Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 13th August
Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 13th August 2021
Of all peoples in the ancient world, the Israelites, who had received the Ten Commandments from God through Moses, probably had the strictest moral and ethical code, much of which was adopted by the early Church. In fact, Jesus told his disciples that he had not come to abolish the Law, but to perfect and fulfil it. Nevertheless, we read in the Gospel how Jesus frequently interpreted the Law differently to the scribes and Pharisees. Rather than the observing of ritualistic details, he went to the heart of the Law, love of God and love of neighbour. Today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, (Mt 19: 3-12), deals with marriage and divorce, not an easy subject then and not an easy subject now. It’s important to remind ourselves that a divorce is not the same as an annulment. The former is granted by the state, while the latter is given by the Church, if it can be proved that the marriage is invalid and had never really existed in the eyes of the Church for a number of reasons.
If we read the Gospel passage, we see immediately that the Pharisees questioned Jesus to test him, to trick him into making a wrong statement concerning the Law. They were not really interested in what he had to say. “Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and to test him they said, ‘Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’” Jesus takes the strict Jewish line, but giving it a human face, emphasising the unity between husband and wife, that the two become one as they have been united by God. We cannot untie a bond that has been created and blessed by God. Then the Pharisees ask more specifically about divorce. “They said to him, ‘Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce?’ ‘It was because you were so unteachable’ he said ‘that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife – I am not speaking of fornication – and marries another, is guilty of adultery.’” Jesus’ position is that Moses relaxed the Law because the Jews were unteachable and that it had not been ordained like this by God from the beginning. Jesus does not look kindly on divorce, unless it be for a very serious cause, that of infidelity. Jesus not only wants to protect the indissolubility of marriage, but also the rights of women in marriage. People often complain about Canon Law, for example, but it exists to protect the rights of individuals and to help us in difficult situations, following the Law of Christ and the teaching of the Gospel.
The disciples react and are confused. They say to Jesus, “If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry.” A rather odd statement, considering the fact that some of them, Peter included, were married. Jesus replies, “It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are eunuchs born that way from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.” There are a number of ways of understanding what Jesus says. How can we interpret it for ourselves? Perhaps in this way, that marriage is a vocation, not to be entered into lightly, but with prayer and discernment. God does not want us to be unhappy or unfulfilled. In all marriages, there should be three people, the third person being God, who sanctifies and make husbands and wives holy. Lord, bless all married people, bless those preparing for marriage and bless those who are widowed. Amen.
