From the beginning of creation
Published Feb 25, 2022 12:05 am
REFLECTIONS TODAY
The Pharisees approach Jesus to ask if divorce should be allowed, but touching only on the rights of a man to divorce his wife. In a manner of rabbinic debate, Jesus asks them about the command of Moses (the Torah). They reply that according to Moses, it is lawful for a man to write a certificate or bill of divorce, and in this way he can put his wife away from his home (Dt 24:1-4). Jesus concedes that Moses allowed the man to dismiss his wife but this was not God’s original plan for women and men. It was Moses’ concession because of the hardness of heart of Israel and it has crept into the Torah. God’s original plan is to be seen in his action “in the beginning”—joining man and woman into one flesh. The Mosaic concession to men who were unable to live according to the will of God is provisional. Jesus, who restores God’s original created order, says that there should be no divorce.
Gospel • Mk 10:1-12
Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But 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 one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” In the house the disciples again questioned him about this. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
The Pharisees approach Jesus to ask if divorce should be allowed, but touching only on the rights of a man to divorce his wife. In a manner of rabbinic debate, Jesus asks them about the command of Moses (the Torah). They reply that according to Moses, it is lawful for a man to write a certificate or bill of divorce, and in this way he can put his wife away from his home (Dt 24:1-4). Jesus concedes that Moses allowed the man to dismiss his wife but this was not God’s original plan for women and men. It was Moses’ concession because of the hardness of heart of Israel and it has crept into the Torah. God’s original plan is to be seen in his action “in the beginning”—joining man and woman into one flesh. The Mosaic concession to men who were unable to live according to the will of God is provisional. Jesus, who restores God’s original created order, says that there should be no divorce.
Gospel • Mk 10:1-12
Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But 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 one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” In the house the disciples again questioned him about this. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.