Sermon preached at St. Alban's on October 4, 2015
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 22
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann
To set the stage, Jesus and his disciples have left Capernaum and are heading south into Judea along the river Jordan, and the emphasis of Jesus’ ministry is changing; he is doing less regarding signs and wonders and more regarding the discipline required to be one of his followers.
As they travel towards Jerusalem there is ample opportunity for teaching, and since Jesus’ reputation precedes them, there are constant throngs of people eager to be taught. But as usual, there are still those in the crowd who would rather see him silenced. You see; our good friends the Pharisees have returned, and they believe they have a plan that is sure to lure Jesus into saying the wrong thing. So they pose the question, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Now the Pharisees’ question appears to be a non sequitur in that we don’t know exactly what Jesus was teaching the crowd at that moment, which begs the question: why are they asking Jesus about divorce and what does his answer have to do with discipleship? Well, I’ve already given a clue to part of the answer in the opening sentence of this sermon, which places Jesus and the twelve in Judea beyond the Jordan.
Now who else do we know that has been hanging around the shore of the Jordan? John the Baptist! And what has happened to John the Baptist? He has had his head removed! Why? Because he dared to tell Herod that his marriage to Herodias was adulterous and incestuous, which were two huge infractions of Jewish law!
So in part, the Pharisees are hoping that Jesus will follow in his cousin’s footsteps…all the way to the chopping block! But there was another reason, which is not as obvious from the text.
At this time there was an ongoing debate among the several rabbinic schools dealing with the interpretation of the Law regarding divorce. Deuteronomy (24:1) states that a man could divorce his wife if he found something objectionable in her. One school defined ‘something objectionable’ as adultery, period! But another school interpreted ‘something objectionable’ as having burned dinner or nagging loud enough to be overheard by the neighbors. And still another school went so far as to say that ‘something objectionable’ could mean if a man found another woman better looking than his wife.
You can see by this discussion that women, like children, did not count for much according to the increasingly liberal interpretations of the Law, and the Pharisees were hoping that Jesus would become entangled in the debate and thus identify with one of the schools of thought. If he chose one of the progressive schools then he could be labeled as not respecting the Law and thereby discredited. But if he chose the conservative side of the argument, maybe they could get him to speak out against Herod and suffer the same fate as John. Either way it was a win-win situation as far as the Pharisees could tell.
But Jesus never does what is expected of him, and this time is no exception. He calmly and authoritatively deflects their question with a question: “What did Moses command you?” And the Pharisees, momentarily taken aback, quickly reiterated the Law. “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal, and to divorce her.” To which Jesus replied, “That’s right, but Moses allowed this due to the hardness of your hearts, because from the very beginning of creation God made man in His image, male and female, and it was His intention that a man and a woman stay together since once joined together they were no longer two, but united as one.”
Now I’m not going to get into all of the issues involved with divorce, the rate of which still hovers between 40%-50% in the U.S. The point of Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees is that marriage was created, defined and instituted by God, not by man; it is part of His created order, and the state in which he originally intended for us to exist. Together, male and female constitute the image of God; one is not complete without the other. Furthermore, it is from this mystical union, which existed at one time before the Fall, which we are taught that a man and woman are united in “heart, body, and mind…for their mutual joy; for help and comfort; and for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord.” (BCP 1979, p. 423)
But shortly after their creation, man and woman chose to disobey God, and consequently, all of creation fell and became distorted. Thus Moses allowed for divorce because of our fallen nature. However, his intention for the allowance was to make divorce difficult by limiting ‘something objectionable’ to adultery, but since this allowance was man-made and our hearts are in constant rebellion against that which God intended, humanity has wrought new and progressively lenient interpretations of the Law, which has culminated in no-fault divorce, and more recently, an open-ended definition as to what components constitute a marriage.
Now this is a tough message on which to preach, but let me be clear; I am not standing in judgment of anyone, because I doubt there is anyone in this room who has not been affected by divorce. And an argument could be made that certain good things have come about as the result of divorce, although I would argue that those good things have come from God in spite of divorce, because good things only come from God. Plus there is still the issue of those who choose to remain single. But the question remains: in context of this Gospel passage, why are we hearing this message during an ongoing discussion on discipleship?
Well, the answer can be found in our current Prayer Book (p. 423), which is a constitutional document proclaiming to the world what we believe as a Church. And as a word of warning, this is why we must be extremely careful with any proposed revision of the same. In any case, according to the marriage rite the honorable estate of Holy Matrimony “signifies…the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church.” In other words, Christian marriage between a man and a woman is the ultimate expression of human relationship in this world symbolizing the bond in which God intended for us to be with Him since the beginning of creation!
You see; God made a covenant with the Hebrew people and said, “I am the Lord your God...you shall have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:2a, 3) But time and time again the people of Israel ran after other gods, the very gods of the people whose land they were given, thus divorcing themselves from the Lord their God and committing spiritual adultery.
