Defending the heart of family life
Reflecting on our Sunday Readings with Bro Ashley Chan
Oct 04, 2024
27th Sunday in
Ordinary Time (B)
Readings: Genesis 2:18-24;
Hebrews 2:9-11;
Gospel: Mark 10:2-16 or 10:2-12
It is noteworthy for contemporary readers that in this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus strongly — almost irritably — defends two of the most-attacked elements of family life in today’s world: marriage and children. Divorces, it seems, were not new to the people of Jesus’ time; in fact, we learn that this practice dates back as far as Moses himself. Our Lord was insistent that divorce was never part of God’s plan. He referred to the story of Adam and Eve, which the Israelites would have been familiar with, the same story that we hear today in the First Reading from the book of Genesis (Gn 2:18-24). From the very beginning, God intended for man and woman to remain united; their marital union was meant to be unbreakable, hence the emphasis on “they become one body.” And a body only breaks down once it is dead, hence the mantra of every married couple: “Till death do us part.”
But while death may dissolve the earthly bond between a husband and wife, it dramatically fails to separate the Church from her bridegroom, the risen Christ. We hear from the author of the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 2:9-11) that Jesus, who suffered and died, has been raised in glory and splendour. Through His sufferings, He sanctifies and brings mankind to perfection and redemption. This motif of marriage between God and His people, and between Christ and His Church, is richly described in both the Old and New Testament, especially in the prophetic books such as Isaiah and Hosea, as well as the Pauline epistles. This is a beautiful exposition of marriage for our modern world: whatever hardships or sufferings are endured by both husband and wife, they will lead to the sanctification of their souls. Faithful obedience to God and love for one another in their marital vocation is salvific. In fact, man and woman’s faithfulness in marriage is a reflection of God’s love for us, and ours for Him. Disobedience led to separation and death for the first man and woman; Christ’s obedience (and ours too) will bring reunion and life once again.
We read extensively about the Lord’s defence of marriage, but what about the children? In the Gospel, some of the Lord’s own disciples were stopping the children from coming to Jesus, and he responded with indignation, anger, and annoyance. How many of the Lord’s own disciples in our present time have stopped or attempted to stop children from coming to Him? Some of these children were physically removed at conception — aborted. Some were spiritually abandoned and malnourished in their Christian faith education, consequently preventing them from coming to the Lord. Others, imitating the less exemplary lives of their parents, end up abandoning their faith. And divorce, that painful evil that affects many families? How many families have been broken, and how many children have become displaced from their homes and parents, who were supposed to protect and care for them? The sins of abortion and irresponsible parenting are grave offenses because they prevent the children, the little ones of God, from coming to Him.
This is how the two great problems of the human family — divorce, abortion, and irresponsible parenting — contribute significantly to the division of the family institution and our churches. The question remains: what can we do about it? The answer lies in the Lord’s words today: “What God has united, man must not divide.” If God has united man and woman together in His family and given them children, then our actions must not contribute to the separation of this union and this family. What affects families affects the Church and the world as well; our lives are meant to be lived for God and for one another, in faithfulness and love. “Till death do us part,” they say in marriage, yes, but also beyond earthly death: “May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives” (Ps 128:5).
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