Sermon for October 4, 2015 – Proper 22B - RCL
Track 1
Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to 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. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Our Gospel reading today is
hard to preach about. It is hard because
it has been used by some as a reason to exclude. It is hard because it has been used to hurt
people. I would rather ignore the text
and perhaps preach on Job – that shows how much I would rather ignore this
text. Or perhaps skip past the part of
the passage on divorce and go straight to the nice scene of Jesus blessing the
children. But it is exactly because it’s
hard that we have to look at this passage.
To start to understand this
passage we have to put it into the societal context of Jesus’ day.
In Jesus’ day – and for many
cultures for centuries after this – Marriage was not about love. It was about property rights. Women where used to make alliances between
families. Women were considered property
of their fathers until they are given to another man in marriage. If you look at the royal families of Europe
you will see many marriages made to create alliances and to avoid wars!
If a man divorced a woman she
was vulnerable. She had no
protection. That is why the law required
the man to give a certificate of divorce to the woman so that she could show why
she was single – especially if she was single with children.
There were two schools of interpretation in
Jesus’ day – one that stated a man could divorce a woman for any reason – and
another that there had to be a serious reason – such as adultery to be able to divorce
the woman. And yes for the most part it was only the man who could make the divorce
– although there were some exceptions.
It seems that Jesus was in
particular addressing the idea that the divorce could be for any reason – the
woman burned the steak – divorce her. A
new prettier woman had moved into town and the man wants to get married to her
– divorce the old wife. The man wants to
set up a new alliance with an important family
- divorce her. Jesus says divorcing just so you can go with another
wife/husband is adultery.
Marriage today is different –
at least in our society. It is more
about the couple finding love and wanting to make that relationship a covenant.
Jesus says that we should look at marriage as God looks at creation. Marriage is about a covenant relationship
where two people have agreed to hold each other in covenant – together. One partner is not above the other. Marriage is all about relationship
Today the church has come to
recognize that sometimes divorce is the right answer in some situations. We don’t take it lightly and the church
encourages people to seek guidance. But
sometimes love has died. Sometimes there
is abuse. Sometimes the sin would be
staying in a dead marriage. But we still
teach that divorce is not the answer to wanting something new.
That is also why we require
pre-marital counseling in the church.
The church says that we are not to enter into marriage unadvisable or
lightly. But in situations where the
relationship has died or perhaps has become abusive divorce may be the right
thing. Even with today’s more liberal
divorce laws I personally don’t know anyone who takes divorce lightly. Both marriage and divorce are not to be taken
lightly.
But marriage is not the only
place where one finds relationship. It
is not for everyone. Married people are
not better than single people. Divorced
people are not lower than married people.
If there is sin in this Gospel text it is when we use it out of context
to hurt people.
It is when we hold single
people as lower than married people
It is when we hold the
vulnerable in contempt
When we say it is all about
me and no one else.
The second part of this
reading is the glue that holds it together.
Jesus welcomes the child into his arms and blesses them. Children in at that time were some of the
most vulnerable in society. Jesus once
again is reaching out to the vulnerable.
And then Jesus say “"Let
the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God
exists for the vulnerable in society. Even
with today’s hyper-individualism where it is all about me – Jesus says that it
is not all about me. It is all about me
in relationship. In relationship with
God and in relationship with creation – in relationship with each other. That is what creation is about.
All of us are vulnerable at
times. We may not like to admit it. It is especially in those dark times of
vulnerability where God desires to enter into our lives. And our Job is to act as agents of God when
we see the vulnerable.
That is why we are here. To help bring God’s dream for creation into
reality. A dream where we hold each
other in relationship. A dream of a
kingdom where all of creation is nurtured.
When we are welcoming the vulnerable of today into our lives we are helping
to bring Gods dream into reality. When
we welcome children into our midst we are bringing God’s dream into
reality. When we welcome the hungry we
are bringing God’s dream to reality.
I invite each of us to enter
into partnership with God. To welcome
all people into God’s loving embrace.
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