Jesus talks about divorce with the Pharisees
It’s the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time and today’s gospel talks about the very relevant divorce issue, which is already legal in most nations, even Catholic countries like Brazil, Mexico and Spain. This is why militant groups are trying to push for a divorce bill in our Congress. These people just do not know that the consequence of divorce is devastating to the family. The statistics on the divorce rate in the US clearly show that broken families end up destroying the family as a basic unit in society.
The second part of this gospel message is similar to last week’s gospel message and it is about the importance of children to our Lord Jesus Christ. This teaching is very simple… that we all must have a childlike faith to enter the kingdom of heaven. You can read it in Mark 10: 2-16.
“Some (Pharisees came and) put him to the test with this question, “Is it right for a husband to divorce his wife?” He replied, “What law did Moses give you?” They answered him, “Moses allowed us to write a certificate of dismissal in order to divorce?” Then Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you, because you have hearts of stone. But in the beginning of creation, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two, but one body. Therefore let no one separate what God has joined.”
When they were indoors at home, the disciples again asked him about this he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against his wife, and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another also commits adultery.
People were bringing their little children to him to have him touch them, and the disciples rebuked them for this. When Jesus noticed it, he was very angry and said, “Let the children come to me and don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and laying his hands on them, blessed them.”
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As I pointed out earlier… a great majority of nations that were once very Catholic or Christian now allow for divorce. The United States of America may have printed in the mighty US Dollar, “In God we trust!” But in America their laws literally violate the Ten Commandments, especially the 7th Commandment Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Today’s gospel story starts with the Pharisees testing our Lord Jesus Christ with a question, “Is it right for a husband to divorce his wife?” He replied, “What law did Moses give you?” They answered him, “Moses allowed us to write a certificate of dismissal in order to divorce?” Then Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you, because you have hearts of stone. But in the beginning of creation, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body.”
In the book of Exodus, the sin of adultery was included in the Ten Commandments, which the Jews believe that this was written by the “Finger of God” on the stone tablets that he gave to Moses. In the book of Proverbs, it contains many warnings against adultery and giving the reader what temptations and consequences are there for the adulterer. But somehow Moses allowed for divorce because of the hardness of the hearts of the Jews.
Let’s move over to the New Testament and why was John the Baptist imprisoned by King Herod because he openly chastised King Herod for taking Herodias, the wife of his brother as his own. But King Herod did not really want to arrest John the Baptist because he knew he was right… in accusing him of adultery. So now the Pharisees got the message from our Lord himself when he said, “But in the beginning of creation, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body.”
Now let us make this declaration that even if divorce is legal in most nations, it is still immoral as it is against the Ten Commandments of God and it is time to remind our people of what the Lord said “What God has put together, let no man cast asunder.” Therefore our members of Congress and the Senate who are mere mortals have no right to enact a divorce law in this country and we should never vote for anyone who is planning to do so.
In the gospel reading last Sept.20th the Lord Jesus told his disciples of the importance of children to him. In today’s gospel, we see this repeated again when our Lord said, “Let the children come to me and don’t stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” So there you are, the clear path to the Kingdom of God is for all Christians to have a childlike faith. Now ask yourself… is this very difficult to do? I don’t think so. Believe in the Word’s of God just like a little child believes his parents.
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