Gospel Commentary: From the Beginning

By Fr. Paul Scalia
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of  10/2/03)

"From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" (Mk 10:6-8). This statement is extraordinary in its ordinariness. It is a simple and an obvious fact: God created men and women; men and women get married. Our Lord does not claim to be teaching something new. He is quoting the book of Genesis to make clear what the Creator intended "from the beginning."

Although simple, these words carry a monumental truth: God is the author of marriage. He is the one who created us male and female, so that the two could become one. He has determined the structure, meaning and purpose of marriage. Man, who did not invent marriage, cannot do with marriage whatever he wants. He must observe what God has written into the very nature of marriage.

And God has two good reasons for marriage: for the good of the spouses and the birth of children. For the good of the spouses, so that husband and wife will form a community of life and love, and help one another attain eternal salvation. For the birth of children, so that the family of man and God’s own family will both increase. To achieve this twofold end, God has designed marriage to be permanent, faithful and life-giving.

Our Lord’s authoritative interpretation of the words from Genesis defends one of the Creator’s intentions. He forbids divorce: "Let no man separate what God has joined" (Mk 10:9). He even more strongly proscribes divorce and remarriage: "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery" (Mk 10:11).

If people in our Lord’s time needed to hear this truth, so much more do we. Divorce and remarriage is so widely accepted that the Church’s teaching against it sounds unreasonable and (to some) downright un-Christian. But the Church remains faithful to her founder. She forbids divorce and remarriage, not on her own, but on the authority of Christ’s words and the Creator’s design.

Even worse than disregard for the permanency of marriage is the attempt to redefine marriage entirely. Some in our society want to extend the definition of marriage to include the union of two men or two women (And, following their logic, why not between one man and three women, or one woman and three men?). In opposing such initiatives, the Church goes back (as our Lord did) to what the Creator intended from the beginning: He made them male and female.

God is the author of marriage. Rebellion against this simple truth will always cause a decay in family life and therefore in society. Perhaps such rebellion is common (in our Lord’s day and in our own) precisely because marriage is such hard work. Sinful man would rather conform marriage to himself than himself to marriage.

Few Gospel passages can shock and challenge our culture as this one does. God created marriage with a specific purpose and meaning. Either we will observe God’s meaning for marriage, or marriage will mean nothing at all. Married couples will find happiness, and the institution of matrimony will thrive, only by observing what the Creator decreed "from the beginning."

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