Once again in Mark10:2-16, the Pharisees ask Jesus about divorce "to test" him and once again they misunderstand or misuse the scripture to justify their agenda. They hope their question will expose Jesus as dangerous to families, in light of his scandalous comments in prior encounters.
In typical fashion Jesus turns the table on the Pharisees away from their legal
foundation for divorce to God's design for marriage. Because of the hardness of
your hearts, he [Moses] wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of
creation, God made them [husband and wife] 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.
God is love. We are products of God’s love and handiwork, a small but unique
part of God’s great ongoing work of art. Love cannot be governed by temporal laws
of man any more than God can. We speak of marriage, a construct of civil law
that we attempt to apply to God’s law, as a contract. But is it?
I can remember studying what goes into the essential parts
of a valid contract in a Business Law course a long time ago. For a contract to
be valid there must be a valid offer and a valid acceptance of that offer;
there must be an agreed upon exchange, or a quid pro quo, that is “something
for something,” and the contract must detail specified “consideration,” a term
used to affix a value exchange, usually money or equitable services rendered.
“God established a creation, a covenant bond, with humanity, with Adam. Adam’s
name is not only the name of an individual, the founding father of the human
race, but it’s also the Hebrew word for humanity…The difference between
covenant and contract, in the Old Testament and throughout scripture, is
profound. Contractual relations usually exchange property, exchange goods and
services, whereas covenants exchange persons. So when people enter into a
covenant, they say, ‘I am yours and you are mine.’ So God uses the covenant to
enter into a relationship with those whom he created in his own image: humanity
and all human persons.” (Scott Hahn, Contract vs. Covenant, Outlook, February,
2002.)
So how do we apply a transactional agreement to love? We can’t. Love cannot be
governed by man. No human can break the love between two people; it’s not
theirs to break. Once again in our reading, Jesus refuses to be trapped by
either the Pharisees or his disciples as he challenges the rules of men with
the law of God. Each of the synoptic gospels cite some variation on Jesus’ take
on separation of Church and state with the famous quote Render to Caesar that
which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s. This phrase has profound
resonance throughout scripture and God’s law based on his love and covenant
with man. It has become widely quoted as a summary statement of the
relationship between Christianity and secular authority that goes far beyond
whether it was lawful for Jews to pay taxes to Caesar.
"We renew our faith in the word of the Lord which invites faithful
families to this openness. It invites all those who want to share the prophecy
of the covenant of man and woman, which generates life and reveals God!”(Pope
Francis, Openness, 9-27-15, Philadelphia)
"I leave you with this question, for each one of you to respond to. In my
home, do we yell, or do we speak with love and tenderness? This is a good way
to recognize our love.
(Pope Francis, Patience, 9-26-15, NYC)
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