Scripture:
1 Kings 19:9a, 11-16
Matthew 5:27-32
Reflection:
As empowering and liberating as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was, he made no bones about adultery and divorce. “Tear out your right eye,” he said. “Cut off your right hand,” he said.
Gee, that sounds a little harsh, we might respond.
Among the sacraments, the commitment made at marriage is more than a wish or a hope. It’s a covenant, a profound promise, a vow. It is something more sacred than almost any other promise: a solemn promise witnessed by a packed church of witnesses and, dare we forget, by God himself.
Self-mutilation was more likely a metaphor, but why might Jesus have suggested mutilation at all?
Let us think about the children born of the vowed marriage. When divorce happens—often because of adultery—let us reflect on the thousands of books written by adults whose memoirs detail the lifelong pain that resulted from their parents’ divorce. Divorce scars the psyches of children and their adult selves. It engenders brutal destruction: the destruction of their belief system, trust in other human beings, confidence, and one’s entire belief system. The children might witness their role-modeling parents disintegrate into shallow versions of themselves. They can feel abandoned entirely for a lifetime. The feelings inside the mind, heart, and soul might be illustrated as the pillars of the Parthenon crumbling in front of their eyes. The ground has collapsed. There is no longer any centeredness.
So, yes, who among us, when breaking a solemn vow or not working hard enough to avoid adultery and divorce, would not look back and say, “If I could have prevented this devastation on my children by tearing out an eye or cutting off a hand, does that sound so harsh?”
Jack Dermody is the editor of the CrossRoads bulletin for the Passionist Alumni Association and a member of the Migration Commission for Holy Cross Province. He lives in Glendale, Arizona.