(Matthew 19:3-12)
Prayer: O Jesus, restore creation as it was in the beginning.
Imagination: (Picture Jesus explaining his ideals to his disciples.)
Context:
Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God was at hand. Through the power of this Kingdom, all creation can be restored to God’s original plan. Jesus believes that his Kingdom can remove the evil of divorce. His critics cite Moses’ teaching about a decree of divorce. Moses’ decree was just an attempt to give some ordering to moral decay.
Gospel Text: (Read slowly, possibly aloud.)
Some Pharisees came to test Jesus. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?” Jesus replied, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a bill of divorce and put her away.” Jesus answered, “He gave this command because of the hardness of your heart. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his mother and father and shall cleave to his wife. The two shall be one flesh. They are no longer two, but one flesh. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Later, he said to his disciples. “Whoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. If the wife puts away her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Thoughts: (Read all. Ponder those that attract you.)
- The Pharisees question raises an important problem.
- Moses resolved the problem of divorce by a legal maneuver.
- Jesus faces the problem in its original cause.
- Jesus wants an ordered humanity, a world as it was at the beginning.
- In this new creation of the Kingdom, husband and wife cleave to each other in an ordered relationship.
- Even with a civil divorce, the union remains because God joined them.
Affections: (When one touches your heart, use your own words.)
- Lord, how confused and entangled human life has become.
- I seek you Lord. Only your grace can order my life.
- Your Kingdom is powerful, purifying my feelings and my decisions.
- Unite me to the Father and my life will be “as it was in the beginning.”
- With you, Jesus, all things are possible.
- Help me to live my life without compromise.
Resolutions: (Possibly you might want to make your own.)
- I will be faithful to the Lord in all pre-marital and marital relationships.
- I will ask the Holy Spirit to help me live purely.
Thought for the Day: (To recall your meditation)
What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.