Lectionary blog for Oct. 4, 2015
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Genesis 2:18-24; Psalm 8;
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-112; Mark 10:2-16
If you’ve ever been through Chattanooga, Tenn., you know that Lookout Mountain looms over the city. Most mornings, as the sun comes up, a ring of fog hangs about halfway up the cliffs above the Tennessee River, with the sun shining brightly on the mountaintop above and the city below.
On Nov. 24, 1863, one of the most interesting battles of the Civil War took place on that mountain. The Confederates had artillery on top of the mountain, preventing the Union from using the river for supply shipments and troop movements. The Federals were determined to silence those cannons. The fighting centered in the foggy area. Between the fog, the peculiar terrain and the general confusion of war, things were a mess.
The story is told that a Confederate general happened upon a severely wounded private and ordered him to “get to the rear,” out of harm’s way. The private saluted and replied “Yes, sir.” A bit later, the general happened upon the private again, “Son, I thought I told you to get to the rear!” The private drew himself up, saluted, and said, “Begging the general’s pardon, sir. I been trying, but this here battle ain’t got no rear!”
We all know how he feels. Since 9/11, 14 years ago, it seems like there has been a continuous worsening of the state of the world and the human condition. War, terrorism, the economy, nasty politics, disease, basic human values ignored, a coarsening of our culture, families falling apart – we could go on and on about how bad things are. Surely this is not what God intended for the world and for the children of God, the people of the world. What went wrong? And what can we do about it? What must we, the followers and disciples of Jesus, do in response to a world that is dangerous and out of control? How did we get in this mess?
The first lesson is one of the creation stories in Genesis. It is a charming little vignette about God trying to find a fit companion for Adam. It’s kind of funny as God acts like a shoe salesman trying to fit a finicky customer. God brings out animals big and small, sleek and furry, ferocious and tame, clean and nasty, everything in the store. And Adam looks at them and says, “Well, it’s nice, it’s interesting, but, it’s, it’s … it’s a raccoon. It’s just not what I’m looking for.” And God brings out another, and Adam says, “Well, it’s, it’s, it’s big, very big, and shiny, very, very shiny. It’s a, uh, a, uh, hippopotamus. But it’s just not for me.” And so it goes through all the animals, and still nothing seems to work. So God decides to do a custom job, just for Adam, to his particular specifications.
It’s a good story. And it’s an important story, for it reminds us of a couple things. It reminds us that we, all of us, are God’s special and beloved creations. It also reminds us that we are all, male and female, equal partners in life, that the point of marriage is companionship and shared life journeys. That is God’s intention.
Now, fast forward to the time of Jesus and the story told in our Gospel lesson. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus into saying something that would get him into trouble with the king. King Herod had married his brother’s ex-wife. Worse than that, Herod had forced his brother into divorcing her so Herod could marry her. Worse than that, he had killed John the Baptist for preaching about it.
So they asked Jesus, in front of the crowds, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Jesus turned it back on them, “What did Moses say?” “Well, Moses allowed a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce.” And Jesus replied with what are the key words for us. “Because of your hardness of heart” (Mark 10:5). Another way to put it would be: because of your inability to live in accordance with God’s plans and intentions.
At the time of Jesus, many men used the divorce laws as a way to escape familial responsibility. Without a husband, women were often in quite dire straits, and many men tossed aside wives for quite trivial reasons. The law said you could divorce your wife if you found anything “unseemly” in her. Most rabbis interpreted that in terms of sexual immorality, but some said it could be anything the husband didn’t like, such as burning his dinner.
For Jesus, tightening up the attitude toward divorce was a matter of justice for women and a call to take God’s intentions for married life seriously. When Jesus says, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,” he is holding men accountable for their behavior in a very provocative way, for adultery was not a minor accusation, and it carried with it the death penalty.
Now I know that Jesus’ strict words here are painful to people who have been through divorce and are difficult for many to hear. I have two siblings who are divorced and two who married divorced people, so I am not insensitive to this. It is important to note that Jesus was very forgiving of divorced people.
I think particularly of the woman at the well, who had had many husbands and was living outside of marriage with another man. Jesus was not condemnatory toward her, but rather was pastoral and kind. It is not Jesus’ intent to condemn those who have suffered through a difficult marriage and decided to end it before causing more pain to themselves or others. His intent is to recall people to the purpose of committed relationships, which is the completion of our created humanity in companionship and partnership. His intent is to call us away from relationships that are hurtful, abusive and unequal.
God created human, committed companionship as a good thing, but human hardness of heart turned a good thing into a bent, ruptured and incomplete thing. In many other ways, humanity has taken the good things God made and messed them up. That is the basic human story. Psalm 8 says that God made us a little lower than the angels and that he gave us mastery over the world.
How have we done taking care of things? Not very well, I’m afraid. And it is getting frighteningly worse, and as we are constantly reminded, this here battle ain’t got no rear. There’s no place to hide. We must stand forth and be a part of the solution. If not, we must count ourselves as part of the problem.
What are we to do? How can we become a part of the solution? What is our calling today?
In Hebrews, the writer traces a scenario in which we are reminded that Jesus gave up privilege and power with God to come to earth as one of us, to suffer with us, and to show us what true humanity was intended to be. Jesus was God in our midst, in our presence, in our bodies and circumstances, God on our level, God with the same temptations, problems, hurts, wants and needs as any of us, and he suffered loss, rejection and fear just like we do. And he managed to stay the course of love and forgiveness to the end.
And we are called to do the same. We are called to raise our heads above the fog and confusion of daily life and look to the bright sun of God’s love burning above us. We are called to lift our hearts above our fear and to step forward with love and forgiveness for those who frighten us. In the end, it is the only way.
Amen and amen.
