Pentecost 18B 2006
Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 8:1-9
Hebrews 1:1-4,2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
Ah, great. Divorce Sunday. Gotta’ love it. In a society where % of marriages end in divorce we get this lesson.
We all know about divorce. My sister is divorced. My brother is currently going through a divorce. My husband was married before. Sound like your family?
So what is going on with today’s Scripture? Can’t we just skip this one? I could preach on that fun Psalm instead…
But it is here like an elephant in the room. So we are going to talk about it.
The Pharisees are always trying to trip Jesus up, catch him in a bind, tangle him in a legalistic knot. So how about divorce, Jesus? It is lawful?
Jesus answers with a question, a fine rabbinic tradition. What did Moses say?
Moses says write a certificate of divorce and she’s gone. Easy. Your wife burn your toast this morning? Write a certificate out and send her on her way. Did she mention your receding hairline? She’s outta here.
That’s what Moses said, more or less. But then Jesus reminds the Pharisees of the beginning of creation, before Moses, before brokenness, before sin.
God created them male and female….our first lesson says that God made us partners…equals….
Hmm…so Jesus isn’t saying stop all divorce….Jesus knows that brokenness is a reality of our lives and of our relationships.
What Jesus is about is the equality bit. You see, Men were allowed to divorce their wives and remarry at will, with no shame to themselves or their families. But a divorced woman is shamed. She is sent back home to her family and they are shamed. And she is not allowed to remarry. She is now damaged goods.
Jesus evens it out. Divorce is brokenness for both parties. It is pain on all sides. No one comes out the winner. Jesus protests the way the patriarchal practice works. It is not right that women are left behind here, as victims.
Now, we live in a different world. The court system sometimes makes men into the victims of divorce, especially when custody of the children is involved. This state happens to have a reputation for always giving custody to the wife even if the husband is the better parent.
Jesus makes a plea for equality here, accepting the fact that divorce is real, painful, brokenness. Even then Jesus comes out on the side of the underdog. Wanting to even it up so even our brokenness is filled with justice.
Jesus is really about social transformation. Then, it was about women, the poor, the impure, and children. Jesus is speaking up for those on the margins of society.
Right after this teaching on divorce, Jesus moves onto children. Children in Jesus era were true victims. The survival rate was miserable (60% died by the age of 16); children could be a burden, especially daughters. They were truly on the margins of society.
Today? 39% of American children live in low income households or in pure poverty. Of the 2.2 billion children around in the world, 1 billion live in poverty.
Ad to this Abuse, neglect, HIV/ AIDS, children functioning as the head of households….
Our world isn’t much better at caring for children or taking them seriously.
Jesus takes the children, the children! And gathers them up. Not only that… he puts them at the center. He treats them as real people. Not only that…he uses them as an example of faith.
“Whoever does not receive the
Picture the last time you saw a children get a gift. The excitement of tearing into the paper, tossing the card aside…the joy on one’s face…”I love it! O thank you, thank you, thank you!!”
Now how do adults receive gifts? We carefully open the card first. Set it aside, neatly undo the paper, politely examine the gift. Thanks! It’s what I always wanted! Meanwhile we are busy thinking ahead to what we will be giving back… Heck, most of us adults don’t even like opening presents in public, it is too much work. We much prefer being the people who give the gifts.
But children? The joy, the excitement, the pure pleasure is there.
That is how God would like us to receive the
That’s mighty hard for us who are carefully in control.
Jesus, again and again transforms the social structures of his time and ours. Women are equal partners. Children are at the center. The poor and the outcast are part of the kingdom.
Today, this candle on the altar reminds us that we still have a ways to go. For we have become comfortable in talking about a lot of things in church.
We no longer hide the divorce in our lives or families.
We no longer cringe from people with physical disabilities and tuck them away in institutions.
We are open about sexuality.
But still mental illness is stigmatized.
We are still uncomfortable in admitting our struggles, the struggles our families have with mental illness. The church can take the lead on this issue. We can be honest and caring, we can learn and grow and be supportive to the people in our midst who struggles with this disease. Today in adult forum we will talk more about mental health and how we as a church can be more supportive and loving and understanding.
Jesus did not shy away from the demon possessed. The troubled minds and broken spirits of his time. Again, he called them into the kingdom even as society turned away.
Jesus social transformation included anyone who has ever felt left out, on the fringes, victimized. Jesus includes the children, the widows, the orphans, the outcasts.
And in doing so Jesus continues to challenge the people in power, the people in control, the people who think they have all the answers. And Jesus continues to turn the world inside out, until those on the edges take their place in the middle.
Jesus gives us the kingdom…all of us…surprising us again and again until we receive it with the joyful, open, accepting heart of a child.