27th Sunday Ordinary Time
Cycle B
“Is that what we just heard?”
So when they went back into the house, away from the crowds, the disciples felt
compelled to ask Jesus if what they just heard him tell the crowd was really what
he said. And what Jesus had just said was that God gave in. Yes, God gave in
through Moses and allowed a bill of divorce as a result of their hardness of heart.
Yes, hardness of heart; stubbornness; not getting our way; spiritually kicking and
screaming to God that they wanted a different take on marriage. And if they didn’t
get it from God, they were going to do their own thing anyway! We don’t live in that
world, do we? So God gave in through Moses. And the disciples, who give off the
impression that they never read or heard the Book of Genesis, they act as if Jesus
just said to the crowds that a tsunami is on the way. They were horrified! A
tsunami was on the way. A cleansing and a force were on the way. A tsunami to
cleanse the hard-heartedness of human beings, and return man and woman,
husband and wife, back to God’s original plan in the beginning, without Moses’
intervention on behalf of the people.
The readings this week are an opportunity to go back to the beginning, to the
original plan when God said “Let there be light,” and recognize the sacredness of
marriage, where God says “Let there continue to be light,” along with the
awesome gift created within the bounds of marriage. The gift of bringing the
children to Jesus by bringing them into our world, where they hopefully become
light to God, their parents, and the community as a whole. All this on pro-life
Sunday. Now that’s a tsunami!
These readings are also an opportunity to have an honest and frank discussion
on the state of marriage in our world today, along with how God’s Church
addresses a couple of issues. Now, some may say that Fr. Riley is ridiculously
optimistic for today’s world regarding this topic. Or that he’s old-fashioned. (I’ve
been called much worse, thank you). Preaching marriage as initiated by God and
not by human beings, where marriage is a lifetime commitment between one man
and one woman, and that the relationship is to be open to children at all times,
meaning no false scientific items cutting off the process of the most intimate act
that a husband and wife commit to, these beliefs will challenge the ever changing
secular view of this topic.
I’m not looking for your sympathy, but preaching on marriage today is not so
easy, because I know that some folks will feel offended along the way, which
would be purely unintentional. But it’s necessary. It’s necessary for uplifting
reasons. It’s necessary because when we place this great institution “in the
beginning,” in the sacredness of Adam and Eve, what we are blessed to have is a
relationship grounded in hope. A relationship that reflects the love of Christ and
His Church. A relationship that cries out for eternal salvation. I’d like to think that
every spouse wants to be in heaven with their other spouse. Marriage cries out for
eternal salvation! I’ve witnessed this truth numerous times at funerals where one
spouse has buried the other. Thus, a few points to be made from different angles
regarding Jesus’ tsunami of marriage, along with all
relationships.
First, Jesus is taking the Apostles and the crowd back to the basics, back to the
beginning. What do we discover at “the beginning?” What we discover is that
when God created a man and a woman, he didn’t just create A man and A woman.
God created two similar forces that could bring joy to each other like no other two
creatures can. Their love and respect for each other was meant to be lifelong. So
“in the beginning” what God created was the ideal relationship. For any
pessimists here, I happen to know plenty of couples who, despite the issues and
challenges of life, have an “ideal relationship.” Meaning people who have built
their relationship on rock, so that when the winds and the rain and the storms of
life attacked what God brought together, through the grace of God they have
somehow survived.
A 2nd point is that we confront the other reality that we live in an imperfect world,
most especially regarding relationships. But, we are ever thankful to God for His
mercy and understanding, which is what we in the Church are to give. We are to
emulate the mercy and compassion of God, first, when couples struggle,
sometimes ending up in divorce, and secondly, to have understanding and some
challenge for those seeking to get married. To challenge couples to go back “to
the beginning,” even if only for a short
time.
I give an example of what I mean. Most every couple that comes to get married
today is cohabitating. And if they are living together, it doesn’t take a genius to
figure out what’s going on in their spare time with each other. And one couple that
I recently worked with was – you guessed it – living together. About six weeks
before their wedding I asked that they seriously consider not having sex from that
point on until after their wedding. I was trying to take them back “to the beginning”
for six short weeks, so they could have a sense of a new beginning in their
relationship, along with having a real honeymoon. Also along with having passion
and desire for each other on their wedding day. Well, when I made the request for
a six week period of chastity, the future bride thought it was an excellent idea. She
was shaking her head saying, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” The future groom was
looking at her like “Are you crazy? Six weeks?” And I looked at him and said,
“You’re telling me you can’t go without sex for six weeks. I have to go without it for
the rest of my life!” But the point here is that there are numerous opportunities
during the course of relationships to “go back to the beginning.” To remember
how God created us as similar forces to bring joy to one another. And that goes
for any relationship.
And the 3rd point has to do with bringing the little children to Jesus. As I
mentioned, this weekend is pro-life weekend in the Church. We celebrate the truth
that life is the greatest gift of all. In Jesus’ time, children were viewed as
bothersome, even useless. They weren’t seen as useful until they could help put
food on the table, rather than just taking it off. It sounds like Moses had to
intervene with this attitude also, because it certainly wasn’t present at the
beginning. When Jesus says to the Apostles “Let the children come to me,” he
means literally “Let the children walk to him.” Let the children
live.
So in the spirit of “letting the children live,” I finish by pointing to an insert in this
weekend’s bulletin. It’s an insert regarding a Massachusetts License Plate we
hope will begin to be made in this state. A “Choose Life” license plate that reflects
the children walking to Jesus. I ask that if you drive, please consider one of these
plates for your own vehicle. In its own small way, it brings a message to our
communities that we help the children walk to
Jesus.