Christ Opened Marriage to
the Saving Action of God
General Audience, November 24, 1982
1. We have analyzed the Letter to
the Ephesians, especially the passage of 5:21-33, from the point of
view of the sacramentality of marriage. Now we shall examine the
same text in the perspective of the words of the Gospel.
Christ's words to the Pharisees (cf. Mt 19) refer to marriage as a
sacrament, that is, to the primordial revelation of God's salvific
will and deed at the beginning, in the very mystery of creation. In
virtue of that salvific will and deed of God, man and woman, joining
together in such a way as to become "one flesh" (Gn 2:24), were at
the same time destined to be united "in truth and love" as children
of God (cf. Gaudium et Spes 24), adopted children in the
only-begotten Son, beloved from all eternity. The words of Christ
are directed to this unity and toward this communion of persons, in
the likeness of the union of the divine persons (cf. Gaudium et Spes
24). His words refer to marriage as the primordial sacrament and at
the same time confirm that sacrament on the basis of the mystery of
redemption. In fact, the original "unity in the body" of man and
woman does not cease to mold the history of man on earth, even
though it has lost the clarity of the sacrament, of the sign of
salvation, which it possessed at the beginning.
2. If Christ, in the presence of those with whom he was conversing,
in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark (cf. Mt 19; Mk 10), confirms
marriage as a sacrament instituted by the Creator at the
beginning—if in conformity with this he insisted on its
indissolubility—he thereby opens marriage to the salvific action of
God, to the forces which flow from the redemption of the body, and
which help to overcome the consequences of sin and to constitute the
unity of man and woman according to the eternal plan of the Creator.
The salvific action which derives from the mystery of redemption
assumes in itself the original sanctifying action of God in the
mystery of creation.
3. The words of the Gospel of Matthew (cf. Mt 19:3-9; Mk 10:2-12),
have at the same time a very expressive ethical eloquence. These
words confirm—on the basis of the mystery of redemption—the
primordial sacrament, and at the same time, they establish an
adequate ethos which in our previous reflections we have called the
ethos of redemption. The evangelical and Christian ethos, in its
theological essence, is the ethos of redemption. Certainly, for that
ethos we can find a rational interpretation, a philosophical
interpretation of a personalistic character; however, in its
theological essence, it is an ethos of redemption, rather, an ethos
of the redemption of the body. Redemption becomes at the same time
the basis for understanding the particular dignity of the human
body, rooted in the personal dignity of the man and the woman. The
reason of this dignity lies at the root of the indissolubility of
the conjugal covenant.
4. Christ refers to the indissoluble character of marriage as a
primordial sacrament, and, confirming this sacrament on the basis of
the mystery of redemption, he simultaneously draws conclusions of an
ethical nature: "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and
marries another, she commits adultery" (Mk 10:11-12; cf. Mt 19:9).
It can be said that in this way redemption is given to man as a
grace of the new covenant with God in Christ—and at the same time it
is assigned to him as an ethos, as the form of the morality
corresponding to God's action in the mystery of redemption. If
marriage as a sacrament is an effective sign of God's salvific
action "from the beginning", at the same time—in the light of
Christ's words which are being considered here—this sacrament
constitutes also an exhortation addressed to man, male and female,
so that they may participate consciously in the redemption of the
body.
5. The ethical dimension of the redemption of the body is delineated
in an especially profound way when we meditate on Christ's words in
the Sermon on the Mount in regard to the commandment, "You shall not
commit adultery." "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not
commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his
heart" (Mt 5:27-28). We have previously given an ample commentary on
this statement of Christ in the conviction that it has a fundamental
significance for the whole theology of the body, especially in the
dimension of historical man. Although these words do not refer
directly and immediately to marriage as a sacrament, it is
impossible to separate them from the whole sacramental substratum.
As far as concerns the conjugal pact, the existence of man as male
and female is placed in that substratum, both in the original
context of the mystery of creation and then, later, in the context
of the mystery of redemption. This sacramental substratum always
regards individual persons. It penetrates into that which man and
woman are (or rather, into who man and woman are) in their original
dignity of image and likeness of God by reason of creation, and at
the same time, in the same dignity inherited in spite of sin and
again continually "assigned" to man as a duty through the reality of
the redemption.
6. Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount, gives his own interpretation
of the commandment, "You shall not commit adultery"—an
interpretation constitutes a new ethos—with the same lapidary words
he assigns as a duty to every man the dignity of every woman: and
simultaneously (even though this can be deduced from the text only
in an indirect way), he also assigns to every woman the dignity of
every man.(1) Finally he assigns to every one—both to man and
woman—their own dignity, in a certain sense, the sacrum of the
person. This is in consideration of their femininity or masculinity,
in consideration of the body. It is not difficult to see that
Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount regard the ethos. At the
same time, it is not difficult to affirm after deeper reflection
that these words flow from the very profundity of the redemption of
the body. Although they do not refer directly to marriage as a
sacrament, it is not difficult to observe that they achieve their
proper and full significance in relationship with the sacrament,
whether that primordial sacrament which is united with the mystery
of creation, or that in which historical man, after sin and because
of his hereditary sinfulness, should find again the dignity and
holiness of the conjugal union in the body, on the basis of the
mystery of redemption.
7. In the Sermon on the Mount—as also in the conversation with the
Pharisees on the indissolubility of marriage—Christ speaks from the
depths of that divine mystery. At the same time he enters into the
depths of the human mystery. For that reason he mentions the heart,
that intimate place in which there struggle struggle in man good and
evil, sin and justice, concupiscence and holiness. Speaking of
concupiscence (of the lustful look: cf. Mt 5:28), Christ made his
hearers aware that everyone bears within himself, together with the
mystery of sin, the interior dimension "of the man of
concupiscence." This is three-fold: "the concupiscence of the flesh,
the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life" (1 Jn 2:16).
It is precisely to this man of concupiscence that there is given in
marriage the sacrament of redemption as a grace and a sign of the
covenant with God—and it is assigned to him as an ethos.
Simultaneously, in regard to marriage as a sacrament, it is assigned
as an ethos to every man, male and female. It is assigned to his
heart, to his conscience, to his looks, and to his behavior.
According to Christ's words (cf. Mt 19:4), marriage is a sacrament
from the very beginning. At the same time, on the basis of man's
historic sinfulness, it is a sacrament arising from the mystery of
the redemption of the body.
Note
1. The text of St. Mark which speaks of the indissolubility of
marriage clearly states that the woman also becomes a subject of
adultery when she divorces her husband and marries another (cf. Mk
10:12).
Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 29
November 1982, page 9
Return to the Theology of the Body Main
Page...
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary