It is not good for man to be alone!

Gen. 2:18-24

18 Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him. 19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every [wild] beast and living creature of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatever Adam called every living creature, that was its name. 20 And Adam gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the air and to every [wild] beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part of his side and closed up the [place with] flesh. 22 And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 Then Adam said, This [creature] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man. 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Gospel Mark 10:2-16

2 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?” 3 Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law about divorce?” 4 “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.” 5 But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. 6 But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. 7 ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, 8 and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, 9 let no one split apart what God has joined together.” 10 Later, when he was alone with his disciples in the house, they brought up the subject again. 11 He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.”13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. 14 When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” 16 Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

Food for thought!

Today, we are all in a marriage course taught by Jesus. In this course there is a lesson for everybody, married, not yet married or not married. The first lesson is a verdict from God: It is not good for man to be alone. This conclusion is not made by us but by the Creator, who made us. God knows us better than we know ourselves, because he made us. When God says It is not good, it is because it is indeed not good.

The second lesson is that God knows who is suitable for whom: I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him. He said and says of each man. God knows us all, but also knows each one of us individually. It means that anyone that wants  to marry, must first go to his knees, in prayer, and ask God whom to marry. God knows who is fit for who.

The third lesson is that marriage came and comes from God. The first marriage came from God and every marriage comes from God. Marriage came from God, He willed it; He created it when He created them as male and female. The differences in sexes are not accidental but existential.

The fourth lesson is that man and woman are equal in dignity. Someone put it this way, “Eve was made by God not out of Adam’s head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, from under his arm to be protected and from near his heart to be loved. "And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man He built up and made into a woman." Because she is his equal, when man saw woman for the first time ever, "Adam said, This [creature] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh". Before we live this point, as men, we do well to know and treat women, not as subordinates, not as superiors, but as our equal. This is how God made them. That why it is wrong to say that BEHIND every great man there is a woman. It should read, BESIDES every great man there's a great woman.

The fifth lesson is that, if the woman is the helper of man, man is the helped; she supports the man; she is his support. This explains why it is the man that cleaves to the woman: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." To “cleave” means to “adhere to, to stick to, to be bound together by some strong bond.” Cleaving isn’t an instant thing. Rather, it is a lifelong pursuit. It begins at the marriage altar and continues to the deathbed. It speaks of total and absolute commitment. This is the word that is lacking in many homes of today. In marriage the two are united to each other so much that they become one. The man and woman come together to form and become one flesh (children), one new being. Children are the product of both. It means that parents should not stop children but welcome them, as Jesus says: “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them!

The sixth lesson's that just as it is impossible to separate or divide the child, so is it impossible to separate or divide the married man and woman. No wonder that Jesus adds "let no one split apart what God has joined together." It means that technically divorce is not only improper, it is also impossible. No one can separate what God has united.

The seventh lesson is that, just as it is impossible and improper to separate what God has united in marriage, so it is impossible and improper to join in marriage or to keep in marriage what God has not united or cannot unite. It means that some unions are not marriage; not every is marriage.