“What therefore God has joined together, let no one put asunder” Matthew 19:6.
“Let no one put asunder!” As the divorce rate increases, the average person seems to have an increasingly cynical view of marriage. Recently our two best friends got married—and were met with numerous “marriage critics” during their final month of engagement. Weeks, and eventually days, before their wedding, coworkers began telling the bride-to-be their thoughts on marriage.
Can you even imagine the amount of heartache required before a person tells a fiancé that marriages are shams? I hope not!
Marriage is hard. Of course it is. It’s hard to balance your checkbook, make life decisions, be responsible, and just live on your own. It multiplies with another person. Suddenly you have another person to answer to at the end of the day. You don’t make all your decisions alone. Worst of all, you put your life in someone else’s hands. I cannot imagine anyone who gets divorced would come out with a positive view of marriage in general. So far, no one has proved me wrong.
Marriage is not possible without God.
The Gospel reading at our friends’ wedding was from Matthew. It featured the iconic line: “What therefore God has joined together, let no one put asunder.” In his homily, the celebrating priest explained Christ instituted marriage as a sacrament at the wedding feast at Cana. Christ established marriage as an outward sign that gives grace.
In the Old Law of Moses, divorce was permitted. Marriages were not necessarily expected to last. When Christ came to fulfill the law, He said what God joins together, man cannot separate.
Marriage was not a joining by God in the Old Law. It was a contract more than a covenant. Not until Christ instituted marriage as a sacrament by His presence and miracle in Cana was marriage a covenant between the couple and God. When Jesus says man may no longer divorce his wife, it is not because He intends to abolish the Old Law. It’s because He has given us a new way of life in the New Law.
Marriage is not possible without God’s grace. Even God new that! That’s why divorce was permitted until Christ bestowed grace on sacramental marriage. Does that mean every marriage failed before 30 A.D.? No. Does that mean every marriage since can succeed in happiness and holiness? Yes.
We have everything we need, if we take it.
As Christians with access to the sacramental grace of marriage, we have everything we need to succeed. Our marriages get to be a covenant between each other and under God. We recognize our lives are in His hands, and that we serve a greater purpose than ourselves. Marriage in the Church is the straight and narrow path through the hard crossroads of life. When our marriages are made for God, He gives us the grace to endure hardships. What God joins together, no one can put asunder.
