MARRIAGE IN GOD’S PLAN
TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)
Gen 2:18-24; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 (R.v.5); Heb 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16
It is about seven weeks to the end of the Church’s Liturgical Year. The Church, in her wisdom, chose to remind us today that the end we anticipate would be in the form of a marriage feast (see Rev 19:6-9) in which man’s longing to be with God is achieved. That is why marriage has been described as God’s perfect gift to man.
So, strictly speaking, today should not just be seen as a marriage Sunday but a day in which the Church uses marriage, which is somehow familiar to us, to remind us about our ultimate goal, which is union with God. Remember that this union with God is what our liturgy of last underlined.
Marriage is the place where that union is exemplified in a most perfect sense. Hence, the Church tries so much to preserve the institution of Marriage from corruption so that our focus shall remain unstained before God.
From the second account of Marriage in the Book of Genesis as we have in our First Reading today, marriage is explained in terms of companionship. This passage leads to a lot of misinterpretations. Some use it to explain why they want to do away with procreation in their marriage. Yet, this second account cannot be discussed in isolation from the first (Gen 1:26-28).
Some others use it to explain their reason for same sex union. While we must point out the obvious reference to man and woman in the whole picture there (cf. Gen 1:27; 2:22-24), we must not fail to note God’s vehement warning against that union, “You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; IT IS AN ABOMINATION” (Lev 18:22).
Marriage must be lived in accordance with God’s plan just as we are called to also live our lives in accordance with God’s plan. When that is done, it attracts God’s blessings as the psalmist points out in Ps 128. Embracing childlike innocence would enable be drawn to Jesus for that blessing.
Finally, note the reference to one flesh in that account (Gen 2:24). That reference is not just about the physical flesh but the entire human person. The heart cannot exist independent of the body in a living person; the head cannot too exist independent of the entire body, etc. The married couples cease to live when they are separated from each other.
In the same way, we must make effort to stay away from sin so that we are not divorced from the presence of God and so miss the marriage feast of the Lamb in the end. May we look up to Jesus at all times and receive strength from him to persevere to the end. Amen.
Happy Sunday to you. Peace be with you.
