And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. (10:1)
I always focused on the Father, on the Kingdom of heaven, and on teaching about this. The works of the Father would then support this teaching. I would explain that I came to accomplish what Isaiah promised (Is 61), to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to comfort those who mourn. As the kingdom of the Father comes near, the consequences of sin move away and the light of the gospel appears.
And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (10:2)
I did not come to judge but to bring deliverance from sin. The Pharisees did not like that, because they did not have that power. The only power they had was to make people follow their understanding of the law of Moses. Therefore they made all the efforts they could to bring me back to this subject, with the hope that they could prove me wrong. They had the form of religion but not the heart required. Moses commanded to love the Father with all your heart, soul and strength, yet they did not do it. They thought that they just had to obey written laws, while the Father was calling them to a living relationship with Him.
I came to accomplish the law of Moses, to enable people and show them how to love the Father, how to live the intimate and joyful relationship with the Father we are called to live. It was strange that they would speak of the possibility of divorce, were the Father was longing for his people to stop worshipping idols and becoming adulterous. The Pharisees, by their blind attachment to written texts and their inconsistent application of these written texts, were in fact pulling people away from a living relationship with the Father, thus encouraging unfaithfulness to God despite their accent on the law of Moses. With the Sadducees, through their teaching, they were leading to themselves and not to the Father, making of the house of my Father a cavern of robbers. They were leading to a practical divorce from the Father, while pretending to lead to God through the analysis and application of a text from the Father. It was therefore really awkward from them to speak about the Father’s teaching concerning divorce.
He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. (10:3-5)
They focused on the possibility of writing a certificate of divorce, and the possibility for a man to get rid of his wife. I focused on the heart of the Father, that tolerated divorce not as a good thing but as a possibility because of the hardness of human hearts.
When you read the Scriptures, don’t make the same mistake, don’t focus on what you can do or cannot do, because that is not the heart of the Father in Scriptures. The heart of Scriptures is about a loving relationship with the Father and with me. Learn to love us, to develop an intimate relationship with us. Of course, these sacred texts will give you some practical guidance on what to do. Yet, don’t forget that the ultimate goal of Scriptures is to lead to a loving relationship with me, the Messiah, and through me to love the Father. I am the way to the Father, and I am the good shepherd. Don’t let thieves guide you to selfish goals, don’t let Scriptures become a dry set of rules. They speak about me and about the Father, come to me and you will find peace, real peace for your soul.
But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become on flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (10:6-9)
Through couples, the union of a man and a woman, God has always wanted to teach humans faithfulness and love. Love thrives in stable relationships, and the union between a man and a woman was designed by the Father to last for all their life, as a sign of the faithful relationship He wanted with each man and each woman. Loving God and loving your neighbor are enlightening each other. As you learn to be faithful to your wife or husband, you learn to be faithful to your God. As you learn to love God every day of your life, you learn to love His works and His creation, as it can be beautifully demonstrated in your love for your spouse. This has been the intention of the Father from the beginning.
Most people who desire to divorce imagine that their life will then be easier, while it is rarely the case. What is lacking in most cases is a strong relationship with me. As you learn to become intimate with me and the Father, as you learn to feed on the bread of heaven, this love relationship with us, you will be able to walk in dark places and remain joyful in challenging situations. It is true, in some cases divorce can be a solution, for instance in some cases of adultery, but it is never the first solution that the Father wanted. You should learn to listen to me and let me guide you as your shepherd, instead of seeking Scriptural rules to justify your selfish will.
In his desire to demonstrate what love is about, the Father even taught the prophet Hosea to stay with an unfaithful wife, as a teaching of His faithful love for Israel and for humanity. The question is always: is your relationship with God the first relationship in your life? Have you learned to receive the love of the Father and to let this love rule in your life? Or, do you let the imperfect human relationships become the most important relationships in your life, with their fleeting value and many imperfections? As long as you focus on men for becoming happy, you will chase happiness but not find it. As soon as you learn to let our love fill your heart, purify you completely through the tender presence of the Holy Spirit, you will discover that continual joy and happiness was as close to you as your right hand.
And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” (10:10-12)
You live in a culture where people think that sexuality is what makes people happy. It can be part of it, but it is certainly neither necessary nor fundamental for happiness. What is needed for happiness is to be filled with the love of the Father, and to learn to live a life full of this love for God and for your neighbor. Once you learn this lesson, once you stay attached to me as the branch is attached to the vine, nothing can destroy your joy and happiness.
By seeking your happiness in divorce and a new human relationship, by trying to remarry out of selfish motives, you will commit adultery, you will just show that you are unfaithful to the eternal vow you made to God and to your first spouse. People promise to be faithful to each other whatever the circumstances, but then they want to take back their vow when things get tough. If the Father did so with humans, there would not be a single human still alive today. Is it what you want, to see the Father remove his faithful love when you are unfaithful? If it is not the case, then don’t look at divorce as a good thing, because it is not. Learn to forgive and to receive God’s forgiveness. It is possible for a spouse to be faithful, even if the other is not, that is what the Father has demonstrated for a long time. It is possible even to love you enemy, as the Father wants you to learn. In all this, it is extremely important that you learn to listen to me and to follow me. In some very specific cases, I will allow a person to divorce, but not out of frustration, rather out of obedience to me.
Remember that the root of happiness is found in God and in His faithful love, and not in humans. Learn to welcome this love and to imitate it in your own life. Once you have learned this lesson of God’s faithful love, you will be a happy person whatever the human relationships you are in, you will be able to sing with joy while in prison, you will love even in front of enemies, you will remain in my peace even in the midst of war. Our love is not a cheap love that comes and goes, it is a stable and an all-conquering love. I died on the cross out of love for humans, and the Father brought me back to life. I have conquered death, sin and hatred. Welcome my victory, welcome our love. Shine of this perfect love and cast out the darknesses of your world.
No comments:
Post a Comment