Unlike human marriage, which is marred by sin, Jesus never seeks to divorce us due to irreconcilable differences.
According to Scripture, God has been concerned that we are not left alone from the beginning of creation. Life is a gift from God, and a life lived with others enhances this gift in every way. We were created to live with other people and to love them as God loves us.
But there's an even more vital relationship God has instituted to protect, help, and encourage us to enjoy all things: marriage. From the beginning of creation, "God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh" (Mk 10:6-8).
More than any other relationship, when a man and woman become one flesh in marriage, they give themselves to the other in the way of a gift. They are partners in a life-long union bound up by God's promise that he will not allow anyone to cut their marriage bond.
Through a marriage, man and woman become like one person. Everything of themselves committed to the relationship, nothing left out or held back. With their whole selves now intertwined, God gives life to families through marriage. A new generation of sons and daughters created and birthed into the world to enjoy their days, months, and years with their families and God. More than that, the whole community benefits from husband and wife being made father and mother. Now the community benefits from God expanding marriage to include all the gifts of father, wife, and family. As it was at the beginning of creation, so it is today, God creating and multiplying male and female so that they spread out into communities and nations and the world to help and serve others.
In this way, God also guarantees that anyone who doesn't choose to marry, or doesn't have an opportunity to marry, isn't left alone. God wants everyone to enjoy life lived with others, loving and being loved as he loves us through his Son.
With Christ Jesus, marriage is revealed not just as God's intention to surround us in community, but also as a reflection of his relation to the Church. The Church is the bride, and Jesus is the Bridegroom. In the same way that God binds man and woman together so that they become one flesh in marriage, Jesus binds himself to his bride so that we can say with assurance that we are the body of Christ, one flesh joined in mystical union with our Beloved.
This is a gift that is greater than any marriage. Unlike human marriage, which is marred by sin, Jesus never seeks to divorce us due to irreconcilable differences. God renews us every day through his word and Spirit to trust that he is always at work to surround us with family, friends, and companions while we await the new heavens and earth on the Last Day. He also keeps working for us so that, in Christ, his promises to be our Savior God, loving Father, and a steadfast companion remain our constant hope today and forever.
