When Jesus is asked a question about the rules regarding the breaking of marriage vows, we neither fully understand the context of the question nor the intent of the questioners. But Jesus, in his response the question, seems to ignore both and answers in such a way as to get us to the deep meaning of marriage itself.

Jesus’ answer to a question about divorce looks to another part of Scripture to make sense of the meaning of an obscure teaching of Moses’. And he points us to the mystical reality of God’s Creation and God’s intent in the act of creation, by the way he constructs the answer.

This is common with Jesus and his teaching. Rather than rise to the bait of a questioner and become embroiled in a sectarian theological dispute or be forced into a political camp, he invites us to see a deeper reality that takes away the barb of the question entirely.

This week, I invite you to reflect on the infinite value of every human being, each one created in the Image of God, and each one beloved of God. And to remember that you too are both beloved and made in that same image.