Monday, October 05, 2015

27th Sunday ordinary B- Marriage Matters


Why get married? “The Lord God said: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” Gen.2
Marriage – is it all about looking for a wife or a husband?

A man inserted an ‘ad’ in the classifieds: “Wife wanted”. Next day he received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: “You can have mine.””

As the boys admire the girls and the girls admire the boys they remind us of the words from elsewhere in the book of Genesis, “God saw all that he had made and indeed it was very good.” (Gen 1) When the girls look at the boys and when the boys look at the girls they say everything God has made is very good, and so after some time they get married to enjoy this goodness more fully and to share in each others joy and sorrows.  And continuing on Genesis 2: “the Lord God took one of the man’s ribs and made it into a woman and brought her to the man.”

Matthew Henry wrote: “Be careful if you make a women cry, because God counts her tears. The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”  Marriage therefore is an equal partnership.

A wedding lasts only one day, but marriage for the rest of life. Thus our reading from Genesis concludes with: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24)  Becoming one doesn’t happen overnight. It is something that is learned and that the couple becomes better at as they share their married life together.

Becoming one means loving each other, sharing their lives with each other, and taking each other into consideration always. Becoming one means getting rid of all selfishness because there is no room for selfishness in marriage.

When two people get married they bring with them to their marriage normal human weaknesses and discover weaknesses in the other which previously they did not know. This is an opportunity to love the other, heal the other, and forgive the other. There are times when like at the wedding at Cana it will seem as if the wine really has run out, times when they forgive each other and make a fresh start.

All marriages are happy–it’s the living together afterward that causes all the problems. It doesn’t matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.”

Well truthfully in marriage Jesus is the boss. Marriage unites the couple with Jesus, and brings them God’s blessing. It is not just husband and wife united to each other in marriage; it is husband and wife united to each other with Jesus in marriage. All sacraments have lasting value, and the sacrament of marriage has lasting value. The couple’s promise to each other is until death, to be faithful to each other always, and that is why Jesus rules out divorce in today’s Gospel (Mark 10:2-16).

A couple had been married for 45 years and had raised a brood of 11 children and was blessed with 22 grandchildren. When asked the secret for staying together all that time, the wife replies, “Many years ago we made a promise to each other: the first one to pack up and leave has to take all the kids.”

So, “Is there anything more beautiful in life than a boy and a girl clasping clean hands and pure hearts in the path of marriage? Can there be any thing more beautiful than young love?” And the answer is : “Yes there is a more beautiful thing. It is an old man and an old woman finishing their life’s journey together on that path. Their hands are gnarled, but still clasped; their faces are wrinkled but still radiant; their hearts are physically bowed and tired, but still strong with love and devotion for one another. Yes, there is a more beautiful thing than young love. Old love. Enduring love.”

There is a story about President Grant. (He’s the one whose picture is on the US fifty dollar bill.) When Grant was a young man, he was traveling in a carriage accompanied by a young woman named Julia Boggs Dent. They arrived at a flooded creek with a flimsy bridge over it. Grant said, "Don't be frightened, Julia. I'll take care of you."
Looking at the turbulent creek, she said, "I will cling to you whatever happens." When they reached safety on the other side, he said, "Julia, back there, you said you'd cling to me whatever happens. Would you cling to me for the rest of our lives?"

Well, she would. However, Julia's dad opposed the marriage. He did not consider Grant good enough for his daughter. It took Grant some time to convince her father. In spite of her dad's fears, they had one of the happiest marriages of any public figures. Even in their 50's, the couple still held hands and insisted on being seated next to one another on trains and in restaurants.  Ulysses Grant and Julia Boggs Dent had a beautiful, lifelong marriage.

For those who are married, our prayers for you today is that it may indeed last for a lifetime under God’s mantle of love and protection.




References:

Fisher, J. Those Memorable Memoirs. http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/weddinghomily.html
At the end of his life, Grant made a heroic sacrifice. Even though he was greviously ill with throat cancer, out of concern for the material welfare of Julia and children, he wrote the Memoirs - his only literary work.


Lane, T. (2013). Marriage is a school of love and forgiveness.