27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mark 10,2-16

Some Pharisees approached him and asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ They were putting him to the test. He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They replied, ‘Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were so hard hearted that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female.  This is why a man leaves his father and mother, and the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh. So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.’ Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.’ People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded them,  but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.