By Kristin Berkey-Abbott
Mark 10: 2-16
When I first looked at the Gospel text for today, my first reaction was, “Week after week of difficult teachings!” But then I looked more closely at the Gospel lesson, and I realized that Jesus isn’t advising us about our marriages. Jesus is giving us a powerful lesson about power and who is in control.
When the Pharisees ask their question, they aren’t concerned with the plight of those who are in bad marriages. They aren’t asking Jesus to weigh in on the question of what type of relationship can lead to human flourishing.
Look at how they frame the question. They ask about men divorcing their wives. Under Roman law, husbands could divorce wives and wives could divorce husbands. To make it clear that they aren’t asking questions about both sides of the marriage issue, Jesus asks them about the law of Moses, and they answer with great specificity, showing that they understand that the laws of Moses are ones that establish the power of males. Do they also understand that this power leads to the diminishment of females? I doubt it.
But Jesus understands. As always, Jesus understands who is where in the power structures of society, and as always, Jesus instructs all who will listen.
Jesus gives a very different answer about male and female relationships. He goes back to the very first teaching about adult human relationships, way back to the first couple, Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. He gives an answer that presents males and females as much more equal than they will be in the laws of Moses, and in many subsequent laws throughout human history. He gives a picture of two equal people, leaving the family relationships that designated them as children who are unequal to parents, going into the world together as partners holding tight to each other.
Later, Jesus is interviewed in private, and he continues his line of thought, knowing that some marriages will end not in death but in divorce. I don’t think that Jesus is giving modern marriage advice, but ancient marriage advice, advice to people with a life expectancy of 40 years, give or take a decade. But even more realistically, Jesus isn’t giving instructions the way that so many interpreters have framed this text. Let us remember that Jesus is not a pro-marriage family guy, even in light of today’s reading, where he seems to be advocating marriage. This Jesus is still the same Jesus who seems to downplay marriage and family, where he seems to tell people to abandon their families to follow him.
Many scholars see the social justice side of Jesus here, the man who cared for the most outcast of society. Almost no one had fewer options than a divorced woman who lived during the time of Jesus. Then, and to a certain extent now, fewer things were more likely to plunge a woman into the bottom economic realm of society than divorce or widowhood. A woman with dependent children would fare even worse.
In today’s Gospel reading, we see the concerns of Jesus with the most downtrodden of society: women and children.
And yet Jesus seems to know that some relationships need to end. Our Triune God knows that reconciliation isn’t always possible. So Jesus seems to give advice in this situation. But again, we should be careful in assuming that Jesus is giving divorce instructions designed to last through the centuries. It seems more likely that he’s addressing listeners who persist in asking him questions in the hopes that he will say something different from what he’s already said.
Perhaps that’s why this Gospel then shifts to another group with little power: children. Jesus treats children with the same respect that he treats women. He advocates for the people who need compassion, here children, and he goes a step further and blesses them. They can’t advocate for themselves. So Jesus takes up their cause and makes sure that they are received and blessed.
Again and again, Jesus shows his followers how to treat people. Judging by their actions, it’s a lesson that needs repeating. I often think about Jesus who must be saying to himself: “There is so little time, and you want to bother me with questions about marriage law?” Again and again, Jesus points us away from the rigid structure of the law. Again and again, Jesus tells us of God’s vision of grace and mercy.
Let’s be clear about the Pharisees. Their motivation in this line of questioning is not as evil as we like to depict. The leaders of Jesus’ day think that the way to salvation is by following the law to the letter. Jesus reminds us that this path doesn’t lead to salvation at all but to strangulation. Again and again, Jesus declares that a new world is at hand, that the kingdom of God is inbreaking, right here and right now.
Of course, the kingdom of God is also not yet, not finished, which is why we have divorce laws after all. But Jesus promises that a better life in underway, and if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we’ll see it. If we’re brave, we can go ahead and live it.
I’m finishing this sermon almost one week since the power went off at my house in Arden, North Carolina. I have spent the last week being reminded of how humans are created to care for each other. We have gathered at each other’s houses to have a hot meal once a day. Those of us who are more mobile have taken thermoses of coffee to the neighbors who are not. Those of us who have had more well stocked emergency supplies have shared them with those who did not get to the store ahead of the storm. And resources have flowed in from people outside the area who are desperate to help in some way.
I do feel a bit of sorrow that it takes a disaster to prompt us to behave in ways that are more loving to each other. It takes a disaster to bump stories of hate from the headlines.
I imagine God feeling much the same way. We've got a wonderful world here, and we often forget how fabulous it is. We get so hung up on all the ways we think the world has gone wrong that we forget what is right. We spend time creating laws to try to control behavior, when we might do better to simply accept people for who they are, which is a major step towards loving them. We want to see the world in strict colors: black, white, no gray. We forget that the world is variegated.
