“FIRST IMPRESSIONS”

27^th SUNDAY (B) October 6, 2024

Genesis 2: 18-24; Psalm 128; Hebrews 2: 9-11; Mark 10: 2-16

by Jude Siciliano, OP

Dear Preachers:

In the light of what people will be hearing in these readings and the realities and problems they stir up, the preacher cannot avoid dealing with the subject of marriage, divorce, and annulments. Here’s a preaching that those who are single need to approach with care, for even with many years in ministry, we still speak as outsiders.  With your pastoral experience, church wisdom and the scriptural background,  a homily can be prepared that is sure to get attentive listeners! People are sure to appreciate an honest wrestling with the Word on this occasion.  Maybe this week’s reflection will help with the background and context – you add to the mix your own experience and wisdom.

The First Reading: There are two creation stories in Genesis, this one is the second.  In the first (1: 1-2:4), the man and woman are created in one act – they are called Adam.  But in this second account, the man is created first.  The woman is created from the man’s own body. This is not a creation story of subordination by sequence and priority – the man first, then the lesser woman.  This is a story of deep intimacy between the two. She is not created from his foot so that he would dominate over her; nor is she created from his head, so that she would be over him.  She comes from where his heart is.

The animals are already created, and the man has named them, and given dominion over them.  However, they are not going to fill his loneliness. God performs a separate act of creation, and the two creatures are in covenant to one another, there is a strong attraction between the two.  The two are naked, but since there is not yet sin in the world, there is no shame between them. They do not have to fear the body and there is not sin associated with it. They are “one flesh,” which, in the original language, suggests a new personality.  In marriage a new personality is being formed.  To achieve this unity, while still respecting the uniqueness and even the idiosyncrasies of each, is a feat of great love and labor.

The Gospel.  It is important to capture the spirit of the times in which Jesus lives to help get an understanding of this reading.  In Jesus’ world, the families arranged the marriage. Marriage was a way of binding together two families.  The couple remained children of the parents and docile to their decisions.  Just as children do not choose their parents, God does, neither do they choose their spouses.  The view was, that through the parents, God chose the partners in marriage.  In his commentary on Jesus’ world, Joseph Pilch shows why divorce would not have been acceptable;  it separates two families.  In a culture where honor and shame play such important roles, a divorce would bring shame on the bride’s family and the men in her family would be shamed.  In this world view, a divorce would not shame the wife, but her male family members.  They would have to avenge the insult with resulting feuds and bloodshed.  To avoid this tragedy, divorce was forbidden. 

The discussion with the disciples adds a complication; the divorced couple might remarry.  Mark highlights the situation in which the woman (or her family) might initiate the divorce. The shame on the husband’s family would be froth with dire consequences.  And since a woman would not live alone in this society, a divorce necessarily meant another marriage. 

Jesus refers to the Law of Moses in response to the Pharisees.  They say that Moses permitted a “man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce his wife.”  Jesus does not agree.  He says Moses “commanded” that such a letter of divorce be written, “because of your hardness of heart.”  Moses required this procedure at a time when men would send their wives off for the smallest domestic infraction, like a burnt supper, or because of old age, boredom, or a man’s falling in love with another woman. 

Remember, Moses was dealing with an almost illiterate society, so a “written decree” would require a lengthy procedure.  And that is what he wanted, a lengthy procedure to make divorce more difficult.  Moses was actually protecting the rights of women.  The Pharisees tell Jesus Moses “allowed/permitted” a decree of divorce; Jesus disagrees and tells them Moses “commanded it.” Jesus is adding his own teaching.  A woman cannot be cast aside so easily as if she were a commodity, once used to bear offspring, now no longer useful.  He says their relationship is much more sacred, “the two become one flesh” and no one can separate them, because God has joined them. 

Marriage is not doing very well these days.  Yet couples are still getting married talking about “till death do us part” – not “until sickness, or old age or a change of careers call for another arrangement.”  The marriages I’ve been at are attempts at permanency, a sincere desire to fulfill promises.  However, sometimes you get the impression that some of these couples enter marriage as if entering a new state of being, automatically gaining a new identity just by being married.  Maybe the preacher will want to stress marriage as a vocation.  Even a celibate preacher can speak out of “vocation”, and the hard work and attention such commitments require.  To be in a vocation is something one does, one is working at.  Getting married does not automatically mean “happily ever after.”  No one else entering a serious endeavor just presumes being called an “athlete” or “college student” or “pianist” will guarantee success in that endeavor.  But two people enter marriage proceed about their lives thinking the work of coming together was settled during their engagement period.  It seems when people do decide to work on their marriage relationship it’s often because they have neglected it in favor of other issues.  It’s the people who have made successful marriages who are the ones to ask, and they will tell us how much work was involved. 

In the parish where I am currently preaching, they are going to celebrate a Mass this weekend for “pregnant families.”  This is a change of language that reveals what becoming “one flesh” might mean;  that two begin to think about what it means to retain their individual uniqueness while becoming a new “personality”. You hear it in the language of some married people, “We are pregnant”.... “our children”, “our vacation plans.” “let me check with my husband....my wife.”  A new identity is expressed in their ways of thinking and speaking.

Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100624.cfm