Weekly reflections

Watching the news story about the cruise ship that has been stuck in Belfast for five months, set me thinking about the Titanic which was constructed in Belfast, and the traditional lifeboat rule of ‘women and children first’.

This Sunday’s gospel reading is considered to be quite a tricky one for a modern congregation. Once again, the Pharisees are trying to catch Jesus out and this time they ask him if it is against the law for a man to divorce his wife. Jesus answers them with a question, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They reply that Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife. Jesus goes on to explain that Moses allowed it because they were unteachable at that time. He says that now they should follow the law of God: one man and one woman were created and the two become one in marriage. They are no longer two therefore but one body, and that no one should divide them.

An understanding of Jewish law at the time of Jesus is helpful in this reading. Any man could very easily divorce his wife because he has tired of her or to marry another woman. Women in the ancient Jewish world owned nothing of their own (which in fact was normal in most cultures). No property. No money. Even their children were considered the property of the husband. So when a man divorced his wife she was left completely destitute, having to fall back on relatives to keep her, or find a job as a servant, or resort to begging or even prostitution. A divorced woman was set outside of the family and the community. In our modern language, she was marginalised.

The second part of the reading concerns children. People were bringing their children to Jesus for him to touch them and bless them. The disciples were turning them away, but Jesus stops them. He says ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; For it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.’ The children of the poor had very little value in the ancient world. Poor children were generally considered a nuisance outside of the family. The attitude of the disciples reflected that culture. But Jesus turns that attitude on its head. He says, ‘I tell you solemnly, anyone who does not enter the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it’. He puts children on a pedestal as a good example for the adults to follow.

In this one reading, we see Jesus’ attitude to two extremely vulnerable groups: women and children. He goes against the cultural norms of his time to protect these two groups and to raise them up out of their lowly situations.

The debate on divorce has of course been going on since the time of Jesus. I certainly don’t have the room here to offer the ‘for and against’ arguments. But what is so interesting is the way that Jesus tackles the question. He uses it to expose the inequalities of his time. He is always on the side of those without power. In the words of his holy Mother, ‘He casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly’.

The rule of lifeboats at sea echoes this gospel reading: women and children first.

With my prayers for you all,