The more time I spend in Scripture, the more relevance I draw from the inspired word of God in application to the ordinary life around me.
In our culture as in Jesus' time, marriage is a contentious matter. The Pharisees want to see Jesus tripped up by the intricacies of Jewish law, looking for an "aha" moment to discredit this disappointing would-be Messiah who doesn't look or act like anyone expected He would. They see a weakness, an opening: marriage. Isn't it obvious that if He were really God, He would be able to make straight the convoluted paths of suffering and failure and infidelity wound through the tapestry of the Old Testament?
But Jesus looks at them and sees their hearts. He sees the human soul which He lovingly crafted into existence, longing for something more. Even the hardened hearts of His earthly enemies hungered for this authentic love.
I imagine Jesus here speaking gently but firmly, loving the Pharisees even as they challenge His authority. Loving His disciples even as they question Him again back at the house, continue to fail Him repeatedly, stumbling towards the yet-unseen grace of the Cross.
"But from the beginning of creation . . . " (Mark 10:6).
We were made for more. Lovingly crafted by His own hands, brought together, male and female, to complete the image of His divine union of love, the Trinity.
We see the wreckage of original sin writ large in the perpetual human struggle to live this impossible union of husband and wife apart from the grace of God.
Without His redemptive love, it is not possible. With His redemptive love, it still remains the most difficult thing on earth. God knows what our hearts need; He stands ready to fill them over and over again, pouring inexhaustible grace through all the cracks and broken places.
Learn more about the Church's teachings on marriage over at the Catechism.
Jenny Uebbing is a wife, mother to five, and the author of the blog Mama Needs Coffee where she writes about sex, marriage, and the Catholic Church. She's a freelance writer, a speaker, and an espresso enthusiast. You can find out more about her here.
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