photo credit: Annie Spratt (https://unsplash.com/@anniespratt)

John 8:31-36 (NRSV)

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, "You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

The task for all Christ-followers this morning, regardless of the location of their churches or the denominational label, is to condemn, mourn, confess, and reform.

Yesterday the world learned the horrifying news that a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg, PA and murdered eleven human beings while they were worshiping the Lord. The attack is believed to be the deadliest on the Jewish community in US history. I, as a representative of Cross of Grace, condemn this violence; I also condemn the sin of anti-semitism and white nationalism that appears to have motivated the man whom has been charged with these hate crimes.

This news leaves us feeling sad, embarrassed, ashamed, and frightened. As a word of pastoral care, pay attention to your emotions in the wake of these deplorable acts of violence. Sit with them. Let them make you feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, and hurt. This is the process of mourning. The primary way for us to honor the victims of this senseless tragedy is by mourning the loss of their lives.

Let us never become numb to the devastating acts of violence in our world. When we close our eyes, ears, hearts, and hands to the pain around us we are not creating a new peaceful reality; instead, we are contributing to the spread of injustice. Sins of omission – that is, sins of not paying attention, not acting, not choosing to be an active peacemaker – are just as offensive to God and just as destructive to our world as are acts of violence.

We are sinners. Sin, rightly understood, is the soul turned in on itself. Our thoughts, emotions, and actions often fail to correspond to the reality that the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now, that God is present here and now, that there is a divine ordering of the world that lifts up the lowly and the humble of heart. The reality is that God’s gifts of love, grace, peace, hope, and love absolutely permeate this world; but our gaze and attention is so inwardly turned that we miss all the opportunities to dwell in those perfect gifts.

Instead of living as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we put ourselves in charge of our own domains. We prioritize our own needs and desires over our neighbors. We let fear keep us from loving. We let fear of others drive us to think of others as less than human and unworthy of love, respect, and protection. God sets a feast before us and we bar the doors after we get inside so that none of those other people can get in and ruin our delightful evening.

The antidote to sin is repentance. Repentance, rightly understood, is changing one’s mind. The changing of a mind is a laborious and lengthy process that is largely out of our control. Fortunately, we worship the God who lavishes us with gifts. One particular gift is the Holy Spirit – the person of the Trinity who works on our head and our heart day and night…softening it, shaping it, making it ready to receive the truth of our forgiveness and ready to receive the invitation to live according to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Repentance – changing one’s mind – bears fruit and shows up in the way we live our daily lives. This is what is known as discipleship; but for our purposes today we can call it reformation.

Today we, like our Jewish brothers and sisters in Pittsburg yesterday, gather to worship the Lord. We gather to worship the Lord on a day we set aside each year to commemorate our denomination’s roots in the Great Reformation of the 16th century. We gather to worship the Lord bearing the inescapable reality that we are a church descended and evolved from the teachings of a theologian whose anti-semitic sentiments are well-documented.

Our church denomination, the ELCA, has committed itself to reforming this haunting aspect of our past. In 1994 the ELCA researched, wrote, and published a statement called the “Declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community.” Included in the text were these words:

“We recognize in anti-Semitism a contradiction and affront to the Gospel, a violation of our hope and calling, and we pledge this church to oppose the deadly working of such bigotry, both within our own circles and in the society around us.”

Reformation is an ongoing task; a daily turning toward God. The 1994 ELCA statement did not solve the problem of anti-semitism nor did it erase it from our collective past. Rather, it points us to a truth that guides our everyday actions and attitudes.

Our task today, along with all who profess to worship and follow Christ, are to condemn, mourn, confess, and reform. Reformation comes at the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Reformation comes by doing the hard work of analyzing our heart and mind. Reformation comes by striving to be God’s hands and feet in the world. Reformation comes only by the grace of God who sets us free from the slavery of sin and sets us on the path of righteousness and eternal union with the Lord.

Amen.

Mark 10:2-16

Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, "God made them male and female.' "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

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.

Divorce was a reality in three of my extended family relationships as I was growing up. My initial draft of today’s sermon went into some detail about one of these relationships – detail I thought was necessary to the larger point I was making. However, this morning as I read through the draft I decided to disregard the details and context of divorce as I’ve witnessed it. Reason being, I understand that divorce is highly personal, each circumstance is unique, and I don’t want to risk advocating divorce as the only way to respond to a particular situation. All that to say, the final version of today’s sermon is drastically shorter and less personal than it was a few hours ago, but I trust the good news will ring true.

Scripture verses such as Jesus’ prohibition on divorce are often taken as a universally-applicable and valid in each and every situation throughout time and space. The issue I have is that in my life, I have seen the utter devastation that divorce has brought on families, but I’ve also recognized divorce as a life-giving and completely justifiable option for some marriages.

“But pastor,” one could say. “Jesus plainly says that anyone who divorces and remarries commits adultery.”

If you believe that the Bible was written by people isolated from the world who simply wrote down the whispered words of angels; if you believe there is no narrative underlying the pages of scripture; if you believe that every word of the Bible is literally true and universally applicable regardless of the context or bias on the part of the author or translator; then scripture such as Mark 10 is available to you as a tool to judge others and condemn their actions.

Had I never witnessed a healthy, necessary, and dare I say beautiful, divorce between people in my extended family…if I never knew their story…then I, too, likely would have been content to take the verses that prohibit divorce and remarriage at face value. I could have used such verses to justify condemning anyone caught in the painful process of divorce.

Fortunately, however, I have been taught how to gracefully hold up the truths from scripture as well as the truths from lived experience…even when they appear to be contradictory.

I don’t think anyone here is interested in using today’s verse as ammunition to shame people who have experienced divorce. Instead, let’s explore what is going on in this text and where the good news is located.

You’ve probably heard a lot of talk about the “Biblical understanding of marriage.” Well, there isn’t one unified vision for marriage. The patriarchs of the faith (including Abraham, Jacob, David, and others) had numerous wives…or at least a concubine or two. And the apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Corinth, tells people to consider not marrying at all, saying, “Those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that” (1 Cor. 7:28). I bet you’ve never heard that verse read at a marriage ceremony!

In the Biblical contexts, marriage was contractual, not relational. A family would sell their daughter or sister into marriage, where she would become property of the man. Notice the Pharisee’s question, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” as well as their response, “Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife.”

In these times, a woman had no rights. Her husband could divorce her for any conceivable reason. And once divorced, she would lose most of her rights, including the right to own property. She could easily find herself begging for food on the street or prostituting herself for income. Jesus recognized that divorce was a tool that men were using to shame, ostracize, and terrorize women. Thus, his strong words against divorce served to protect women. This is yet another passage where Jesus is positioning himself as a champion of the vulnerable and the outcast.

Clearly, divorce is not something that God intends for us; particularly when we consider how often marriage is used in scripture as a metaphor of the relationship between God and God’s people. But it is a reality of our imperfect lives that many unexpected things can enter a marriage and destroy it. Jesus’ intent is the protection and honor of the spouse as a child created in God’s image, not as trash to be discarded on a selfish whim. Marriage is more than just a legal obligation; it is part of our created order and responsibility to care for one another. If marriage can no longer provide protection and honor that function, then alternative routes of protection and honor must be pursued.

Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce are not straightforward legalistic principles to be applied and assailed regardless of context. Rather, they are words meant to protect women, honor the image of God in each other, and inspire our relationships to be injected with love, fidelity, and grace – the same gifts God bestows upon us every day.

May all of your relationships be life-affirming, precious, guided by grace, and worth fighting for.

Amen.

Condemn, Mourn, Confess, and Reform

A Protective Prohibition