The Gospel for March 31, 2004
Mark 10:1-16
After leaving there, he came into the territory of Judaea and Transjordan. And again crowds gathered round him, and again he taught them, as his custom was. Some Pharisees approached him and asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ They were putting him to the test. He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They replied, ‘Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were so hard hearted that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female. This is why a man leaves his father and mother, and the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh. So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.’ Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.’ People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded 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. In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.
A Study
Part 1. Divorce. Moses had written down how to do it. Case closed.
Jesus re-wrote that law. In a heartbeat. If the Pharushim wanted evidence against this carpenter from Nazareth, He had just provided it in front of many witnesses.
There is some clear late-first-century tinkering with the text, when Jesus talks about a woman divorcing her husband. Women in Palestine had no rights, including the right of divorce. Jesus would have been out of character talking about such a thing. That was a Roman cultural addition, and it makes sense that Mark, writing to Christians in Rome, would want to make it relevant for them.
Many commenters on this text and its parallel in Matthew think that Jesus describes an ideal for the Eschaton, the Jewish end-time. He did not see divorce coming to an end in a foreseeable future, but was describing what would be an ideal situation. His offhand remark about "the two shall become one" is the first chink taken from the armor surrounding the widespread practice of polygamy, but He does not press his attack home -- probably fuel for the eschatological premise.
It is tragically ironic that the "Southern Hemisphere" Anglican bishops who dig through the Hebrew Bible to throw rocks at homosexual unions cannot find these brightly-colored letters in both Mark and Matthew against polygamy, with which these bishops apparently take no issue.
Part 2. Children
If a person had fewer rights than a woman in Palestine, that is, fewer than zero, it was a child. If you have ever wondered why a Bar Mitzvah is so important to a Jew, consider that until that occasion, the child was as fungible as a jar of oil or a measure of grain. Valued, but with a limit. And if the story of the Prodigal Son touches your heart, recall that the Father -- and the older brother -- had absolutely no duty or demand even to acknowledge that person dragging himself naked and shoeless toward the estate that was once his to inherit. He had quite literally ceased to exist.
A parallel escapes me in attempting to draw the metaphor for the children being brought to Jesus for a blessing. The metaphor would have to describe something that requires a great deal of attention, rewarded only by demands for more attention. Something that gets dirty, fouls itself, throws up, gets sick, eats valuable food. Breaks things. When six or seven, begins to show some promise of being a good shepherd or cobbler or carpenter or wife.
A Reflection
2. Children
Jesus, the bachelor big brother of three brothers and some sisters, would have been aware of how children grow and mature, as a close observer. How did he make the leap of faith that this particular set of humans form the ideal for welcomers of the Kingdom?
I had a brilliant professor in graduate school, who, upon coming to the crux of the proof of a tantalizingly important theory, would stop. And say, "the proof is left to the student." As we picked our faces up from the floor, he would often relent, and with a grin, carry on to the conclusion. Sometimes not. This is one of those latter cases.
I caution you that it is not the cute, cuddly, sweet-smelling, coo-cooing Ivory-soap baby that Jesus is talking about. Even my esteemed resource, William Barclay [whose works I finally bought in softcopy today!] leaves me cold on this one. As Jesus said, "This kind require prayer."
1. Divorce
People with Ph.D.s in Psychology get divorced. Get over it.
My parents never spoke of marriage, but lived a lesson in it for as long as I can remember. They were committed to each other. For the extreme long term. When my father's business failed, and his alcoholism blossomed, my mother was "mean" to him until he came to his senses. Woe betide the child or man who bespoke ill of my mother, for he surely would welcome the wrath of God in preference to what my father had for him.
Entering marriage with the sure and certain knowledge that the lock has no key save death is the only prescription I have seen for working marriages.
We all have our flaws. Some of them are fatal flaws that can be bound up in love from a mate who is committed so that fatality is deferred, or praise God, removed.
O God, you have so consecrated the covenant of marriage
that in it is represented the spiritual unity between Christ
and his Church: Send therefore your blessing upon these your
servants, that they may so love, honor, and cherish each other
in faithfulness and patience, in wisdom and true godliness,
that their home may be a haven of blessing and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
10:00:01 PM 
|
|
