Someone may convince me otherwise but when I see a lectionary reading put together like the reading from Mark for today's gospel, I can only think "dodge." Here we have among the most difficult passages for the church in North America where divorce has become a regular part of our 'choice' culture--witness the Chicago law firm's "Life is short. Get a divorce." campaign if you doubt me on that. So what does the lectionary do? Of course one can always just work with another text in the lectionary--the lesson from Genesis or Hebrews, or the Psalm. But no, in the gospel lesson itself we get the 'let the children come unto me' passage. I'm not saying that it is easy to preach on divorce, or that their is any certain outcome a sermon ought to have, but not to deal with it when Jesus is so strong on the issue seems to me unfaithful to the preaching task.
Mark 10:2-16
10:2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
10:3 He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"
10:4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her."
10:5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.
10:6 But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'
10:7 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
10:8 and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
10:9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
10:10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.
10:11 He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;
10:12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
10:13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.
10:14 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.
10:15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."
10:16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Anon, and peace,
Chris
At Holy Trinity today we chose an alternative set of texts for the commemoration of St. Francis. It was partly "the appointed lectionary texts don't give us much to work with for St. Francis day" and partly "if we chose a different set of texts we wouldn't have to deal with this awful gospel lesson."
Posted by: Javen | October 04, 2009 at 02:42 PM
I went right at this text in preaching today. Not easy, but as you argue, it's got to be faced squarely and not avoided. I tried to keep thinking throughout, "how would those 10-15 people I know are sitting in the pew and who are divorced think about this?" Probably half of my sermon was con-text: divorce was more rare in Jesus' day; the elite and powerful were getting divorces from people like the Pharisees to join families with more wealth, power, etc.; and the overall thrust of Jesus' work in Mark is to renew God's covenant with Israel, not to break covenants and promises. Some talk about how they have "married up", or that they get more than they ought in their marriage. God marries or covenants "down" with us, in giving away Christ to keep us together in relationship, even when we feel "divorced" from God. Jesus hopes we can remain in our covenant relationships (marriages, families, church, vocations) and be there for one another, doesn't wish us to seek to flee them for our own gain. The text does leave open the possibility for divorce when the goal is not to leave to marry someone else--we're not asked to stick with harmful relationships here. But Jesus does affirm covenant as the structure that holds us together in relationship. Richard Horsley's "The Politics of Plot in the Gospel of Mark" was especially helpful in putting today's Gospel in context.
Posted by: Jon Dumpys | October 04, 2009 at 06:11 PM
I was traveling yesterday, so I don't know how my church dealt with it. I've recently been thinking in slightly different terms regarding divorce - and why this is one of the few such issues that Jesus spoke about (or is on the record about). My current take has more to do with the fact that a divorced woman had zero power and zero resources in that time and culture. And since there were those who allowed divorce in the case of bad cooking, etc, what a terrible thing to do to a woman. I think it's possible that Jesus' take has more to do with protecting people than with "maintaining the sanctity of marriage." I don't know what tipped me in this direction, but it seems much more in line with Jesus' having more respect for women than I see in the rest of the Bible, and his speaking out about issues of power and justice more so than about sentiment. But I'm not a theologian of any sort (well, maybe of the hobbyist sort) so I might be completely off base...
Posted by: Saskia | October 05, 2009 at 01:57 PM
We have a stewardship emphasis this whole month, which makes this text a basic nightmare. Several years ago one of our interns preached an absolutely fabulous sermon on this text, which people still remember.
Posted by: Diane | October 05, 2009 at 09:15 PM
Well there are many reasons for divorce. One has to learn how to keep the marriage going on. Any way if the marriage is going to the end, it may be a starting for a new life. I have gone through many blogs and sites about divorce, One site which i found good is http://www.vetranolaw.com you should check it once.
Posted by: Vetrano & Vetrano | June 10, 2010 at 05:13 AM