ONE FLESH
ONLY
The Family and the State, imperfect methods compared with
heavenly beatitude, are necessary during our terrestrial probation; and since
they are necessary they should at least become less impure and less imperfect. The
unsaved take it the opposite direction. As long as rulers exist, at least the
man who rules should feel himself the equal of the man who serves. As long as
marriage exists, the union between man and woman should be eternal and
faithful.
In marriage Jesus sees first of all the joining of two
bodies. On this point He ratifies the metaphor of the Old Law quoting from
Genesis, "So then they are no more
twain, but one flesh." (Matt. 19:6; Mark 10:8). Husband and wife are
one body, inseparable. This man shall never have another woman; this woman shall never know another man until
death divides them. The mating of male and female, when it is not the
expression of careless immorality, or secret fornication, when it is the
meeting of two healthy virginities, when it is preceded by free choice, by an innocent
passion, by a public and consecrated contract, has an almost mystic character
which nothing can cancel. The choice is irrevocable, the passion is confirmed,
and the contract is for eternity. Within the two bodies clinging to each other
with bodily desire, there are two souls which recognize each other and find
each other in love. Their flesh becomes one flesh; their two souls become one
soul.
The two have been fused into one, and from this communion
will be born a new creature formed of the essence of both, which will be the
visible form of their union, perfectly reflecting in one flesh the image of God
in which they were made. Love makes them like God, His likeness made known in
this new creature, creators of a new and miraculous creation.
But this Duality of the flesh and of the spirit—the most
perfect among imperfect human relations—should never be disturbed or
interrupted. Adultery corrupts it, divorce destroys it. Homosexuality doesn’t
something even greater, completely disobeying His command to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth.” (Gen 1:28) Adultery treacherously corrodes the union; divorce repudiates
it definitely. Adultery is a secret divorce founded upon untruth and betrayal;
divorce followed by another marriage is sanctioned adultery. Homosexuality
stimyies population growth with complete disobedience to God’s commands.
Jesus always condemns adultery and divorce and
homosexuality in the most solemn and absolute manner. His whole nature holds
unfaithfulness in horror. There will
come a day, he warns people, in speaking of heavenly life, in which men and
women will not marry; but up to that day marriage should have at least all the
perfections possible to its imperfection. And Jesus who always goes below the
surface of things does not call adulterer only the man who robs his brother of
his wife, but also the man who looks at her in the street with lustful eyes.
The man who has underhand relations with another man's wife is an adulterer,
but no less an adulterer is he who, having put aside his own wife, marries
another. On one occasion alone, He seems to admit the possibility of divorce to
the husband of an adulteress; but the crime of the rejected wife could never
justify the crime which the betrayed man would commit in taking another wife.
Confronted with a law so absolute and so rigorous, even
the Disciples took alarm. "If the
case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto
them, all men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For
there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there
are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which
have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able
to receive it, let him receive it." (Matt. 19:10-12)
Marriage is a concession to human nature, and to the
propagation of life. "All men
cannot receive this saying," are not capable of remaining pure,
virgin, and alone, but only "they to
whom it is given." Perfect celibacy is a grace, a reward of the
victory of the spirit over the body.
Any man who wishes to give all his love to a great undertaking
must condemn himself to purity. He cannot serve both humanity and the
individual. The man who has a difficult mission to carry out, demanding all
his strength up to the last of his days, cannot tie himself to a woman.
Marriage means abandoning oneself to another being—but the Savior must abandon
himself to all other beings. The union of two souls is not enough for Him—and
it would make more difficult, perhaps impossible, union with all other souls.
The responsibilities which come with the choice of a mate, the birth of
children, the creation of a little community in the midst of the great
community of the human race, are so heavy that they would be a daily hindrance
to undertakings infinitely more serious. The man who wishes to lead other men,
to transform them, cannot bind himself for all his life to one being alone. He
would need to be faithless to his wife or to his mission. He loves all his
brothers too much to love one only of his sisters. The Hero is solitary.
Solitude is his penalty and his greatness. He renounces the pleasures of
marital love, but the love which is in his heart, when communicated to all men,
is multiplied into a sublimation of sacrifice surpassing all earthly joys. The man with no mate is alone, but is free;
his soul, unhampered by common and material thoughts, can rise to the heights.
He does not beget children of his own flesh, but he brings to a second birth
the children of his spirit. It is not given to everyone, however, to resist and
abstain. "He that is able to receive
it, let him receive it." (Vs. 12b) The foundation of the Kingdom
needs all men who will give all their souls to it; the lusts of the flesh, even
when confined to legitimate marriage, are weakening for him who should give all
his attention to the things of the spirit. That is a eunuch.
Those who will know the resurrection of the great day of
triumph will have no further temptations. In the Kingdom of Heaven the joining
of man and woman, even sanctified as it is by the permanence of marriage, will
exist no more. Its real end is the perfection of humanity, and in that day
Death will be conquered and the everlasting renewing of the generations will no
longer be necessary. "For when they
shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but
are as the angels which are in heaven." (Mark 12:25)
With this attainment of eternal and angelic life—the two
promises and the two certainties of Christ—what has seemed endurable will
become unthinkable, that which seemed pure will become vile, that which was
holy will become imperfect. In that highest and happy world all the trials of
the human race will be over. A hasty mating with a stolen woman was enough for
the primitive animalistic man. Man rose to the higher level of marriage, to
union with one woman alone. And the man who has attained to perfection in
Heaven, who is all spirit and love, will have conquered the flesh even in
memory. In a world where there will be no poor, sick, and unhappy or enemies,
his love will be transfigured into a perfect individual.
The cycle of births will then be closed. The Kingdom of
God will be forever established. The citizens of the Kingdom will be eternally
the same, themselves and no other through all the centuries. Woman will no
longer bring forth her young with suffering. The sentence of exile will be
revoked, the Serpent will be conquered; the Father will joyfully welcome his
wandering son. Paradise will be found again and will never more be lost.
The opposite of marriage is separation – reconciled.
Brought back from the wrong pathway led by the deceiver instead of Christ.
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