God has instituted marriage for mutual friendship. This act has started in the book of Genesis with the marriage of the first Adam and ends in the book of Revelation with the marriage of the last Adam. Marriage is the image of the relationship of God – man and Christ – Church. The Apostle teaches that marriage should be honorable to all. One should enter into this status with respect and holiness. Along with mutual respect, fear of God is also very important in married life. According to the Indian religious thought a man is passing through four stages (Ashramams) in his life time. This is called as purushashramadharmam – brahmacharyashramam, grahsthrashramam, vanaprasthashramam and sanyasashramam. Brahmacharyashramam is the first 25 years of a man’s life in which he is under a guru in the gurukulam in divine meditation, study of the scriptures and search for the truth. In the next stage of 25 years he has to enter into family life and live doing good to the society with social thinking. This stage is called grahasthashramam. Mariage is the initiation ceremony at the entry into grahasthashramam. This stage is known as a time of knowing and recognizing each other. Through the ceremony of marriage one enters into the home. Grah is known as family and home. The Hebrew word baith (house) is very close to the concept of family. It has been interchangeably used for family (Ps 68:6, 1 Chro. 13:14) and house (2 Chro. 35:5-12). People who are living in one house or a community or the whole of the people of Israel (Is. 5:7) are sometimes called by the word baith. Family is the basic unit of the society. The Bible says that the family has been established by God. God who found that it is not good for man to be alone instituted the family by making him part of that and giving a marriage treaty. The Holy Bible gives certain guidelines for the permanency of the marriage relationship.

1. Honor marriage through faithfulness (Mal. 2:13-16)
When we say marriage should be seen respectfully an important aspect of it is mutual faithfulness. “…do not break faith with the wife of your youth” (Mal. 2:15b), “So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith” (Mal. 2:16b). Faithfulness is one of the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22). Bible teaches to be faithful in mutual relationships. Faithfulness is highly required for the head of the family (1 Cor. 4:2; 2 Cor. 1:17,18).It is said that Jesus was faithful to the father during his time of public ministry and Moses was faithful in all his stewardship (Heb. 3:1-5). In the modern times the value of faithfulness between the husband and the wife is very much watered down. This leads to many breakdowns.

2. Honor marriage through love (1 Cor. 13:1-14:1)
Usually 1 Cor. Chapter 13 is read in all marriage services. What St. Paul says to the husband is very important at this occasion. Love your wife as Christ has loved the church (Eph. 5:25). Christ has loved us not by seeing the goodness in man. But Christ has loved us when we were yet sinners. Therefore, grace or love has increased in the place of the multiplicity of sin (Rom. 5:8, 20). This verse reminds us to love, forgiving weaknesses and mistakes just as God has loved man. Love is the most important commandment of the Bible. The truth is that love contains everything (Jn. 13:14,15; Gal. 5:14; Matt. 22:39,40; 1 Jn. 3:11).

3. Honor marriage without separating (Mk. 10:2-9)
Jesus takes the stand that what God has joined together no man should separate (Matt. 5:31,32, 19:3-10; Mk. 10:2-12; Lk. 16:18). The rule of divorce of the wife has been given to man in the commandments because of the hard heartedness of the Jewish people. Anyone leaves the wife other than adultery and marry another one commits adultery (Matt. 19:9). In the same way he encourages her also to do the same sin (Mk. 10:12).The freedom of a woman to leave her husband was only among the Greeks and the Romans, but not among the Jews. In both places (Matt. 15:32, 19:9) where Jesus quotes it is said that one may divorce his wife on the ground of adultery. But there are differences of opinion among New Testament scholars regarding the validity of this text. Paul quotes the words of Jesus earlier than the gospels (the letter to Corinthians was written much earlier than the gospel of Matthew). Paul says “… A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife” (1 Cor. 7:11). The words of Jesus echoes the idea that though the husband and wife are living separately, the marriage relationship is not cancelled (Lk. 16:18). The Pharisees tested Jesus and asked the question is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason? Jesus quoted the Biblical references from the Old Testament regarding family life and gave the answer, “what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Matt. 19:6). Then they asked another question, “Can a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and sent her away?” The answer of Jesus to this question is very interesting, “But it was not this way from the beginning”. Jesus is asking them to look back into the time beyond Moses. Because of the hard heartedness of men the rules to divorce the wife were formulated. But Jesus is inviting everyone to come back to God’s rule. Paul advices to submit one another (Eph. 5:21) - especially to the wife, he says obey to your husbands as if to the Lord (Eph. 5:22). Submission originates from mutual dependence. The attitude of dependence both husband to wife and wife to husband should be cultivated. The reason is that man is a mutual dependant being. Here the thought both will become one gets stronger (Gen. 2:24, Mk. 10:8, Eph. 5:31). The couple leaves their own parents and family backgrounds to become a new family in which the mutual dependence becomes very strong. Here importance is given not for individual freedom but for inter dependence. Thus, the nature of mutual submission will increase.

Collect: O God our heavenly Father, you have instituted marriage and blessed the earth with families to fulfill your purpose. May all husband and wife glorify your name as they reflect the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ, and honor you as they live in joyful humility. Teach them the fear of the Lord that they may always drink from their own cisterns and so preserve the sanctity of marriage; fill their cup of life with agape love that they may always rejoice in the blessedness of marriage, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen