An Exegetical Reflection on
the Gospel of the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, Mark 10:2-16,
October 7, 2012
WHEN ONE IS joined in marriage ceremony, he is
usually filled with hope and expectation, with joy and happiness. In the weeks or months that follow, he
continues to have the confidence that he had made the right decision; he thinks
that he has chosen the best partner he could ever have. Soon, however, that dream-world stage
expires; he discovers that the woman he has married is not what he thought her
to be. Then, the trouble starts. The crack in the wall of what seemed once a
fortress begins to show. And when the
going gets tough, there is always the temptation to call it quits, without our
realizing that after all the one he has married is a human being, full of
imperfection, faults, warts and all. Thus,
he tends to assume as his very own the question that the Pharisees posed to
Jesus: “Is it permissible for a man to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2).
Needless
to say, when we, either as husband or wife, begin to ask that question, it is a
tacit admission that we have failed to live according to God’s original
intention. “At the beginning of creation
God made them male and female; for this reason a man shall leave his father and
mother and the two shall become as one.
They are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore let no man separate what God has joined” (Mark 10:8-9). Instead of living according to God’s intent, we
wish to follow the dictate of our hardened heart. Probably under the influence of our
day-to-day business, we tend to think that marriage is simply a contract
between two individuals. As in a
purchase of a stereo or car, we want to have our money back, if not satisfied
with the commodity.
In
today’s Gospel (Mark 10:2-16), Jesus clarifies to us something about
marriage. First of all, it is not simply
a contract between two individuals.
First and foremost, it is God’s gift.
Like other injunctions in the Old Testament, it is an expression of
God’s care for his people. At the basis
of it is God’s loving concern for each one of us. Therefore, when God says that “that is why a
man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife and the two of them
become one body” (Gen 1:24), this was not given to make man unhappy or bind him
in legalism. Rather, this is connected
with his observation in the 1st Reading that “it is not good for man
to be alone. I will make a suitable
partner for him” (Gen 2:18). God’s will
is always our happiness. But because it
is a gift, we can only benefit from it if we live it according to God’s
intention. Therefore, in marriage we
have to discern the will of God as we live it—namely, one has to make a gift of himself or herself to his or her partner unconditionally and in
love. That is the essence of being
constituted as “one flesh”. If we do not act on God’s will for us in
marriage, we can hardly expect to experience what God has promised.
Moreover, precisely because it is God’s gift,
marriage is not for every one. When the
disciples, having heard of their Master’s reply to the Pharisees on the question
of divorce, observed that it was better not to marry, the Matthean Jesus noted
that “not everyone can accept this teaching, only those to whom it is given to
do so. Some men are incapable of sexual
activity from birth; some have been deliberately made so; and some there are
who have freely renounced sex for the sake of God’s reign. Let him accept this teaching who can” (Matt
19:11-12). One therefore does not marry
because tradition demands it; he must first of all discern whether he or she
has the gift. Certainly, there are
people who are married but should not have married in the first place. Some people should not marry because
physically they are incapable of living a married life. Others should not, because psychologically,
they are unprepared to live it, even if they think they are. Still others are too selfish to be capable of
giving a gift of himself. Being a man or
a woman is not a sufficient qualification for marriage. It remains a gift, and not everyone has
it.
But
there is another point that should not be missed in today’s Gospel. It is to be noted that the pericope on the
question of divorce, as far as Mark’s editorial hand is concerned, is placed
within the section on discipleship. In
this section, Jesus taught his disciples what it means to follow the Messiah in
his footsteps (Mark 8:27-10:52). Mark’s
point is quite obvious. Marriage is a
form of discipleship. If this is
correct, then whatever is said of discipleship must apply to marriage, because
discipleship is expressed in it. For
this reason, it is in marriage that we can concretize the demands of denying
ourselves, taking up the cross, following Jesus in his footsteps, and losing
our lives. Consequently, while marriage
is intended for our happiness, it is, paradoxically, likewise a vocation to
suffering. In marriage we also undertake
the journey to Calvary. Therefore, when
the going gets tough, we should all the more give expression to the cross of
Christ.
It is not without reason that
the marriage rite stresses that the bond is “for better, for worse, for richer
or poorer, in sickness and in death.” We
can always expect negative experiences in marriage. We shall experience difficulties and
sufferings as we follow Jesus in discipleship.
But these sufferings and difficulties could be opportunities for growth
and deepening of love and happiness. For
as the 2nd Reading assures us: the experience of suffering and death
leads to glory. It is through suffering
that we perfect the work of happiness and salvation (Heb 2:9-10).
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