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.

Mark 9:38-41

John said to [Jesus], “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

I always try to keep it short and sweet for the sake of the pets on a day like today. I realize they have a harder time than the kids, even – and some of you grown-ups – sitting still, outside, for “Worship in the Wind,” as it were. So, even though this Gospel reading is full of several sermons, we aren’t going to tackle all of it, so do not be afraid, this won’t take long.

It would be a lie to say I’ve started running again. It’s been so long since I’ve done it regularly and I’ve only hit the road again a couple of times in the last week or so, so it is what it is. But it was such a beautiful night Tuesday evening that I went for a jog. And with Worship in the Wind and Pet Blessing Sunday on the brain, I couldn’t help but notice all the dogs in the neighborhoods through which I ran. I also couldn’t help but notice them, because so many of them are obnoxious and territorial, anxious and terrifying little, ankle-biting beasts, to be honest.

I’m a dog person, for sure, don’t misunderstand me. But I’d much rather meet up with a big, clumsy bear of a dog than a tiny, little, high-pitched ankle biter any day of the week. Those little ones, until you get to know them, are so quick and unpredictable. And it seems like I encounter twice as many of the little ones, than the big ones, as I run through the streets and along the sidewalks of New Palestine.

And I’m not so much scared of these little critters, while I’m running, as I am amused by them. They come out of nowhere, you understand. Screaming off of front porches. Clawing at storm doors. Barreling out of garages. Scooting from behind bushes and trees. Always barking. And most of them, thankfully, are contained by electric fences or actual fences, chains, leashes, or the threatening calls of their embarrassed owners. One little yapper even growled and barked at me from the front window of a car as it drove by.

And it’s amusing to me, because most of them – at least in my experience – are all bark and no bite. (I know Brian Smith has had a different experience.) But they’re just marking their territory, you might say. They’re just protecting their people … or so they think. They’re just showing who they believe to be the boss. But most of them – again in my experience – are perfectly pleasant, fine and friendly little hounds once they get to know you – and even more so once they’re owners give them permission to meet someone new.

And these little you-know-whats – these little ankle-biting suburban terrors – remind me of too many Christians, in some ways; and of the disciples a little bit in this morning’s Gospel story.

See, one of these disciples, John, comes to Jesus and says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he wasn’t following us.” Someone unexpected – some stranger, perhaps – was doing the work of the Lord without permission. Maybe they weren't commissioned. Maybe they weren't one of the twelve. Maybe they weren't part of the in crowd or simply hadn’t been given proper instruction. Whatever the case, it was unexpected and it wasn’t one of the usual leaders and it seemed like this wouldn’t, couldn’t, maybe shouldn’t be okay.

Someone was treading on unfamiliar, uncharted territory – private property, as far as the disciples were concerned – and the disciples were yapping about it to their Master. They were marking their territory; protecting their people; trying to be the boss where the ministry of Jesus and the work of the Kingdom were concerned.

But Jesus says, in a nutshell, “let it be.” If they're on our side, they can't be all bad. "Whoever is not against us, is for us." Once someone has done a deed of power in my name, they won’t be able, then, to speak evil of me …of us …of what all of us are trying to accomplish.

There’s a lot of this – too much of this, still – in the church in the world. Trying to keep the wrong people off of God’s lawn, if you will; trying to keep distance from those who aren’t from around “here,” wherever “here” might be; trying to put up fences of distinction between denominations, faith traditions, religions; letting artificial boundaries as simple as worship style and as profound as politics and polity divide us. And pretending that we’re the one’s who are called or qualified to protect the Kingdom God is working to establish and grow in our midst.

I don’t have all the answers about this, of course. But I do think there’s something else to be learned from our canine companions – even from, maybe even especially from, the ankle-biters of the bunch.

Because the other thing that seems true about so many of the dogs I know – and maybe some of the ones you’ve brought here, today – is that once they get out of their own comfort zones; once they’ve moved off of their own property; once they leave the boundaries of what they consider to be “home” or “safe” or “theirs to protect,” a lot of them change their tune. They are curious and friendly and quieter, even; and they have to rely a lot more on the instruction and protection of their master.

And I wonder if we shouldn’t practice that more often ourselves to become more like the followers God calls us to be. Let’s get out of what’s always so familiar and comfortable and safe. (Which is something like what all of this “worship in the wind” is about, in a small way.) Let’s stop pretending we own any of what we’re tempted to defend so much of the time – history, tradition, practice, polity, the Kingdom of God. Let’s stop protecting – out of fear – what belongs to God in the first place.

And by all means, let’s stop marking our territory, barking about what we don’t understand; let’s stop being afraid of the “other”; and let’s find new ways to trust in the ways of our master, Jesus – to follow his instruction and to rely on his guidance, grace and example above all the rest.

Amen

A Protective Prohibition

Ankle Biter Blessings