Homily Twenty-seventh Sunday Year B

 

Reading 1: What we heard in the first reading were some important truths of revelation. 1. God created man and woman. God created us in his own image. 2 The difference between man and animals was that non were suitable or equal to him. Man was superior since he gave them names. 3. There is a complimentary relationship between man and women, symbolized by taking a rib from his side and forming Eve. 4. Man and women united in marriage are not to be living beings separated from one another. They are one according to the plan of God. 5. The goal of marriage is not cohabitation, not even love, but union, the two becoming one, symbolized by the gift of love. From the beginning they were to love one another and to be open to the gift of life. 6. Their existence, their union with one another is to be complete with their union with God individually and together, not just here on earth but eternally with God. 7. As God formed man from the clay of the earth and breathed life into him, so he formed various animals from the clay of earth., but each was different. The life he breathed into them was not the same as he did for man. 8 Man could see his own reflection and commonality with the woman, who was like him in all things.

 

By the way we live, are we reflecting the plan of God? Though individually unique, do we treat the other with the respect and dignity they deserve as beloved by God? In marriage, is our love other focused or self-centered?  Is our love open to life?

 

Gospel: We can see a connection with the first reading. In the first reading we heard the plan of God from the beginning. God created man and woman to be one. In the Gospel we see the plan of human beings allowing an accommodation due to the hardness of their hearts

 

Jesus reiterates God’s plan publicly and privately. The key is what God has joined together, no human law can override that. Privately, Jesus the consequences of the human law that permits divorce regardless of what God has sealed. A divorce that ignores the seal of God is adultery.

 

Jesus refocuses the question not on negativity—is it lawful to divorce—but on God, who is the origin of their relationship. How did God intend this union of man and woman? He intended that the two should become one, not for a short period but until death separates them. The key phrase is “what God has joined together, human beings have no right to separate.

 

Then Jesus teaches how important it is to embrace the plan of God, not what is pleasing to man. To embrace the plan of God in marriage is to have the humble, trusting attitude of the child. There is an innocence of a child who can go up to a stranger without fear or concern. Whereas as adults we are fearful and untrusting. To embrace the reality of the hardships in a marriage takes a trust in God as a child trust its parents.

 

What was missing in the thinking of the Pharisees was the focus Jesus came to restore, namely the centrality of God in our lives, not just personally but also in the relationship between husband and wife. Marriage is a fundamental unit of society.

 

From the beginning God brought forth man and woman to be one in and with him. From the beginning man and woman because of sin separated themselves from God first and then from one another as a result. Jesus came to restore the right order between human beings and God as well as between human beings themselves.  

 

Reading 2 The second reading reminds us that the Son of God became man. In doing so, for a little while he was like us in all things, except sin. The reason for his Incarnation, taking on our human existence, is so that he could give his life on the cross for our salvation.

 

Though he was the Creator of all things, he chose to embrace the suffering and cruel death on the cross to show us how we are to embrace our sufferings. After the fall of Adam and Eve, suffering has been part of the human existence. But Jesus shows us how to embrace our sufferings so that united to his it becomes redemptive. In such a way our suffering will have a purpose beyond itself. Through our sufferings united to Jesus we become perfected for the eternal life with God.