"Divine Things and Human Things: Divorce and Children" - Sermon for Pentecost 19, 2015

Sermon:

Text:

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who brings us to relationship and makes us children of God.

            4 weeks ago we read the gospel lesson where Jesus asks the disciples who do you say that I am, and Peter gives this masterful answer of “You are the Messiah.” The one who will save them, but then when Jesus talks about dying at the hands of the Chief Priests, Peter rebukes him, and Jesus in turn rebukes Peter telling him, Get Behind me Satan, you are setting your mind on Human things not Divine things.

            And in the next few encounters with either the disciples or others I think we start to see more examples of where human and divine contradict each other.

            The next situation is the Transfiguration, where on top of a mount Jesus becomes dazzling bright and Elijah and Moses appear with him. Peter’s response to this? He thinks he needs to build them huts to stay in. Peter gets caught up in the event and turns to the human thing and misses the point of the divine thing.

Next, on the road, again after Jesus has told them about his death and resurrection, the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest, a very human thing, and Jesus declares, you must be last to be first, a very divine thing. To be great you must be servant of all.

Then our text from last week, Peter says, we saw a man doing things in your name, you need to stop him, the human response, Jesus’s divine response? No, if he is not against us he is for us, join together with each other, make promises, covenants, not competition.

            I say all this, because I think that again, in our text for today, we find a human thing vs a divine thing situation.

            First some background. When the Pharisee’s come to Jesus, they are not just asking him a random question, but one that was of very much discussion amongst the Rabbi’s of Jesus’ time. The two greatest Rabbis, and on either side of much discussion, were Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai, both born around 50 to 100 years before Jesus and dying during his lifetime, but before his ministry began. Jesus probably heard their teachings, if not talked to them, but they did not experience Jesus’ own teaching.

            The question the Pharisee’s raise, and the Rabbis are discussing, is around Deuteronomy 24:1 which speaks of the husband finding “something objectionable” which gives him grounds for divorcing her. Hillel interpreted “something objectionable” to mean anything, even just ruining the fish for dinner, while Shammai thought it could only be in the case of adultery. So the Pharisees ask Jesus, what’s your thought?  Choose a side. And Jesus says, it’s more than that. Those are human meanings. Marriage shouldn't be some flimsy thing to be thrown away with no thought, God brought these people together, let no one separate them. And then when asked later by the disciples, Jesus goes further, If a man divorces his wife and remarries, he commits adultery, and if a woman divorces her husband and remarries, she commits adultery.

            Jesus wants it to be very clear, marriage and divorce is not something to be taken lightly, it needs to be considered in a setting of prayer. I want to be clear here, there is indeed sin involved in divorce, it is a splitting of relationship, that itself is the definition of sin, when relationship is broken, between us and God, and between fellow people. But, it is not in the signing of the forms that it happens, it is in the breakdown of communication, the betrayal of trust, the abuse and other inexcusable behavior that causes divorce. And those are all the human things. When we put human things in front of divine things that is how divorce happens. We need to see God in the other person, put the other person first, that is the divine thing. Jesus says, God brings these people together, let no one separate them, and yet we do, by forgetting about divine things and focusing on human things.

            But, that’s not the end of our text. It’s very important that it continues.

            For many generations, if not still now, there has been a massive stigma over divorces and divorced people. This text here as become a cornerstone in our own discussions about divorce. Is a divorced person who remarries welcome to return to the church?

            And for many people the hard hard answer they heard from others is no, they were not allowed to remain a member of the church, they are to be shunned, removed and kicked aside, no longer worthy.

            But, our text continues.

            People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 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. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

            We talked briefly about children a few weeks ago, but to briefly re-clarify. In Jesus’ time until you turned of age, usually around 13-14 in the ceremony that is the bar or bat mitzvah, you didn’t have a name. ok, they probably called them something, but they didn’t have a name that mattered until then. They didn’t have meaning or worth until then. When things were bad, they suffered the brunt, not because parents were cruel, but the safety and health of those older who had more chance to survive was more important. So, to welcome a child is of no value to you, it gives you no social status, they aren’t worth anything, they are on the bottom. The human thing is to throw them off, to turn them away like the disciples attempt. The divine thing is to welcome them in. The divine thing is to welcome the lowest in, to welcome the outcast in, to welcome those who are hurting in.

            To welcome those who are divorced in. They maybe hurting from the divorce itself, or maybe the divorce is the grace to be removed from the pain and hurt of a broken and abusive relationship.

            The divine thing is to treat marriage with respect and prayer and Godly care, to honor your spouse. The divine thing is to welcome all those who are in need of Gods grace and mercy into our gathering, no matter who they are, no matter what they’ve done.

            In times of great discord, pain and suffering, may we do the divine thing and welcome all the children in, each and every one of us, who have been washed in the waters of baptism and made children of God.

Amen.