A reflection on Matthew 19:3-12
Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
©️2021 Gloria M. Chang
Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” His disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
Matthew 19:3-12
In the beginning when all was one,
Adam was breathed through the Word, God’s Son.
Adam and the Trinity
The second line of the couplet expresses the Trinity as breath (Holy Spirit), the Word (Son), and the one who breathes (Father).
Original Virginity
Beneath the discussion about marriage lies a primordial metaphysical truth: the essential unity of the human race in Adam/Christ beyond the division of the sexes. The virginity of Christ mirrors Adam’s original virginity, stamped in the image of the Virgin Father, Virgin Son, and Virgin Holy Spirit.
Marriage of Christ and the Church
Marriage on earth is a sign of the union between Christ and the Church, divinity and humanity, in the second person of the Trinity. Assuming human nature in its entirety, Christ integrates male and female, Jew and Gentile, in his Body. Yet the Body of Christ is not a monistic unity. Personal differentiation sets Trinitarian communion apart from monism.
Eunuchs for the Kingdom of God
Jesus’ final words about eunuchs for the kingdom of God establish the vocation of virginity/celibacy as an eschatological sign. Participating in the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, human persons will join Jesus and Mary in a condition “like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30).
At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.
Matthew 22:30
Dear GMC, your reflection reminds us that the spirit of God that flows through us is inexhaustible, and there is always more to discover through the years.