Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate

 

 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.  And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.  The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?"  And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male female,' and said, '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 then, they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."  They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?"  He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."  His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry."

But He said to them, "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:  For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.  He who is able to accept it, let him accept it."

 

- Matthew 19:1-12 

 

In yesterday's reading, Peter came to Jesus (after Jesus had taught about forgiveness and mutual correction in the Church) and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?"  Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.  Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.  The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'  Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.  But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!'  So his fellow servant fell own at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all."  And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.  So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.  Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant!  I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.  So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespass."

 

  Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.  And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.  The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?"  And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male female,' and said, '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 then, they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."  They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?"  He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."  His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry."   Let us note that the text tells us that Jesus has now left Galilee, and has come closer to the region near Jerusalem.  For the moment He is in territory to the east, in the region of Judea beyond the Jordan (often called Perea in the shifting regions ruled for Rome - see map).  Nonetheless Christ is now in Judea, and so the Pharisees come testing Him.  The basis of their test, as my study Bible explains, is Deuteronomy 24:1-4.  It says that God's condescension, or allowance for human weakness, does not override the original principle of permanent monogamous marriage as revealed in Genesis 1 and 2.  With authority, my study Bible comments, Christ adds His own clear prohibition against divorce here.  (See also Matthew 5:31-32; Malachi 2:13-16.)  Christ names sexual immorality as a basis for divorce, which shows that a marriage bond can be destroyed by sins which are effectively abuse of the marriage.  In the early Church, my study Bible notes, the permissible reasons for divorce were expanded to include threat to a spouse's or child's life and desertion, in all cases acknowledging the spiritual tragedy of such circumstance.

 

 But He said to them, "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:  For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.  He who is able to accept it, let him accept it."  My study Bible comments that Christ steers the disciples toward an understanding of the holiness of virginity -- this is not as a rejection of marriage, but rather it is a special calling for those to whom it has been given.  Eunuchs were men who had been castrated, my study Bible explains, whether by birth defect, disease, or mutilation, and often they were employed to guard women of nobility.  But here Jesus uses the term figuratively for those who freely choose lifelong celibacy for the kingdom of heaven.  This kind of consecrated virginity is not to be confused with any form of self-mutilation, which was condemned by the Church at the First Ecumenical Council (AD 325).  See also 1 Corinthians 7:7, 25-38.

Although in a very modern cultural setting, celibacy is not widely known nor necessarily understood, there is a very long history of celibacy as part of a commitment to religious life.  This extends even before Christianity, and into many religions.  In this sense, as Jesus describes it here, celibacy is a kind of commitment like a marriage bond, but it is marriage to the Church, or to Christ, first in one's life.  I have a personal friend for whom celibacy has become a choice in life that came along with his growth in the Christian faith and his commitment to this life.  Celibacy for him has been a pathway to greater growth, to more strength and discipline in his life, to putting himself and his life in better order than it had ever been.  This commitment has also come along with a growth in facing various fears of life and conquering them.  We should not underestimate the power of such commitments and their significance throughout history.  Moreover, here this type of celibacy is linked to a conversation on marriage and prohibitions against divorce.  We might not think they go together, until we stop to consider what Jesus is really saying here.  What Christ explains (and we can also read this in the Old Testament, in the verses cited in Malachi 2:13-16) is that both marriage, and the kind of celibacy He describes here, come under the bonds first of a commitment to God.  As the marriage is sanctified and upheld by God, so is celibacy "for the kingdom of heaven's sake."    Both are, at the heart of the matter, about love.  They are a commitment to God who is love, expressed and made commitment to in different ways for those who are called to either way.  As Jesus puts it, for those "to whom it has been given."   Within the bond of marriage, and of learning love for one another in this context, but also in the commitment to faith through celibacy, both become roads to love -- to knowing and living love as guided and given by God.  In this context, sin becomes abuse of a marriage bond, either literally or figuratively.  And when we think about what righteousness is, this makes sense, as true righteousness means "right-relatedness."  It is God who mediates our relationships with one another, and this is the idea for which we strive in life, the way we ask to be given and in which we are corrected and disciplined, and in which we grow and blossom in expressions which at heart are those of love.  When St. Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, what he is describing are qualities produced in us as fruits of love which we learn and "sprout" through the love of God and sharing in the life of God for us.  If we think of marriage as part of this commitment to love, we understand marriage as a layperson's way to learn real sanctity, growth in the love of God and what that means and what it can produce.  And so it is with a commitment to celibacy; we are meant to grow into the person God calls us to become either way.  Let us consider -- even in a modern context in which sexuality can easily become a form of idolatry and of objectifying other human beings -- what it means to put God first, to understand ourselves as children of God who continue to grow and have much to learn about love and about the righteousness that teaches us peace and the ways in which we relate to neighbor.  For God is love, and this is the purpose of both a sanctified virginity and a holy marriage.