THE MARRIAGE QUESTION: AND ALL THAT BOTHER!

When people ask me about my marriage they don’t do it directly. These are two of the questions acquaintances have most frequently asked me: “When are you going to give us the news?” and “when are you going to give us a meal?” The first question is often followed by the second and when I readily offer them a meal at a place of their choice, they become more direct. This led me to ruminate on the subject….

The purpose of marriage is to be in harmony with humanity and society, to partake in love, sharing, friendship and companionship. Sect or community is not a criterion in marriage. People marry who they want to, when they want to. Though marriage ought to symbolize Christ’s union with the Church, a man’s union with a woman is seldom without infidelity on either side. They often tell you that there is no ideal person, and likewise, no ideal marriage. Sometimes, it does cause a flutter when one discovers that the person one has married is not a virgin. It does harm to the family when one encounters unchaste behavior in the spouse after marriage. Marriage has become a social contract broken at will and is fraught with fissures aplenty.

Getting married can be a tie that limits a person, prevents him from ascending to high endeavors that the Lord has planned to bestow, and can keep him subdued, a warped creature. Even as Adam was undone by a woman, so was Samson by certain other women and so was even the wise Solomon. A woman provides the companionship that a man needs and to that end is she made, heir together with the man, joint heirs with Christ. God is good. However, the good job that God had made with the creation of the woman has only got a strangely ungrateful response from man, in that he has ever gone after her, even against God Himself, practicing voyeurism, engaging in fantasy and corrupting his mind with thoughts of women, rather than thoughts of the eternal God and executing His will for him by seeking Him and asking Him to lead him and submitting to Him so that the purpose for which he was made can be fulfilled.

That is all we ought to do – submit – and He does everything.

It is even as God commanded King David to wait for the stirring atop the mulberry trees. We ought to likewise await the Lord. Whatever He does is right and just and His mercy endures forever and His love for us knows no bounds, for even as He says, no eye has seen nor ear heard what He has in store for those who love Him and keep His commands.

Jesus Christ lived on the earth as a celibate and His apostle Paul of the New Testament lived such a life. They both dedicated their lives to humanity, associating themselves with the rejects of society. They worked for the amelioration of the downtrodden by teaching and helping. Celibacy is a noble state for a man provided he devotes himself to service and spiritual pursuits. If he is not ready to direct himself in these spheres, he had rather confine his life to a woman of his choice by marriage.

Ideal marriage is still, not an impossibility. When both the man and the woman realize the importance of God in their lives, and are able to prioritize everything in accordance to the prime objective of serving Him, then marriage can surely be a wonderful blessing not only to them and their children but also to all those around them.

JOZABAD: YHWH HAS BESTOWED!