ACCORDING
TO THIS IMAGE
Every young man has an image of what he considers to be the
perfect woman. Every young woman has an image of what she considers to be the
perfect man. These images are taken from experience, but touched up
considerably by imagination. One thing people cannot do is create someone
according to this image. They must search for their ideal person.
Such is not the case with God. He does not love people because
they are beautiful. Rather, people become beautiful because God loves them. God
has the power to create people according to the image He has for them. We are
created in His very own image and likeness...
What is God's intention for our state in life, whether married
or single? Jesus deals with the issue of divorce by taking His listeners back
to the beginning of creation and to God's plan for the human race. In Genesis
(2:23-24) we see God's intention and ideal that two people who marry should
become so indissolubly one that they are one flesh. That ideal is found in the
unbreakable union of Adam and Eve. They were created for each other and for no
one else. They are the pattern and symbol for all who were to come. Jesus
explains that Moses permitted divorce as a concession in the view of a lost
ideal. Jesus sets the high ideal of the married state before those who are
willing to accept His commands. Jesus, likewise sets the high ideal for those
who freely renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Both
marriage and celibacy are calls from God to live a consecrated life. A
consecrated life is to live as married couples, or as singles who belong not to
themselves, but to God. Our lives are not our own. They belong to God. He gives
the grace and power to those who seek to follow His way of holiness in their
state of life.
In the scriptures, there is one God and one people in one
relationship of fidelity. This is an image for marriage with God's own
faithfulness as the key. Marriage is at its best when men and women live in a
relationship of fidelity and trust. Whatever comes their way they face it
together and do not walk away.
In the first reading today: Ezekiel in the straightforward image
struggles to show how it was God who made His people beautiful. They had
nothing of their own to give them charm or appeal. God did it all. Then
forgetting from where their beauty came, the people gave themselves over to
harlotry, a symbol of their abandoning God for pagan idols and disgraceful
living.
Through all this, God did not abandon His people. Divorce is not
in His vocabulary. One reason Jesus condemned divorce is that Christian
marriage is a human expression of God's love for His people. Leaving aside any
discussion of today's problems involving divorce, we should acknowledge that we
have been made beautiful people by God. What we do does not make us lovable. It
is His almighty power, which makes us worthwhile. May we never forget that we
must respond to God's love by the complete devotion of our lives.