Sermon 10/6/24: Questioning the Question!

20 Pentecost

Psalm 8; Genesis 2:18–24; Hebrew 1:1; 2:5–12; Mark 10:2–16

I begin my meditation this morning with an exclamation:  What an odd question!  I am referring to the question which the Pharisees (who were the intelligentsia, the scholars, the learned men of the community) put to Jesus.  And the question was, “Can a man divorce his wife?”  That question may not on the surface seem odd to you, but I confess that to me, it is an odd one.  It was not a rhetorical question, for the Pharisees know the answer, and that answer is “YES.”  That is the answer which has evolved over generations of debate, reflection, and codification.  That was the Mosaic Law.  Indeed, Jesus gives them the only and correct answer available to him.    

In a very basic way, the question put to Jesus as described in today’s gospel is not terribly different from the one which they put to him, when a blind man was brought to him and Jesus healed him.  You will recall that their question, then, was: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  (John 9.2)  Likewise on that occasion, Jesus does not sidestep the question, but uses it, in order to reframe the issue.  That is, he points to the centrality of God’s love and forgiving powers.  Jesus responded then, not unlike in today’s gospel: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.”  (John 9.3)

The Pharisees’ question is an odd one, because from side of the Pharisees it is a smokescreen for their own interests; ultimately the issue is not about divorce.  From the perspective of Jesus, God’s Messiah, the question is about relationships in a broader, more fundamental sense.  Let us be clear.  The example put before the Jesus was that of marriage.  However, at issue was a serious flaw in their question, whose answer is established in the Book of Genesis.  Today’s first lesson from the Book of Genesis deserves another glance.  I refrain from reading it again for you, but whether now or later in the privacy of your home, read it again, and when you do, ask yourself the following question: What is the issue or problem which the God of creation is keen to resolve?    

Genesis is clear.  An individual alone does not create community.  Our inner urge, our inner instinct is to share with another the wonders of creation.  Jesus received, handed to him on a verbal platter, the wonderful opportunity to point out the difference between how God views things, and how we humans view things.  Our Book of Records, the Bible, displays again and again that God’s perspective is totally different from ours.

It cannot have escaped even a superficial reading of Mark’s gospel that Jesus has once again taken those who have been disenfranchised, marginalized, or cast aside, and brought them into the circle, both literally and figuratively.  Our lectionary, only weeks ago, included a strongly worded teaching about accepting little children into our midst and as example of the simplicity and humility that best personify God’s kingdom.  This emphasis of the vulnerable, dependent child repeats itself in today’s reading, which on the service is about marriage and divorce.  To build community, by holding up the child as the example of seekers of God’s kingdom, is essential to understanding Jesus’ pronouncement in today’s gospel lesson.

Thanks to the Pharisees, a related question is posed:  What is the ultimate function or aim of “laws?”  Should laws aim to embody the highest ideals we can imagine, or should they simply reflect and codify our human deficiencies as the way of doing business.  Should we not learn to live with this human destruction, as a politician recently recommended as a solution to the epidemic of mass carnage in our school, by building stronger doors and more locks in order to protect our innocent ones while at school, rather than seeking a solution to the root cause?  The Pharisees would ask, “Should we not accommodate human failings as a given?”  To that underlining question, the answer from Jesus is a resounding “NO!”

The gospel which we read today at Eucharist made its way into a newspaper in a pictorial and somewhat humorous form in the comic section under “Beetle Bailey.”  Beetle Bailey is the story of a casual soldier.  There are three frames.  Frame one shows Beetle Bailey and his sidekick, Killer, walking with rifles at the ready, that is to say, slung casually over their shoulders.  Killer asks Beetle Bailey, “In a war, do you think you could really kill someone?”  Beetle Bailey responds: “If he was trying to kill me, I guess I could.”

Frame two shows only Killer who asks: “What if he didn’t want to, but was forced into it?”  Frame three depicts both again, with Killer standing and looking down at Beetle Bailey who has assumed his usual, casual lounging posture, this time against a tree.  Beetle Bailey says: “Hey! If people got together and talked about that, there wouldn’t be any wars!”

Jesus addresses the human condition under the heading of man and woman, because that was what his conspirators put before him.  He proves himself their superior.  He returned to the basics, and for that context it was the story given in the Book of Genesis. 

Some years ago now, I sat in at my former place of employment on a colloquium led by a priest-theologian.  His topic was allegories and their function in the Bible. [the Rev. Fr. James Adams of Cambridge, Mass., and father of HWS’ chaplain, Lesley Adams]  Fr. Adams informed some and reminded others of the basic etymology or meaning of the word “sin.”  Sin did not originally carry with it a one-sided emphasis on our preoccupation with the sexual behavior of humans, rather its meaning was simply “to miss the mark.”  When applied to human relationships, Fr. Adams said, sin addresses any and everything that causes us to miss the mark of union with God, with the realization of the Divine Plan of creation.  And sin comes about because we fail to engage in dialogue, putting our own interest first, or of being forced to carry out the dictates of others in authority, without having expended the needed effort for reconciliation.

Today’s gospel lesson is indisputably clear:  We were not created by God, in order to engage in antagonistic relationships.  In harmony with each other, we approach that which was intended from the beginning of human time: union, not uniformity, with each other.  Further underscored in today’s gospel is a human reality: In the human condition, relationships do not come automatically.  We have to work at them, and Jesus places at the center of our endeavor, those on the periphery, gives them, through us, voice and vote. 

Notwithstanding the impulses that first bring two human beings into any relationship, it is necessary to cultivate that relationship if it is to thrive.  Love is developed, forgiveness is given, an offer is made, negotiation and compromise may take place.  In every human relationship, whether in the family or in the larger social setting, there is fragility, but Jesus calls us to the divine relationships founded on the “righteousness of God.”  For it is there that we find healing and help from the One who created the human family for good.  Amen