Good News
Mark 10:2-16
Read Rev. Mary Kay's Sermon on this Gospel passage.
I have a love/hate relationship with our lectionary. If you’ve ever wondered how the lessons are picked for a Sunday, here’s some information for you. Fr. Johnson, Fr. Norman and I don’t pick the readings at random. We use a cycle of readings called the Revised Common Lectionary. The cycle allows us to cover large portions of scripture from the Old Testament, New Testament, psalms and the Gospels over the course of three years.
There are two distinct advantages to using the RCL. One is that the RCL is shared by Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists and others. What a great unifying message that our Catholic and other Protestant neighbors are most likely hearing the same Bible passages as we are on any given Sunday. And the other advantage is that the RCL prevents preachers from only picking the scriptures they like or are comfortable preaching. We have to wrestle with the texts as they come.
Obviously, yesterday was one of those hard scriptures. I know in our covenant community there are many who are hurting right now because of a past, present or looming divorce. I know people who are still coping with the aftermath of the messy separation of property, custody and emotion that divorce and beginning a new life require.
And I know that for many, their divorce has not been met by compassion and support by their faith communities. Many churches have turned these words of Jesus into an edict that judges and creates black and white rules that exclude and punish. How do we approach this text in a way that is faithful, and that does not add insult to injury?
Jesus clearly intends for human beings to live in relationship, and highly values the marriage relationship. But Jesus never let himself be trapped into the black and white, exclusionary thinking of the Pharisees.
If we look at the bigger picture of the ministry of Jesus, we see that Jesus understood human frailty and our tendency to miss the mark. Jesus calls us into relationship that demands something of us, and he expects that we will give it all we’ve got. Nobody thinks that divorce is always the best and first option. However, when people fell short, Jesus always reached out with compassion and forgiveness. Jesus always drew people into relationship and was faithful in caring for them.
I believe without a doubt that Jesus would never expect someone to stay in an abusive relationship for the sake of keeping a promise. Jesus would not want us to stay in relationships that oppress and attack the human spirit in order to keep a covenant. Jesus was concerned about respect and dignity of all – even women and children. And sometimes, in order to respect the covenant of marriage, a marriage needs to end.
This passage is really about relationship, and the commitment God calls us to. My hope is that St. David’s is a place to which broken people – and we are all broken in one way or another, aren’t we? – can come for healing, solace and strength. St. David’s is a safe place for those who need rest, and a safe place to ask the hard questions about how we live our lives in the context of God’s grace. Here, in our human laboratory we learn how to risk, how to care, how to forgive and how to grow with one another. Here we learn how to be faithful to God and one another. Here we learn to love ourselves and each other as we are loved by God.
I’m really glad the lectionary challenged us to wrestle with this hard text. The church ought to be a place where we grapple with the hard questions, name our unknowing and our discomfort, and work out how to live our faith in the world.
How can we, as a covenant community, better support those of us who are experiencing divorce?
Some churches do a “Service of the Recognition of the End of a Marriage”, a ritual “designed to offer to God the pain of a marriage, to acknowledge its end, and promise forgiveness.” What do you think?
Read Rev. Mary Kay's Sermon on this Gospel passage.
I have a love/hate relationship with our lectionary. If you’ve ever wondered how the lessons are picked for a Sunday, here’s some information for you. Fr. Johnson, Fr. Norman and I don’t pick the readings at random. We use a cycle of readings called the Revised Common Lectionary. The cycle allows us to cover large portions of scripture from the Old Testament, New Testament, psalms and the Gospels over the course of three years.
There are two distinct advantages to using the RCL. One is that the RCL is shared by Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists and others. What a great unifying message that our Catholic and other Protestant neighbors are most likely hearing the same Bible passages as we are on any given Sunday. And the other advantage is that the RCL prevents preachers from only picking the scriptures they like or are comfortable preaching. We have to wrestle with the texts as they come.
Obviously, yesterday was one of those hard scriptures. I know in our covenant community there are many who are hurting right now because of a past, present or looming divorce. I know people who are still coping with the aftermath of the messy separation of property, custody and emotion that divorce and beginning a new life require.
And I know that for many, their divorce has not been met by compassion and support by their faith communities. Many churches have turned these words of Jesus into an edict that judges and creates black and white rules that exclude and punish. How do we approach this text in a way that is faithful, and that does not add insult to injury?
Jesus clearly intends for human beings to live in relationship, and highly values the marriage relationship. But Jesus never let himself be trapped into the black and white, exclusionary thinking of the Pharisees.
If we look at the bigger picture of the ministry of Jesus, we see that Jesus understood human frailty and our tendency to miss the mark. Jesus calls us into relationship that demands something of us, and he expects that we will give it all we’ve got. Nobody thinks that divorce is always the best and first option. However, when people fell short, Jesus always reached out with compassion and forgiveness. Jesus always drew people into relationship and was faithful in caring for them.
I believe without a doubt that Jesus would never expect someone to stay in an abusive relationship for the sake of keeping a promise. Jesus would not want us to stay in relationships that oppress and attack the human spirit in order to keep a covenant. Jesus was concerned about respect and dignity of all – even women and children. And sometimes, in order to respect the covenant of marriage, a marriage needs to end.
This passage is really about relationship, and the commitment God calls us to. My hope is that St. David’s is a place to which broken people – and we are all broken in one way or another, aren’t we? – can come for healing, solace and strength. St. David’s is a safe place for those who need rest, and a safe place to ask the hard questions about how we live our lives in the context of God’s grace. Here, in our human laboratory we learn how to risk, how to care, how to forgive and how to grow with one another. Here we learn how to be faithful to God and one another. Here we learn to love ourselves and each other as we are loved by God.
I’m really glad the lectionary challenged us to wrestle with this hard text. The church ought to be a place where we grapple with the hard questions, name our unknowing and our discomfort, and work out how to live our faith in the world.
How can we, as a covenant community, better support those of us who are experiencing divorce?
Some churches do a “Service of the Recognition of the End of a Marriage”, a ritual “designed to offer to God the pain of a marriage, to acknowledge its end, and promise forgiveness.” What do you think?
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1 Comments:
Thank you for this beautiful, loving, and deeply pastoral insight.
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