The Pharisees approached Jesus 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 a husband 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 Jesus 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."
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but
the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to
them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom
of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept
the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced them
and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
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Reflection:
A story is told about a married couple who’ve been together for ten years.
After all those years of being happily married the wife was suddenly jolted when she discovered that her husband had been
carrying an adulterous affair with his officemate. Therefore, the wife who was trying to
salvage whatever thread that was left in their marriage demanded that the he resigns from
his job. However, citing self-serving reasons the husband refused to resign.
In the gospel Jesus is confronted with a probing question by the
Pharisees: "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" Jesus
replied: "What did Moses command you?" They replied, "Moses
permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." Jesus
told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this
commandment. (Mark 10:2-5)
This answer of Jesus loudly rings true for us today; because of the hardness of
our hearts many of us choose to betray the Sacrament of Matrimony. In exchange
for what? For a lifetime of misery afterwards?
In exchange for what? For a cursed and damned life afterwards? There is
no reward but wretchedness when we decide to jump into an adulterous
relationship.
When a couple jumps into the abyss of an adulterous relationship. They
dive into the darkest part of life and the afterlife which is the kingdom of the fallen angel Satan.
Yet, Satan the supreme deceiver and manipulator that he is paints love to cover lust in the eyes of the
adulterous couple. Satan puts forward the overheating furnace of passion disguised as love. That will slowly but surely unravel
to destroy both of them and those around them in the end.
God’s plan for married couple is for eternity. In the Sacrament of
Matrimony/Marriage Jesus commands us this through the officiating Priest: “To have and to
hold, to this day onward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in
sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part.”
Have you been faithful to your married life so far? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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