20th Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Mark 10:2-16
Pastor Jean M. Hansen
Last week, I began my sermon by saying that both the hearing and preaching of the Gospel in recent weeks has been challenging. It’s true again today, although if I skip verses 2-12 that would not be so much the case. However, there is a word of grace even in that which is difficult to hear.
Last week was the “I really mean it” Gospel in which Jesus used surprising and exaggerated images to make it clear to his followers that what he was saying was important. (Remember the cutting off a hand or foot, or plucking out an eye part?) He was indicating that they must get rid of anything that was keeping them from experiencing and sharing God’s grace. That’s how valuable the Kingdom of God is, Jesus was saying, it’s worth the sacrifice.
He has some serious things to say in today’s text as well, although without the context for that day and time, we won’t be able to fully understand them. First, it’s important to note that Jesus was responding to a “trick question” as today’s reading begins. The Pharisees wanted to embroil Jesus in a rabbinic debate about divorce and that they hoped would put him in a negative light. The question was: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
The fact is that there was disagreement in scholarly circles about this. One group believed that the Law of Moses, which Jesus asked them about, permitted a man to divorce his wife (but not the other way around, a woman could not divorce her husband) if there was “something objectionable” about her or the marriage.
By Jesus’ time, this “something” could be almost anything … a burnt meal or untidy house. Once divorced, she was in a precarious position unless she had family to take her in. Even then, though, her status was so low that her life was both miserable and teetered on the edge of desperation.
The other school of thought was that this “something objectionable” was infidelity only. The purpose of the religious leaders’ question was to align Jesus with one side or the other, making it possible to build a case against him for being too permissive or too strict, depending on what he said.
But Jesus won’t play their game. He affirms marriage and rejects divorce for basically two reasons, one spoken and one not specifically named. Let’s talk about that one first. The common theme these recent weeks has been that the least, the last, the disadvantaged, the weak, the rejected are the first, the precious, the accepted in God’s eyes. So, Jesus implies that divorcing a woman for “something objectionable” was not acceptable because of the disadvantaged position in which it placed her, and possibly her children.
But then Jesus turns to what some commentators call the heart of the matter in terms of Jesus’ reason for affirming marriage and rejecting divorce. Jesus looks to God’s purpose for marriage “in the beginning” and quotes the book of Genesis, “So they are no longer two, but one flesh”. Then he adds, “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”. Those words reflect a life-long commitment, a sacred covenant for the sake of human well-being and flourishing. That’s the “gold standard”, God’s intention for us, and the reason why Jesus speaks of marriages following divorce as committing adultery. It’s another of those, “I really mean it,” statements; divorce tears down God’s intention for marriage because it hurts people, in that era women especially, and can destroy families, and in the first century, the family was the all-important foundation of society.
Well…that’s hard to hear…especially if one has been divorced or a part of a family where there has been divorce. I’m guessing that most would say that a life-long commitment was their intention at the time they married and would agree that divorce hurts people, including them.
We all know, though, that life is imperfect and complicated, and marriage can fall short of God’s intention for us, usually for difficult reasons that also cause pain and destruction, whether it’s obvious or not. My experience is that most people do not pursue divorce for “something objectionable”, but for serious and heart-breaking reasons. And, in fact, there are times when divorce is the better option in a situation that is damaging lives.
The problem is, though, when we become too casual about divorce. As commentator Scott Hoezee boldly writes concerning the discomfort of focusing on this text, “…in a culture that treats marriage and divorce with all the seriousness of changing one’s socks or buying a new car, it would hardly be the worst thing in the world if we let Jesus get in our faces a bit, even as he got in the faces of the Pharisees and company in Mark 10, to remind us of the profound creational beauty and mystery that lies at the heart of every single married couple in the church and how awe-filled and serious we all ought to be about precisely that reality.” (1)
That element of beauty and mystery, which either no longer exists, or perhaps never existed, is precisely why our brokenness is so painful when divorce occurs. And it’s why we hold so firmly, and thankfully, to the foundation of our faith – grace. When we fall short of God’s “gold standard” for us, whether it be due to divorce and anything else, we are forgiven and Jesus welcomes us with love and strengthens us for renewed commitment to do God’s will in life. We can start over.
The Gospel ends with Jesus welcoming children again, as was the case two weeks ago. The disciples, however, were still not getting the point and they complain that doing so was a waste of Jesus’ time. This caused Jesus to be indignant, which in Greek means to be angry because an injustice has been done. Rejecting the “little ones” is wrong, contrary to who Jesus is as one who prioritizes and welcome those who are disadvantaged, rejected and weak. The closing verses of the text reminds us that we all need to be like those “little ones”, acknowledge our vulnerability and our need for the accepting, forgiving grace of Jesus.
If today you were reminded of the pain of falling short of doing God’s will for any reason, imagine that the closing words refer to you. “And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them,” AMEN
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“Mark 10:2-16 Commentary” by Scott Hoezee, October 4, 2015, www.cepreaching.org