October 3, 2021 – Pentecost +19B

“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.” Mark 10:2-16

Children say the funniest things. One cute pretentious four-year-old was trying to understand the concept of marriage. Her father, being the good father that he was pulled out the wedding photo album thinking showing her come pictures may help his daughter better understand – or as much as a four-year old might understand. After they were done looking at many of the pictures, the father asked her “Now do you understand?”. The daughter answered, “I think so – now this is when mommy came to work for us.” A grandson was talking with his grandmother – he said “Grandma do you know how you and G-d are alike?” The Grandmother paused, polishing her halo just a little bit and answered, “No – how are G-d and I alike?” The grandson answered “You are both so old.”

Children have a way of saying things that bring us joy one minute, and knock us down a peg or two the next. It is their gift. Brutal honesty, we might call it. But then again, children are also the great negotiators. Over the years I have felt some days that I actually have more than just the three children in my house – not only did I have Steven, Matthew and Leah, but I also had “It wasn’t me” and “I don’t know” living with me. Children are not only good at keeping us off our pedestals, but also passing the blame and telling you why you are wrong.

In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus is engaged in some verbal sparring with the Pharisees. And, I must say, the Pharisees sometimes act like children – appearing to be above blame, and above reproach. And this morning, not only are they not so interested in getting an answer to their question, but they are trying hard to get Jesus to say something “wrong”. They are trying to trip up Jesus, just like life tries to trip us up once in a while.

The lessons try to do the same to me, once in a while. The lessons appointed for a particular Sunday are not always welcoming and loving texts. Such is the case this morning – for the text is about divorce. And, who came to church this morning to listen to a sermon about divorce? And yet, although my gut says to me “Don’t do it” –

my heart says, you have to do it. So, let’s start with some statistics. As of 2016, both marriages and divorce rates are on the decrease. Think about that – there is something hopeful and at the same time scary in that sentence. What remains unchanged:

Still half of all marriages will end in divorce. 41% of all first marriages will end in divorce 60% of all second marriages will end in divorce 73% of all third marriages will end in divorce.

Every thirteen seconds in America, another couple gets divorced – within the time allotted for this sermon, there will be 70 or more divorces in America. People between the ages of 25 and 39 make up 60% of all divorces. The professions with the lowest divorce rate: Podiatrists, Optometrists, and Clergy.

In today’s society, you most likely know at least two couples who are divorced, at least two who are separated, and at least two couples who should be divorced because their relationship is just terrible. So, we need to talk about relationships – about brokenness – about how sin infects our relationships with one another. As I said earlier, Jesus is involved in some verbal sparring with the Pharisees. This group of “lawyers” were very steeped in the law – the laws of the Old Testament. As such they are asking Jesus this question: “Is it LAWFUL for a

man to divorce his wife?” The reality is – we are all sinful and broken people trying to live in relationships – and when those relationships fail, it is a human tragedy. The broken marriage affects more than the couple that separate:

It affects the children, if there are any…It affects the extended families…It affects the church family, if they are

connected to a church.

And how the church responds to this brokenness is often revealing – what it reveals is how “weak and helpless” we feel when we witness such brokenness:

Divorce is painful – divorce is embarrassing – divorce is demoralizing – divorce not only divides a couple – it divides families, and even the church family.

It is in the middle of this conversation about divorce that Jesus is suddenly distracted – and he is distracted by his disciples trying to shoo children away. Perhaps Jesus sees a moment of instruction in this distraction – because suddenly he sees a teachable moment – and uses the children as visual aids. He places a child in their midst and says “Let these children come to me – for if you do not receive the kingdom of G-d as a little child, you will never enter it.”

Now, the fact that he is talking about children being welcome in the kingdom of G-d is important – because these children were non-entities in their society. Children, divorced women, and women in general were the lowest of society, and the weakest among them. They had no status. By Jesus welcoming these “lowest” among them, the weakest, the forgotten – this is the essence of the kingdom of G-d. In other words, status does not get us into the kingdom – only the radical Grace of Jesus, and our radical dependence on that Grace is our ticket into the kingdom.

Pastor Dave