And this same God became incarnate in the Messiah Jesus whom Scripture refers to as the Bridegroom and that he will come for his Bride in the fullness of time. And we, the Church, the Bride of Christ, are to be prepared for his appearance by living our lives in faithfulness, fidelity, and purity, which means that as disciples of the living Jesus we are called to love God with all of our bodies, minds and spirit, and not to go running after every ‘spiritual’ fad that the culture offers. To do so, whether married or single, would be unchaste. Therefore, the lesson in discipleship is that even with the reality of divorce, we must continually and consistently uphold the ideal and sanctity of Christian marriage. In Nomine Patris
As they travel towards Jerusalem there is ample opportunity for teaching, and since Jesus’ reputation precedes them, there are constant throngs of people eager to be taught. But as usual, there are still those in the crowd who would rather see him silenced. You see; our good friends the Pharisees have returned, and they believe they have a plan that is sure to lure Jesus into saying the wrong thing. So they pose the question, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Now the Pharisees’ question appears to be a non sequitur in that we don’t know exactly what Jesus was teaching the crowd at that moment, which begs the question: why are they asking Jesus about divorce and what does his answer have to do with discipleship? Well, I’ve already given a clue to part of the answer in the opening sentence of this sermon, which places Jesus and the twelve in Judea beyond the Jordan.
Now who else do we know that has been hanging around the shore of the Jordan? John the Baptist! And what has happened to John the Baptist? He has had his head removed! Why? Because he dared to tell Herod that his marriage to Herodias was adulterous and incestuous, which were two huge infractions of Jewish law!
So in part, the Pharisees are hoping that Jesus will follow in his cousin’s footsteps…all the way to the chopping block! But there was another reason, which is not as obvious from the text.
At this time there was an ongoing debate among the several rabbinic schools dealing with the interpretation of the Law regarding divorce. Deuteronomy (24:1) states that a man could divorce his wife if he found something objectionable in her. One school defined ‘something objectionable’ as adultery, period! But another school interpreted ‘something objectionable’ as having burned dinner or nagging loud enough to be overheard by the neighbors. And still another school went so far as to say that ‘something objectionable’ could mean if a man found another woman better looking than his wife.
You can see by this discussion that women, like children, did not count for much according to the increasingly liberal interpretations of the Law, and the Pharisees were hoping that Jesus would become entangled in the debate and thus identify with one of the schools of thought. If he chose one of the progressive schools then he could be labeled as not respecting the Law and thereby discredited. But if he chose the conservative side of the argument, maybe they could get him to speak out against Herod and suffer the same fate as John. Either way it was a win-win situation as far as the Pharisees could tell.
But Jesus never does what is expected of him, and this time is no exception. He calmly and authoritatively deflects their question with a question: “What did Moses command you?” And the Pharisees, momentarily taken aback, quickly reiterated the Law. “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal, and to divorce her.” To which Jesus replied, “That’s right, but Moses allowed this due to the hardness of your hearts, because from the very beginning of creation God made man in His image, male and female, and it was His intention that a man and a woman stay together since once joined together they were no longer two, but united as one.”
Now I’m not going to get into all of the issues involved with divorce, the rate of which still hovers between 40%-50% in the U.S. The point of Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees is that marriage was created, defined and instituted by God, not by man; it is part of His created order, and the state in which he originally intended for us to exist. Together, male and female constitute the image of God; one is not complete without the other. Furthermore, it is from this mystical union, which existed at one time before the Fall, which we are taught that a man and woman are united in “heart, body, and mind…for their mutual joy; for help and comfort; and for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord.” (BCP 1979, p. 423)
But shortly after their creation, man and woman chose to disobey God, and consequently, all of creation fell and became distorted. Thus Moses allowed for divorce because of our fallen nature. However, his intention for the allowance was to make divorce difficult by limiting ‘something objectionable’ to adultery, but since this allowance was man-made and our hearts are in constant rebellion against that which God intended, humanity has wrought new and progressively lenient interpretations of the Law, which has culminated in no-fault divorce, and more recently, an open-ended definition as to what components constitute a marriage.
Now this is a tough message on which to preach, but let me be clear; I am not standing in judgment of anyone, because I doubt there is anyone in this room who has not been affected by divorce. And an argument could be made that certain good things have come about as the result of divorce, although I would argue that those good things have come from God in spite of divorce, because good things only come from God. Plus there is still the issue of those who choose to remain single. But the question remains: in context of this Gospel passage, why are we hearing this message during an ongoing discussion on discipleship?
Well, the answer can be found in our current Prayer Book (p. 423), which is a constitutional document proclaiming to the world what we believe as a Church. And as a word of warning, this is why we must be extremely careful with any proposed revision of the same. In any case, according to the marriage rite the honorable estate of Holy Matrimony “signifies…the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church.” In other words, Christian marriage between a man and a woman is the ultimate expression of human relationship in this world symbolizing the bond in which God intended for us to be with Him since the beginning of creation!
You see; God made a covenant with the Hebrew people and said, “I am the Lord your God...you shall have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:2a, 3) But time and time again the people of Israel ran after other gods, the very gods of the people whose land they were given, thus divorcing themselves from the Lord their God and committing spiritual adultery.
And this same God became incarnate in the Messiah Jesus whom Scripture refers to as the Bridegroom and that he will come for his Bride in the fullness of time. And we, the Church, the Bride of Christ, are to be prepared for his appearance by living our lives in faithfulness, fidelity, and purity, which means that as disciples of the living Jesus we are called to love God with all of our bodies, minds and spirit, and not to go running after every ‘spiritual’ fad that the culture offers. To do so, whether married or single, would be unchaste. Therefore, the lesson in discipleship is that even with the reality of divorce, we must continually and consistently uphold the ideal and sanctity of Christian marriage. In Nomine Patris
