Mark 10:2-16
Among the many wonderful collects in the Prayer Book, this is one I particularly like. And given the very unattractive options in the Scripture readings today, I planned to preach on the collect. I especially the phrase where we affirm that God is “always more ready to hear than we to pray.” Simple, powerful, reassuring.
No matter who you are, or where you are, or what’s going on. God is listening. God is eager to hear your prayer. I imagine a mega-Verizon moment. Billions upon billions upon billions of people across all time and space, saying to God, “Can you hear me now?” And God says simply, yes. And even those people who don’t or can’t ask God to listen, God is ready to hear them, too.
The Scripture readings really are challenging this week. First, there’s Job. What are to do with Job? We’re in it a few more weeks, so we may still have to grapple with it.
Then there’s today’s Gospel. Jesus’ apparent categorical judgment against divorce. In one of the resources I often consult, Karoline Lewis, a homiletics professor writes: “Let’s be honest. Few, if any, preachers out there will want to write a sermon on this Gospel text. There’s just no way around its challenges, its heartache and its ramifications for and ripple effects on all of the relationships involved.” She’s got that right! But then she continues: But, “it’s one of those texts in the Bible that if read out loud, you must preach on it. Divorce has touched too many lives to leave a passage like this, especially when Jesus is talking, just hanging out there for all to hear.”
Rats. Unfortunately, I agree with her. We’ve all heard it read out loud. We can’t just leave it hanging out there.
This passage is one of those we sometimes label, “Jesus’ hard sayings.” Usually, what we mean by that is not that they are hard to understand or interpret; they are hard to accept. In this case, harder for some than others, presumably.
To do anything with this passage, we need to both the passage and its context in some detail. David Lose points out that Jesus is on route to Jerusalem, walking purposefully to meet his cross. Jesus was often on a journey, of course, but place is frequently important for Mark. And at this point in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has just crossed the Jordan, leaving his homeland, entering into unfamiliar country. Symbolically, Jesus goes beyond the proscribed boundaries of his day to proclaim the Gospel.
Second, the Pharisees initiate this conversation. They controlled the laws. Theirs was the power to interpret, promulgate and enforce the laws. They were attempting to draw Jesus into and test him in the world in which they had power.
Finally, very importantly, divorce (and marriage) were very different then. We know that intellectually, but we still inevitably hear this passage through the context of our own culture and context. Marriage was a contract, a contract about property of which the wife was one part. Divorce was allowed. Men had the right to divorce or dismiss their wives.
There was, evidently, some debate about the conditions under which a man could divorce his wife. David Lose again: “There were two schools of thought about divorce in Jesus' day – both believed a man had a right to put away, dismiss, or divorce his wife. One school was fairly strict – a man could do this only if his wife were unfaithful; the other was more lenient – a man could do this if his wife displeased him in any number of ways, including, according to one rabbinic source, "burning her husband's toast." Either way, the consequences for the woman were devastating – familial and public disgrace, potentially severe economic hardship, and limited future prospects for her and her children.”
Women had no standing or power.
Jesus doesn’t enter into the legal debate. He completely reframes the issue within the context of creation—God’s creation. And he gives women place, standing, even parity within the context of God’s creation. God’s vision, God’s will, God’s kingdom includes people who human society marginalizes or isolates.
I’ve tried to think of a modern analogy that would cast this story in a way that is more relevant to contemporary society. This is admittedly an exaggerated analogy, but consider this as a modern retelling of Jesus’ encounter and conversation with the Pharisees. There is a sweatshop owner, all-powerful in his factory. The entire lives of the laborers whom poverty has forced into the sweatshop are in his control. The sweatshop owner comes to Jesus to ask if the Ten Commandments, the Law of Moses, require him to give his laborers one day off, rest on the Sabbath. Jesus doesn’t answer that question. He says you need to respect the dignity of every human being. You need to seek and serve the image of Christ in every beloved child of God.
Taken by itself, this passage alone does not provide grounds to talk about the rightness or legalities of divorce today. I hope you know, that although we have not always done so, the Episcopal Church affirms that divorce can be the best, most faithful choice in some situations. Always an occasion for grief, but sometimes the most creative, most faithful choice. This passage taken on its own is also not sufficient to provide a definition of marriage for our time.
This passage does tell of Jesus going beyond the margins of Galilee on his way to his death and saving resurrection. And taking the Kingdom of God to people who are beyond the margin, outside boundaries of power. Today’s Gospel reading ends with the familiar scene where Jesus gathers the children to himself. If there was one group of people in Jesus’ day who had even less power and standing than women, it was children. The disciples, like society, try to push the children away to a place of insignificance. Jesus reaches out, beyond society’s marginalization, and touches them, blesses them. “It is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs”
Divorce marginalizes people today, makes them feel powerless and isolated. Even just talk of divorce, even dwelling on this reading can generate feelings of isolation. To the isolated, the powerless, the marginalized, Jesus brings touch, blessing and inclusion in the Kingdom of God.
So this Gospel passage speaks to everyone who feels powerless or isolated.
- People who are divorced and may carry lingering guilt, a feeling that they have failed expectations. Or who have known or perceived judgment by others or the church.
- Divorce often leads to estrangements in all sorts of relationships, most sadly between children and parents. Isolated from family.
- There are people who feel locked in a bad marriage, powerless for whatever reason to escape.
- Think of all the people who yearn to be married but aren’t. For them divorce is a luxury they don’t even have access to because they are isolated from the world of marriage. Maybe they’ve never found the love of their life. Maybe circumstances like illness or handicap or other family needs or a job have blocked the possibility of marriage. Maybe someone more powerful has told them they can’t get married. Quibbling over the legalities of divorce only heightens their sense of isolation.
- Or think of people grieving the death of someone with whom they were in a wonderful relationship. Debate over the possible choice to end a relationship only shines a glaring light on the loss they did not choose.
Many things can leave us powerless or isolated. Divorce or debate over divorce is just one. But for all of these people for whom divorce or even just discussion of divorce is the cause of their isolation, their powerlessness, their marginalization.
To all of them. To you. To me. It is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs. That’s what Jesus says.
