Gospel: Mark 10: 1-12
Jesus is asked about divorce. He replies that anyone - man or woman - who divorces and remarries commits adultery. The problem here is that in ancient times it was only men who could legally petition for divorce; women were not able to do so. Divorce was always the prerogative of the man, and it left women in vulnerable situations. For they only had legal protections if attached to a male citizen. When they were not so, they were utterly dependent on the kindness of others for survival and necessities of life.
So, if a woman did remarry it was often out of necessity for her own survival. When a man divorced and remarried, it was often for more selfish ends. Jesus presents us with an ideal of marriage: loving relationships where the thought of divorce and remarriage is unthinkable. That is the ideal to which we all aspire. But what happens when that is not the case, when a person finds themselves in this situation?
Those who claim to rigidly adhere to Jesus' teachings here say there is no remedy, though they often find themselves supporting and defending those rich and powerful who have married and divorced multiple times. When Jesus was presented with a woman caught in the very act of adultery, he did not condemn her but found a pathway for her. The Samaritan Woman who was married five times is not spurned but becomes the first evangelist. We must follow Jesus' example and find pathways for the broken and vulnerable.
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