Again and again, Jesus reminds us that if we can leave the land of Law behind and enter the world of Love, we'll see a world washed in color, all of it good. We'll know what God knew, way back in Genesis, when God declared that all of Creation is good, very good.
When the Pharisees ask their question, they aren’t concerned with the plight of those who are in bad marriages. They aren’t asking Jesus to weigh in on the question of what type of relationship can lead to human flourishing.
Look at how they frame the question. They ask about men divorcing their wives. Under Roman law, husbands could divorce wives and wives could divorce husbands. To make it clear that they aren’t asking questions about both sides of the marriage issue, Jesus asks them about the law of Moses, and they answer with great specificity, showing that they understand that the laws of Moses are ones that establish the power of males. Do they also understand that this power leads to the diminishment of females? I doubt it.
But Jesus understands. As always, Jesus understands who is where in the power structures of society, and as always, Jesus instructs all who will listen.
Jesus gives a very different answer about male and female relationships. He goes back to the very first teaching about adult human relationships, way back to the first couple, Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. He gives an answer that presents males and females as much more equal than they will be in the laws of Moses, and in many subsequent laws throughout human history. He gives a picture of two equal people, leaving the family relationships that designated them as children who are unequal to parents, going into the world together as partners holding tight to each other.
Later, Jesus is interviewed in private, and he continues his line of thought, knowing that some marriages will end not in death but in divorce. I don’t think that Jesus is giving modern marriage advice, but ancient marriage advice, advice to people with a life expectancy of 40 years, give or take a decade. But even more realistically, Jesus isn’t giving instructions the way that so many interpreters have framed this text. Let us remember that Jesus is not a pro-marriage family guy, even in light of today’s reading, where he seems to be advocating marriage. This Jesus is still the same Jesus who seems to downplay marriage and family, where he seems to tell people to abandon their families to follow him.
Many scholars see the social justice side of Jesus here, the man who cared for the most outcast of society. Almost no one had fewer options than a divorced woman who lived during the time of Jesus. Then, and to a certain extent now, fewer things were more likely to plunge a woman into the bottom economic realm of society than divorce or widowhood. A woman with dependent children would fare even worse.
In today’s Gospel reading, we see the concerns of Jesus with the most downtrodden of society: women and children.
And yet Jesus seems to know that some relationships need to end. Our Triune God knows that reconciliation isn’t always possible. So Jesus seems to give advice in this situation. But again, we should be careful in assuming that Jesus is giving divorce instructions designed to last through the centuries. It seems more likely that he’s addressing listeners who persist in asking him questions in the hopes that he will say something different from what he’s already said.
Perhaps that’s why this Gospel then shifts to another group with little power: children. Jesus treats children with the same respect that he treats women. He advocates for the people who need compassion, here children, and he goes a step further and blesses them. They can’t advocate for themselves. So Jesus takes up their cause and makes sure that they are received and blessed.
Again and again, Jesus shows his followers how to treat people. Judging by their actions, it’s a lesson that needs repeating. I often think about Jesus who must be saying to himself: “There is so little time, and you want to bother me with questions about marriage law?” Again and again, Jesus points us away from the rigid structure of the law. Again and again, Jesus tells us of God’s vision of grace and mercy.
Let’s be clear about the Pharisees. Their motivation in this line of questioning is not as evil as we like to depict. The leaders of Jesus’ day think that the way to salvation is by following the law to the letter. Jesus reminds us that this path doesn’t lead to salvation at all but to strangulation. Again and again, Jesus declares that a new world is at hand, that the kingdom of God is inbreaking, right here and right now.
Of course, the kingdom of God is also not yet, not finished, which is why we have divorce laws after all. But Jesus promises that a better life in underway, and if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we’ll see it. If we’re brave, we can go ahead and live it.
I’m finishing this sermon almost one week since the power went off at my house in Arden, North Carolina. I have spent the last week being reminded of how humans are created to care for each other. We have gathered at each other’s houses to have a hot meal once a day. Those of us who are more mobile have taken thermoses of coffee to the neighbors who are not. Those of us who have had more well stocked emergency supplies have shared them with those who did not get to the store ahead of the storm. And resources have flowed in from people outside the area who are desperate to help in some way.
I do feel a bit of sorrow that it takes a disaster to prompt us to behave in ways that are more loving to each other. It takes a disaster to bump stories of hate from the headlines.
I imagine God feeling much the same way. We've got a wonderful world here, and we often forget how fabulous it is. We get so hung up on all the ways we think the world has gone wrong that we forget what is right. We spend time creating laws to try to control behavior, when we might do better to simply accept people for who they are, which is a major step towards loving them. We want to see the world in strict colors: black, white, no gray. We forget that the world is variegated.
Again and again, Jesus reminds us that if we can leave the land of Law behind and enter the world of Love, we'll see a world washed in color, all of it good. We'll know what God knew, way back in Genesis, when God declared that all of Creation is good, very good.
