For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
Mk 10:2-16
GOSPEL EXPLANATION
The gospel reading is divided into two parts:
• Teaching about divorce
• The Kingdom of God and children
The Kingdom of God and Children.
Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it."
- The child referred to here may be up to 12 years old.
- It is not the innocence of a child that Jesus wanted to highlight. Rather it is his total dependence that makes him welcome the Kingdom of God with joy and gratitude.
Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
- It has been suggested that this passage was used to justify the practice of infant baptism.
Divorce.
Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.
- The divorce referred to is that one whose purpose is re-marriage.
- Jesus teaches that marriage creates an unbreakable sacramental bond between husband and wife.
