No blog post yesterday, because of the Holy Day, just like I don't post on Sunday. Today's Gospel, though, is as challenging as any of them (Mt 19: 3-12) and deserves some thought. Jesus is asked if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all. Note the context-- the question is whether there are limitations of the kind of reason a man must have to justify a divorce. There is no analagous question regarding a woman, since they had no rights at all in this regard. If they wanted a divorce, they had to get the man to give them one. So this question is really about whether the solely-male perogative is limited. Jesus explicitly overrules Moses, who said a man could give a woman a bill of divorce, and says that whoever divorces his wife (except if the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery. It is a shocking proclaimation. Jesus doesn't just say there has to be a good reason for a man to divorce his wife; He says that the man can't divorce his wife, putting the man just where the woman already was. Talk about levelling the playing field! Not surprisingly, the men react badly to this, but Jesus has little patience for their complaint. He says, essentially, those are the rules and if you don't like it, don't get married. Tough stuff, right? But this is only one of many times when Jesus raises the bar when it comes to how to live our lives. He says love your ennemies, not just your friends. He says do for others what you would have them do for you, not just avoid doing things you wouldn't like. He makes it clear in the parable of the good Samaritan, that we are to treat everyone as our neighbor, not just members of our own circie of friends. It isn't bad only to act in lust, He says, it is also bad to think lustful thoughts. The list goes on and on. In all these areas Jesus has taken the Law and ramped it up several notches. He sets a bar much higher than it had been, so high that it is unattainable. And then He does two things: (1) He reminds us that God will give us the strength to go to the high bar Jesus sets, if we only ask Him; and (2) He tells us that God is a God of mercy and forgiveness so that if (I should say when) we fail, we can be forgiven. Without those two things we'd be doomed. But we're not, because that's not what God wants. What God wants is for us to live the best, fullest life we can, and the high standards jesus sets allow us to do that. Fortunately, it is a package deal-- high standards, a way to achieve them, and a relief if we fail. Quite the package!