St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
October 6, 2024/Year C
Gospel: Mark 10:2-16
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today’s gospel reading combines two scenarios that seemingly have no connection—square peg, meet round hole. This first half of the gospel passage is not one that causes preachers to do cartwheels. People hear this passage about divorce and expect the preacher to say, “Divorce bad; Jesus good. Amen.” This preacher will not be saying that in my best cavewoman voice. Hearers of this gospel passage tend to focus on the Pharisees’ question to Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” and miss the point of the question and the verbal combat that ensues as a result.
The Pharisees were relentless in their efforts to entrap Jesus. Recall that one of their tests was a demand for Jesus to show them a sign from heaven in chapter eight (8:11). Jesus will again be tested in chapter 12 with the dangerous question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” (12:14). The Pharisees, like Jesus, were learned and well-versed in Mosaic Law. So, the point of the Pharisees’ question was to test Jesus’ authority, not to genuinely gain knowledge about the law.
But why would answering questions about divorce or paying taxes, according to Jewish law, be dangerous for a Jew like Jesus? Woven into the dangerous question, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” was the understanding of the permanence of marriage as Jews had interpretated Mosaic law. The kings of Israel were to strictly adhere to laws against polygamy or divorce and remarriage.[1] Royal marriages and divorces were politically dangerous. The Pharisees’ trap was not in the question that had been asked, but in the question that had not been asked, “Can a king divorce his wife to marry another?”
There’s yet another layer vibrating in the consciousness of the Pharisees and Jesus—the tragic beheading of John the Baptist in chapter six.[2] You know the story. John told King Herod, who had married his brother’s wife, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” John’s outspoken position about the king’s unlawful union cost him his head on a platter. We might draw the conclusion that the Pharisees were seeking a similar, deadly outcome for Jesus at the hands of the Romans, should he take their bait. Jesus did not take the bait. Instead, he challenged the Pharisees to think about God’s intention for creation—unity and wholeness—not separation and brokenness.
Moses established the procedure by which a husband could divorce his wife, but Jesus’ position was that the procedure itself came into existence as a result of humanity’s hardness of heart, not because God intended broken relationship for humanity, or for two humans who were married. The Pharisees’ hard heartedness towards Jesus, and the ensuing verbal combat, resulting in a failed entrapment mission—this time.
The scene then changes from this public encounter to a private debriefing between Jesus and his disciples inside a house. The disciples’ private time with Jesus did not last as “People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them…” (v.13). Children were the lowest ranking in society; they were not considered persons in their own right, and the standard expectation was that children should never be allowed to disturb the teacher and his students.[3] Children were insignificant, and the disciples strongly rejected their presence when Jesus was teaching them.
Borrowing Jesus’ words from last week’s gospel, the disciples, through their actions, had become stumbling blocks for those who sought Jesus. The disciples had not yet replaced the exclusionary societal standards with Jesus’ kingdom standard of inclusion, even as Jesus modeled those standards for them. The people, including women, risked acting counter to society’s standards; and brought vulnerable children Jesus, making it possible for those who were unable to make their own way to Jesus to be in his divine presence. And, in doing so, they, too, found themselves in his divine presence.
Look at the ways in which the Pharisees blocked their own relationship with Jesus and actively sought ways to create difficulty for others to form relationship with Jesus. Look at how the disciples created difficulty for others to access Jesus. Perhaps these two, seemingly incompatible scenes, within the same passage, are about human beings being stumbling blocks for others, and for themselves, and playing an active role in the separation from God, others and self.
“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them,” said Jesus. In other words, disciples, get out of their way and get out of your own way. For Jesus’ 21st century disciples, we are to do the spiritual work of making the path straight within our own souls to be more authentic companions for others seeking Jesus. In doing so, we clear our own path of sinful stumbling blocks so that we, too, find ourselves more fully in Jesus’ divine presence.
We do not get to choose who is “fit” or “unworthy” of receiving God’s grace. Jesus’ ministry was inclusive, and the Church must resist the human tendency to be complicit in strengthening unjust structures of our society that exist to exclude and destroy the dignity of human persons. Might we, as Jesus’ 21st century disciples, mirror the act of bringing little children into the real presence of Jesus by bringing a family member or friend to church, or inviting a stranger, with whom you may have had conversation at Publix, to Bible study?
Living the blueprint of our Baptismal Covenant, might we continue in the apostle’s teaching in the breaking of the bread and in prayers; proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ; seek and serve Christ in all persons loving our neighbors as ourselves; and strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being,[4] so that all may come to know that nothing, and no one, can separate them from the love of God?
The mission of God is the mission of the Church—to restore unity with God and with each other through Jesus Christ. By Jesus’ work on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins—our broken relationships in all of their manifestations—we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be agents of God’s reconciling love in this sinful world. Jesus challenges you and me, as he challenged the Pharisees to think about, and work towards, God’s original intention for his creation—unity and wholeness—not separation and brokenness in all of their manifestations.
As we commit to the lifelong tasks of removing the stumbling block of self, get out of our own way, and reach out for Jesus—who is the kingdom of God who comes near to us—God embraces us in all of our vulnerability, in all of our hard heartedness and hard headedness, and in all of our human brokenness, as his beloved little children with whom God is well pleased. Amen.
[1] Mark 10:13-16 Commentary. The New Interpreters’ Bible, Volume VIII. pp. 642-643.
[2] Mark 6:14-29.
[3] Mark 10:13-16 Commentary. The New Interpreters’ Bible, Volume VIII. p. 647.
[4] Baptismal Covenant, BCP, pp. 304-305.
