Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ; the Holy Martyr Juliana of Nicomedia (284-305)
Hebrews 12:25-26; 13:22-25; Mark 10:2-12
Nativity Fast.
Read Mark 10:2-12
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Jesus was very clear about the indissolubility of marriage. No one can break apart what God has joined together. When a man and a woman join themselves in marriage, they become one flesh joined together by God.
The married couple is an image of Christ and the Church. In St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, he emphasises the love, faithfulness, and obedience that should exist in marriage just as it exists between Christ and His Church. We read that we should “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21). When Christians practice obedience whether in marriage between husband and wife, a monastic to his or her superior, a clergy member to his bishop, or a child to his or her parents, we do so out of reverence for God and the orderliness He established in His creation. Obedience does not mean doing everything someone commands as if we were that person’s slave. Rather, obedience entails that we follow the will of the one we are subject to within the limits of that person’s authority. For example, no human authority to whom we owe obedience could ever coerce us to do something that goes against God’s will. God’s will is the highest authority. Obedience helps us form a right relationship between parties. In practising obedience to God, we learn the virtue of humility: understanding that God is God and we are not.
Marriage is an image of Christ’s love for the Church. Christ loves the Church with a deep, self-sacrificing love, and the Church practices obedience to Christ. St. Paul writes: “The husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church” and “just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands” (Eph. 5:23-24). Furthermore, husbands are instructed to “love [their] wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).
Although marriage is an image of Christ’s love for the Church, since we are sinful human beings, our marriages are only imperfect images of that perfect love that only God can show because God is Love. Marriages sometimes face devastating challenges and hardships, but it is the unconditional, unwavering commitment between the spouses for each other to overcome every obstacle which shows the power of the grace of God. Whether we join ourselves to a spouse in marriage, enter a monastery, or simply receive baptism to become a member of the Church, we enter into a new community of persons and accordingly face different challenges in our relationships. In spite of our differences, we always call upon the Holy Spirit to unite us just as He brought together all peoples at Pentecost.