Reading 1
Gn 2:18-24
The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep,
he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib
that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
"This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called 'woman, '
for out of 'her man’ this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
Mk 10:2-16 (or 10:2-12)
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied,
"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them,
"Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
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."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
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."
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
"Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it."
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
(a) Good stuff. That's what I want when I grow up.
ReplyDelete(b) Why is it that Adam says, "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh"? Why does that matter? He doesn't say, "Here, at last, is one I can love and serve and who can help me grow in holiness." Now some people might argue that the former is just a poetic way of saying the latter. But that would seem to suggest that we can only love those who are like us, which I don't think is the point. What, then, IS the point?
(c) Why the connection of the bit about divorce and the bit about accepting the Kingdom like a child? The obvious answer is marriage, of course. But Jesus doesn't say much about parenting; instead, He uses the child as an object less about faith, which seems to be a wholly different topic. Unless He's suggesting that one of the reasons children are a blessing is because we can learn so much from them, like simple acceptance. Maybe? Is there a stronger connection between the two little episodes in the Gospel? (Put another way: Why include the bit about accepting the Kingdom like a child? Without that, it seems just to be about openness to life - "let the children come to me" - and about how children are a blessing - as evidenced by the fact that Jesus Himself blesses them.)
Aaron, can you expand more on point B?
ReplyDeleteNick, sorry not to get back sooner. (Blog administrators, please take note: it's very annoying having to use the "subscribe by email" function to keep up with comments. Most blogs automatically do that, if you're using a Google profile. Much easier...)
ReplyDeleteWhat confuses me about the "bone of my bone" comment is that Adam seems to be saying, "Oh, I can love this one because she's like me." While clearly there's something to be said for compatibility, can we only love people who are like us? Of course not. Indeed, we are called to love all men, even our enemies.
What, then, is the key similarity that Adam sees in Eve which allows him to love in a way that he cannot love the animals? Aristotle would suggest that it's the rational soul. Perhaps more to the point, it's volition: Eve can respond by choosing to love in a way that the animals can not. Still, Adam's word choice seems like an odd way of expressing that.