We thank the Lord who is ever gracious for the gift of his word to us, the same word who helps us to a full self-realization and appreciation of the dignity of one another, may he help us to continue to heed his word, so that we may better appreciate human communion as a foretaste of eternal communion Amen. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our liturgy for today appears to be concerned with marriage for both in the first reading and Gospel reading the will of God for the marital life is clearly revealed. But far deeper than marriage, our liturgy invites us to delve into the mystery of the kingdom and God’s love for us, a love that gives validity to our way of loving. But then, why is marriage so much of an issue that it becomes a theme for a Sunday reflection? In a world like ours where there are so many threats to the institution of marriage, it is worth talking about, because it takes us back to the original intention of God and man’s alignment to it and how we must not override God’s will with our own preferences.
The first reading presents us with the second creation story account as recorded in Genesis chapter 2, the first chapter of Genesis presents to us the first story of creation with God at every moment affirming the inherent goodness in his works. In this second chapter however God recognizes that the aloneness of man is not altogether Good, God saw his need for companionship. In response to this need, God made woman out of man. Man approves of God’s choice and announced “this at last is the bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Man’s acceptance of woman is an affirmation of compatibility and his self-alignment to the Divine will. He confirms that there can only be one bone of his bones at a single time. This point Jesus validates in the Gospel reading of today when he was questioned about divorce.
Our world today needs to return back to this source, man must rediscover this self-awareness, a self-awareness that is actualized in respect for the dignity of others, a self-awareness that allows him to understand that God is the source of all things and that taking the source away from all things will only bring about self-alienation. Our second reading reminds us that God is so much interested in us, he wants to be involved in our life that he condescends into our imperfections to perfect it. Why then do we seek freedom from God? Why do we find it difficult to work things out? Why do we always want things to be done our own way? Why do we introduce all forms of sexual orientations different from the Divine design? Why do we complicate humanity? Why do we make of ourselves animals such that he is ashamed to call us brethren, he saw the birds of the air, the creatures on waters, creeping things and all other creatures of the earth and chose to take flesh to live among men, thus elevating the human nature to have some share in the dignity of divinity, that which Adam rejects, our world today wants to accepts.
It’s the reason why everything we have built, every edifice is falling apart. Jesus proposes for us the Childlike wonder as the only way to be in touch with the kingdom and with ourselves. It is said that a river that forgets its source will run dry; it is only with the eye of a child that we can have access to God. Many of us have grown so complicated into adulthood that we lose touch of the wonder of a child. We no longer want to be dependent, we hate being vulnerable, we no longer want to trust, we tell ourselves that we are self-sufficient, we can take care of ourselves, our hearts becomes complicated, we develop coping tactics devoid of prayer. We manage ourselves and our affairs with greed and selfishness, we cut people out of our lives and prefer to interact with machines, we fill our hearts with malice, selfishness, manipulations and all sorts of vices. We find solace in unhealthy sexual behaviours like pornography, masturbation, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bestiality, we want it our way. Jesus recommends little children to us in our dealings with one another and the kingdom, that couples will once more respect each other like children, with lots of forgiveness and love, with less ego and pride, with meekness and charity. That we once more allow ourselves to be vulnerable before God, that we learn to trust ourselves even if there is no reason to trust. Jesus wants us to redefine love the way he himself has defined it for us, to realign ourselves to his will, so that he can once more recognize us as his brethren and we can once more recognize one another as bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh.
