Matthew 19:3-12
Matthew 19:3-12
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him,
saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his
wife for any cause whatsoever?” He said in reply,
“Have you not read that from the beginning the
Creator made them male and 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 they
are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore,
what God has joined together, man must not
separate.” They said to him, “Then why did
Moses command that the man give the woman a
bill of divorce and dismiss her?” He said to
them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but
from the beginning it was not so. I say to you,
whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage
is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.”
His disciples said to him, “If that is the case
of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but
only those to whom that is granted. Some are
incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others; some,
because they have renounced marriage for the
sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can
accept this ought to accept it.”
“Not all can accept this word…”
In today’s passage, Jesus is speaking about the
sacrament of marriage and He says that “not all
can accept this word”. Actually when He says
this, if we put it in the context of His person
and His entire ministry and mission, “not all
[did] accept this “Word”. People of his time
did not only accept His word but also rejected
His being God’s Word.
Accepting the laws of God is difficult - in fact
very hard if we see the law of God outside of us
and not part of our humanity. When the Lord said
to the prophet Jeremiah that He is going to give
them a new law and a new spirit, He meant that
His law was to be written in the hearts of men
and women. This law written in our hearts will
help us internalize God’s will and help us not
to rebel against what He wishes of us. For the
law written in our hearts is a law of love,
charity and one of self-sacrifice and service
to each other. When Jesus tells us “take my
yoke for it is easy and its burden is light”,
he is referring to God’s love written in our
hearts that makes God’s law on life easier for
us.
