomy 24: 1, permits a man who enters into marriage with a woman to write a certificate of divorce and put into the woman’s hand and send her out of his house if she displeases him because he finds something objectionable about her. Divorce was taken for granted during the time of Christ. It was not a contentious issue. What was a contention is the ground for divorce.
In what way then are the Pharisees testing Jesus? The Pharisees, having listened to Jesus preach the message of love and forgiveness, knew beforehand what position He will take on divorce. The truth is that whether we accept it or not, divorce is rooted on two vices; hate or absence of love and unforgiveness. The Pharisees were very strict in their interpretation of the Torah and want to discredit Jesus by provoking Him to contradict publicly and openly what is clearly stated in the Torah.
Remember what happened in Mark chapter 6. There we read about the fate of John the Baptist. He confronted Herod Antipas for marrying his brother’s wife. Herod Antipas is the son of Herod the Great. After the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, the Romans divided his kingdom into four. They assumed total control of Judea and Pontius Pilate was the governor. Herod Antipas is the Tetrarch of Galilee. A tetrarch is a governor of a quarter of a territory in the ancient Roman empire. His brother Philp tetrarch of Trachonitis. He married Herodias and they had a daughter called Salome. Once, when Herod Antipas was visiting the residence of Philip, Herodias became interested in him and she agreed to leave Philip and marry him. John the Baptist confronted Herod telling him, “it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” On the occasion of his birthday, Herod gave a banquet for his courtiers, officers and leaders of Galilee. Salome the daughter of Herodias danced and so pleased the king Herod that he swore an oath to give her whatever she asks for. Salome consulted her mother on what to ask. And Herodias who was still furious with John the Baptist for denouncing her marriage with Herod Antipas told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter and so John was beheaded.
The Pharisees who are questioning Jesus about divorce no doubt had this episode in mind. The Pharisees had hoped that provoking Jesus to say publicly that divorce is unlawful, they will put him against Herod and Herodias and make Him suffer the same fate like John the Baptist.
If you read this episode in Matthew’s account of the Gospel (Matthew 19: 3), you will find that it is slightly different. It says, “is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” Notice Matthew’s addition of “for any cause.” Matthew’s version is an invitation to take a side in the controversy between the disciples of Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai about what was the acceptable grounds for divorce. The disciples of Shammai gave a strict interpretation of Deuteronomy 24: 1 which permits a man to send a woman away if she does not please him. They say, “unless the wife was guilty of adultery, there could be no divorce.” The disciples of Hillel gave a very liberal interpretation of how a wife might displease her husband. It included spoiling a dish of food, if she spoke to a strange man or even spoke disrespectfully to her husband’s relatives to his hearing. Human nature being what it is, the more liberal view prevailed. The result was that divorce for the most trivial reason or no reason at all was tragically common.
Even if this controversy was behind the question, Jesus does not take sides in the debate rather, He asked them, what Moses commanded. They responded, Moses commanded us to give a writ of dismissal and so divorce. Jesus replied that it was not the original plan of God but only a concession because of their hardness of heart. Jesus reinstates the original plan of the creator in which marriage means an indivisible union of mutual companionship as set forth in the Book of Genesis.
In the first reading from the Book of Genesis, when God created man, he was all by himself and had no helper suited for him. The Lord formed all the animals and made them pass before him to name them. Non was suited to the man. God made him fall into a deep sleep, while he was asleep, God took out one of his ribs and used it to form the woman. When Adam saw the woman, he was so delighted and exclaimed, “this one at last is the bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” This is not an eye witness account but if Jesus quotes it, it is because He recognizes it for what it is, a theological reflection on the meaning of creation. Because a rib was taken from the man, he is no longer whole or complete. He can only find his completion again when he joins himself with his wife. They become one, no longer two.
The response of Jesus teaches us that marriage is a divine Institution rooted in the very order of creation itself. If God makes two persons into one by His power, that divine action cannot be undone by mere human will or action. Human beings do not have power to undo what God has joined together.
The second reading today from the Letter to the Hebrews, shows how Jesus who for “a little while” was made lower than the angels, helps us see how we are perfected through suffering. Married couples and parents bear a unique cross. In deed every vocation has its crosses. The example of Jesus inspires us to accept who we are and the cross that comes with it.
Happy Sunday
Rev. Fr. Chidi Onwuka MSSCC