Please read the passage before the homily.
This passage about marriage is sandwiched between two cases about children. Perhaps the best discussion about marriage and divorce is to consider the interaction of Jesus with these children.
The book of Deuteronomy (24:1) presupposes the practice of divorce. Genesis (1:27; 2:24) teaches that God made the woman and man into one by marriage. According to God’s original plan there is no divorce. As it was in the days of Deuteronomy, so in our own days there are many divorces. More than half of marriages today end in divorce. We humans do not do well with our relationships whether marriage, friendship, business or other personal relationships.
Relationships fall apart for many reasons. Lack of maturity, surprised pregnancies hastening marriages, pride, selfishness, and the inability to continue the give and take needed to keep relationships alive.
Let us look at the child. The child in the days of Jesus was a nothing, one seen but not heard, one excluded from the everyday life of the community.
Those who become nothings, like little children, become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. To enter the kingdom we must become nothings, like little children.
To become great in marriage, or in any other relationship, we must become nothings. This does not mean that we have to let others walk over us or that we have to bury our egos in some distant place when we enter relationships. Good relationships are not based on non-existence, but on the subordination of personal preferences to the the good of the community formed by the relationship. In marriage and in all our relationships, there must be the loving dance of all that produces unselfishness, mutual subordination, and harmony. It is the same for the individual and for the country. By becoming nothings, we and our nation become somethings, great in the kingdom of God.