God’s plan for marriage
February 28, 2025 - Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 10:1-12
Recently, my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and a dear friend of mine marked the 50th anniversary of their parents' marriage. In today's world, where commitments often seem fleeting, these milestones are a rare and beautiful reminder that long-lasting relationships are still possible. Such enduring unions reflect the deep bond that can be built over time, rooted in mutual love, respect, and faithfulness. They also reflect God's design for marriage.
On the first pages of the Bible, we are told that it was ‘not good for Adam to be alone’ and so God created Eve (Gen 2:18-24). The beauty of marriage and family is proclaimed in Psalm 128. “Blessed are you who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways!” (Ps. 128:1), we read, and the blessing includes fruitful wife, many children, and success in life. But if marriage is a blessing, how did then divorce come about?
“Because of the hardness of your hearts” (Mark 10:5). According to Moses, a husband could divorce his wife “when she fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her” (Deut. 24:1). But what does God think about it? “I hate divorce” (Mal. 2:16) is a powerful statement of God in the book of the prophet Malachi.
Marriage is a sacrament, and a sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality. What is the visible reality? The story of Genesis. God put the man into a deep sleep, took one of his ribs, and fashioned the rib into a woman (Gen. 2:21-22). And so, man leaves his parents and clings to his wife (Gen. 2:24). What is the invisible reality? Our Lord was put “into a deep sleep” on the Cross and a spear pierced His side (John 19:34), and the Church, the Bride of Christ, was fashioned from his wounded side. Marriage is indeed “a profound mystery” (Eph. 5:32) and divorce destroys it.
“But, it was not this way from the beginning” (Matt. 19:8). Jesus wants to restore this ideal beginning to his Church and through the Church to the world. But it appears that the world is resisting this restoration and prefers to go its own way. We should never forget that the one who spoke against divorce in the Gospel is the One who created us and understands us better than we understand ourselves. He knows our capacity for good and evil, but he gives us grace to choose good and avoid evil. His grace can transform our stony hearts into a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26) and enable us to be faithful “until death do us part”.