“Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” ⁵But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” ¹⁰Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹²and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

¹³People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴But 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. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.” Mark 10:2-16

Note…how Mark sets up this scene: “Some Pharisees came and to test him, said ‘Is it lawful…’” Did you catch that? This isn’t a casual – or even intense, for that matter – conversation about love, marriage, and divorce. It’s a test. Moreover, it’s not even a test about divorce, but about the law. There were, you see, several competing schools of thought about the legality of divorce. Not so much about whether divorce was legal – everyone agreed upon that – but rather under what circumstances. And with this question/test, the Pharisees are trying to pin Jesus down, trying to label him, trying to draw him out and perhaps entrap him so that they know better how to deal with him. And Jesus is having none of it. He deflects their question away from matters of the law and turns it instead to relationship and, in particular, to God’s hope that our relationships are more than legal matters but instead help us to have and share more abundant life. Hence the turn to Genesis: questions of marriage and divorce, he argues, aren’t simply a matter of legal niceties, but rather are about the Creator’s intention that we be in relationships of mutual dependence and health. In fact, Jesus goes one step further and takes what had turned into a legal convenience – typically for the man who sought a divorce – and pushes his interlocutors to see that this law – indeed, all law – was and is intended to protect the vulnerable. When a woman was divorced she lost pretty much everything – status, reputation, economic security, everything – so how can they treat this as a convenience, Jesus asks, let alone a debating topic. The law is meant to protect the vulnerable and hurting and every time we use it for another purpose we are twisting it from the Creator’s plan and, indeed, violating it in spirit if not in letter.

Jesus isn’t speaking to individuals, you see, he’s making a statement about the kind of community we will be. In fact, he’s inviting us to imagine communities centered in and on real relationships; relationships, that is, founded on love and mutual dependence, fostered by respect and dignity, and pursued for the sake of the health of the community and the protection of the vulnerable.” (David Lose, Communities of the Broken and Blessed, September 28, 2015, davidlose.net)

“Now I know that Jesus’ strict words here are painful to persons who have been through divorce, and are difficult for many to hear. I have two siblings who are divorced and two who married divorced persons, so I am not insensitive to this. It is important to note that Jesus was very forgiving of divorced persons. 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 which are hurtful and abusive and unequal. 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.”  (lectionarylab.com, September 28, 2015, Rev. Dr. Delmer L. Chilton)

Pastor Dave

“The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.

And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike.  As Paul says: One faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, etc.” (Augsburg Confession, Article VII)

“Perfection is not some moral embellishment which we acquire outside of Christ…Perfection is the work of Christ himself living in us in faith. Perfection is the full life of charity perfected by the gifts of the Holy Ghost. In order that we may attain to Christian perfection, Jesus has left us His teachings, the Sacraments of the Church, and all the counsels by which he shoes us the way to live more perfectly in Him and for Him. We must not regard the Church purely as an institution or an organization. The church, like Christ, lives and acts in a manner at once human and divine. Certainly there is imperfection in the human members of Christ, but their imperfection is inseparably united to his perfection, sustained by His power, and purified by his holiness, as long as they remain in living union with Him by faith and Love.” (Thomas Merton, “The Church Sanctifies Her Members”, Life and Holiness, p.54)

The church is not filled with holy, or righteous people. The church is filled with broken pots, cast-aside plates, cracked cups, and out-used table cloths. In other words, the church is filled with broken, damaged, and forgotten people—as well as those who have been set aside to teach and preach. But even those people are broken. It is Christ who makes us whole. It is the Holy Spirit that fills us again and again as the world drains and destroys us.

As I watch the process of determining if one broken person is “worthy” to be elected to the Supreme Court, I cannot help but see irony in the process of broken people trying to assess the brokenness of another. I am greatly distressed—for them, for their future, for the future of our country and our world. But then I am reminded that “…it is Christ who makes us whole.”

Pastor Dave