-->
The Gospel today is not about
you. And it’s not about me either. Nothing personal, folks, but wait…yes it is
personal, but it’s personal in a way quite different from the way you may be thinking.
What the Gospel of Mark has Jesus
saying today sounds darn personal. How can we help but take this Gospel both
literally and personally? We’ve heard the divorce statistics. We may even be a statistic
ourselves. Those same statistics tell us more than half the adults here have been
divorced at least once. We may have friends who are divorced. Our grown
children may be divorced. Our parents may be divorced. Or more simply, we know
someone who is divorced, is going through a divorce, or contemplating a
divorce. Many of us hear this passage and sit there hurt, or angry, or ashamed.
If not on our own behalf, on behalf of someone we know. Doesn’t Jesus
understand what we went through? Doesn’t he understand what our parents,
children, or friends went through?
Yes, Jesus does understand, but
Jesus isn’t talking about divorce and you. And he isn’t talking about divorce
and me either. And he isn’t talking about divorce and your family or friends.
He’s talking about vulnerability and
the law.
The question the Pharisees ask is
a question about law. The question is
global. The answer Jesus gives is personal. It’s personal because Jesus makes
the answer an opportunity to teach us how to live with one another in
community.
Look at the context here. How
does this passage begin? “Some Pharisees came, and to test him (Jesus) they
asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to
divorce his wife?’”[1]
It’s about the law, folks. Jesus
isn’t having a nice chat about whether or not someone should get divorced. He’s
being asked to play judge and jury about the legality of divorce. He’s not
being asked a personal question about whether someone should or should not get
divorced.
In Jesus’ time there were varying
opinions on the legal aspects of divorce. And it wasn’t about whether or not
divorce was legal; everyone pretty much accepted that it was legal. It was
about under what terms the divorce
could take place.
In his usual way, Jesus changes
the emphasis. He takes a question about legality and turns the emphasis to
relationships instead. That’s why Jesus talks about Genesis as he focuses on
the question. He’s reminding us of God’s original intent for us, which is to be
blessed by our relationships.
The other thing Jesus is telling
us is that this is about our communities, the places in which we live and
worship. This is personal too. Jesus uses the Pharisees’ question to point
toward the purpose of the law. The
purpose of the law, in fact all law in its original intent, is to protect those
most vulnerable.
In Jesus’ time, when a woman was
divorced, her living status changed. Without a husband, or a male relative to
protect her and house her, she was poverty-stricken. She lost her standing in
society. Her good reputation was gone. Jesus is asking how men of his time
could treat divorce like a convenience because it made those who were
vulnerable even more vulnerable.
Until now the whole conversation
has been about divorce. But at the end of the Gospel reading the subject gets
changed to those even more vulnerable than women: children. Jesus’ action and
words form another comment about vulnerability.
Once again, Jesus looks for and
blesses the most vulnerable: the children. He blesses those with no protection.
Just like women in his time, children were a commodity to be used, bought,
sold, worn out, and cast off.
And so, in the end, what we have
here this morning really is good news. The good news is that the community of
Jesus is a place you can come when you are most vulnerable, most broken, and
most in need of blessing. You and I have a place here because no matter how
imperfect, or inadequate, or incomplete we think we are, this is the place to
be. And it’s the place to bring your friends, no matter how imperfect, or
inadequate, or incomplete they think they are.
St. John Chrysostom has something
to say about this kind of vulnerability and the welcome of the church. It is
this: “Enter into the Church…for there is a hospital for sinners and not a court of law.[2] ” AMEN.
The Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2018
[1]
Mark 10:2 (NRSV) Italics mine.
[2]
Exact source unknown, but from a series of sermons by St. John Chrysostom on
parables in the Gospel of Luke. Italics mine. This particular saying was in
reference to Luke 10:25-37 (Parable of the Good Samaritan).
No comments:
Post a Comment