reflections for the 27th sunday in ordinary time (b)

Time and again, the enemies of Jesus approached him to ask questions, not to get answers and benefit from his wisdom, nor for any spiritual or intellectual curiosity, but simply to trip him up. In this Sunday's Gospel episode they thought that they had the perfect formula to achieve this purpose. After all, it involved the Mosaic Law, with Moses himself approving divorce between husbands and wives. Jesus pointed out two things: 1) the total lack of biblical foundation of divorce - behind Moses' approval was the stubbornness of the Jews, and 2) the unassailable foundation upon which the union of man and woman is built. That foundation predates anything in written history as it goes back to the very dawn of creation, to the time, in fact, when woman was created. Above Moses was God who ordained that man and woman should be one, thus establishing the indissolubility of marriage. What God, indeed, has joined together, men must not divide.

The answer that Jesus gives reveals in a way his role as restorer. He restores the law into its original prestige - observed, respected, regarded with awe, because it is authored by God. And to complete what was lacking in the Mosaic Law, Jesus elevated the union of man and woman into a sacrament.

Because God is directly involved and reveals His face in that union, it falls upon us all to help preserve Christian marriage. We must never be taken in by the seeming advantages there are in the divorce of a husband and a wife. Because it is a direct violation of the will of God, it is only a matter of time when the evil of consequences inherent in such violation fall heavily both on the guilty and the innocent. May we never become party to the violation of the will of God who has made the love and union of a man and a woman so sublime and honorable as to make it an eloquent sign and symbol of His love for us, His people, making mere human partakers of His creative power. (Fr JESS A. ENCISO)