October 04, 2009 27th Ordinary Sunday of the Year   Gen. 2:18-24; Heb. 2:9-11; Mk. 10:2-16 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:http://www.usccb.org/nab/100409.shtml   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________     Marriage is increasingly described as a fragile institution in our society. The Gospel begins with the Pharisees testing Jesus by asking whether it is lawful for a husband to divorce (lit. “send away”) his wife. Jesus responds by asking them about the law, and they quote Deut. 24:1, which allows a husband to divorce his wife by simply writing a bill of divorce. Jesus responds by quoting two sayings from the two creation accounts of Genesis: “from the beginning God made them male and female” (Gen. 1:27), and “the two shall become one flesh”.   Jesus reveals God’s creative purpose. Two essential qualities to marriage are mentioned here: unity and complementarity or mutual interdependence. Neither man alone nor woman alone embodies the fullness of God’s creative design, but man and woman in union mirror the mystery of God. Jesus views marriage, in which man and woman are no longer two but one, living in unity and interdependence, as a symbol of restored creation. Jesus also utters here a prophetic defence of the innocent victim of divorce, the woman.   The church continues to reiterate Jesus’ prophetic defence of marriage. The church must also constantly reflect the pastoral concern of Jesus for those who have suffered divorce.   Mark appends to Jesus’ teaching on marriage another story about Jesus holding a child. Strangely, since they had just heard praise of marriage, the disciples “rebuke” people for bringing the children. While earlier Jesus said that whoever receives a child, receives him, here he says that “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” and that “whoever does not accept the kingdom like a child, will not enter it.” After proclaiming an ethic of radical discipleship through unity and mutuality in marriage, Jesus is here not praising “childishness,” but using the child as a symbol of both non-domination and the need for care that should characterize human relationships. Especially powerful are the final two verses, which describe Jesus taking the children in his arms and blessing them, an enduring image that should haunt the Christian conscience as we see the horrors of malnourished and disease-ridden children.     <<   Previous: 26th Sunday of the Year  |   Next: 28th Sunday of the Year >>     Go Back to SERMONS (Year B)