Spider Web May 2005

May 20, 2005

Divorce Mk 10:1-12

Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. The Pharisees approached him and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" They were testing him. He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?" They replied, "Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate." In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
Marriage is meant to be a committment for life. This reading is clear to me that after marriage the man and woman are not to remarry. Jesus says they are to stay together.

Problems come when there are events that occur which make reconcilliation simply not possible. The Church has a process of review of individual situations and granting an official acceptance that the marriage is no longer legal in the eyes of the Church and the member is still a member of the Church. Many people do not know about this process and leave the Church when they find that they are in a situation where they must leave their marriage partner or that their partner has left them. It is unfortunate because this is a time when they really need the support of the Church more than ever.

Vows are to be taken seriously as a lifetime committment but there are circumstances that arise at times that are beyond the control of the individual.