Today's Gospel in Art - What God has united, man must not divide

18 Carat gold wedding rings

Gospel of 16th August 2019 - Matthew 19: 3-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and to test him they said, 'Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?' He answered, 'Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.'

They said to him, 'Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce?' 'It was because you were so unteachable' he said 'that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife - I am not speaking of fornication - and marries another, is guilty of adultery.'

The disciples said to him, 'If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry.' But he replied, 'It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are eunuchs born that way from their mother's womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.'

Reflection on the Wedding Rings

Whist wedding rings are not strictly speaking 'art', they do carry an artistic dimension as they express in a creative way and in visual form something that has deeper meaning… a deeper meaning which Jesus describes in today's Gospel.

The first evidence of what we would consider the forerunner of the custom of exchanging wedding rings is found in ancient Egypt...

To read on see: www.christianart.today/daily-gospel-reading/144