Saint Stephen of Hungary (Optional Memorial)

From the beginning . . . 

Question: What’s the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer? Answer: A good lawyer knows the law. A great lawyer knows the judge.

In a way, this joke illustrates the difference between Jesus and the Pharisees who question him in today’s reading. These Pharisees come to Jesus with a legal question: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (Matthew 19:3). But Jesus, who knows the Judge—his heavenly Father—inside and out, answers from a completely different angle: “From the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’” (19:4).

Jesus’ questioners wanted to know the limits of the Law—how far a person could go before he broke the rules governing a marriage contract. Jesus, on the other hand, brought them back to the very “beginning,” before laws were even necessary. Before sin entered the world, there was only the way of love. This way was all about the mutual self-giving at the heart of marriage, not penalties and judgments or rules and regulations. There was only the desire between a man and a woman to share their whole selves with each other: spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

Like the Pharisees in today’s reading, we live in a world focused on laws and how far we can stretch their limits: How fast is too fast on the highway? How creatively can you bend the tax code? Is it okay if it’s just a venial sin? But Jesus is calling us to ask other, deeper questions: What is the most loving way I can relate to this person? Will these words I’m about to say reflect the humility of the Lord? How is this situation inviting me to take up my cross and serve as Jesus served? If we can focus on these questions, chances are we’ll end up upholding the law much better than if we focus only on legalities.

From the beginning. From the heart of God. From the wood of the cross. Make these your starting points and your end goals. Not only will your decisions become more pleasing to God; they will also win more people over to love the Lord and to give him their hearts.

“Jesus, teach me how to make love my aim in all that I do.”

Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63
(Psalm) Isaiah 12:2-6
Matthew 19:3-12