Jesus & The Truth About Marriage

by Fr. Roger J. Landry - September 16, 2005

Those who are faithful to Jesus Christ are now being called by the successors of his apostles in the state of Massachusetts to rise up in defense of the institution of marriage as God created it in the beginning.

Jesus' teaching on marriage is clear. Even though he never directly addressed the subject of same-sex unions — he never had to, for the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" to whom he was sent were faithful to the divinely-inspired Mosaic law against homosexual activity (Lev 18:22) — he did speak very clearly about the nature of marriage.

In response to a question about divorce, Jesus enunciated several principles that are as relevant to the subject of same-sex unions as they are to the original query. He took marriage back to creation and described its nature and essential properties:

"In the beginning God 'made them male and female.' … 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate" (Mt 19:4-6).

In this concise response, Jesus mentions four things pertinent to the issue of same-sex marriage:

1. "In the beginning, God 'made them male and female.'" — Creation was not by chance. God made us male and female, and not male and male, for a reason. He purposefully united man's masculinity and woman's femininity together in the image of God (Gen 1:27).
2. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife." — Because of man's nature ("for this reason"), he leaves his parents and clings not to whomever he wishes but to a wife. His masculinity is directed by the Creator to a woman's femininity, since his masculinity contains within a paternal meaning that can be naturally fulfilled only when joined to a woman's capacity for motherhood. To accept "who we are" as male or female is to recognize the complementary nature of this innate maternal or paternal potential, and to accept another in love is to recognize that same potential. Homosexual couples, in this respect, neither accept the full meaning of who they are or who their partner is.
3. "… And the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh." Jesus says that marriage is meant to bring about a one-flesh union. This is not a romantic metaphor (however beautiful), and it refers to more than the temporary union of bodies that occurs in the act of sexual intercourse. It indicates the lasting union — the marriage — of a man's and woman's flesh in a child who is a symbol and a fruit of their loving union. Same-sex couples are obviously incapable of this type of natural one-flesh union in a child.
4. "What God has joined, let no one separate" — God joins not just a particular man and a particular woman indissolubly in marriage, but has created marriage as the union of man and woman in general. If we try to separate what God has joined, to make marriage a man-less or a woman-less institution (as it would be for same-sex couples), we will go not only against God but against the way he has made us.

To raise Jesus' teachings on marriage does not mean that one has to have recourse to religious arguments in the debate on same-sex marriage. Most people, including non-Christians, will find in Jesus' testimony about marriage a clear presentation of what is already recognizable by reason.

But Jesus' teaching should have a particular impact on those who call themselves his followers. No faithful follower of Jesus with an informed conscience could ever support same-sex marriage, because Jesus could never support it. And the greatest support his disciples can give those in same-sex unions, and to society in general, is the service of the truth in love. Bishop Coleman, for Christ, has called us to action. The common good and the salvation of those with same-sex attractions are at stake.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.