The Big Table
Mark 10:2-16
October 4, 2009
How many of you have experienced a divorce in your family – either parents, siblings or your own marriage?
Most of us have walked on some part of that road, and all of us know people who have.
So what do we do with this text from Mark?
But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
The text seems pretty clear. The plain meaning seems obvious. Divorce, according to Mark’s Jesus, is outside of God’s plan for creation.
And yet … and yet the church has either simply ignored this passage or found creative ways around it – annulment comes to mind. “That marriage? Never happened.”
Why even focus any attention on this ancient text which obviously does not stand as prohibition or, to be honest, even as moral guidance in our time, and has not stood as such for a very long time if it ever truly did?
Well, the text itself does not much interest me beyond the reminder that love is a gift of God. I am, however, much interested in what has been done with this text and how that speaks to our time – particularly this time: the Sunday of World Communion and the day on which the local Open Doors/More Light Presbyterian chapter has its annual meeting.
This is not a lecture in hermeneutics; it is a sermon – well, in fact, it is a brief communion homily, so I am not proposing to drag us through a history of Reformed Biblical interpretation from John Calvin through Jack Rodgers. We could do that in a different setting, and it would bring us to the same point. But for the moment, let it suffice to remind ourselves that Jesus himself gives us warrant to reinterpret sacred scripture and recast it for a new time.
Reinterpretation of scripture was one of Jesus’ favorite teaching tactics. “You have heard it said … but I tell you …” and every time he used that phrase it was to take a piece of Jewish scripture and recast it for his own time.
Indeed, in the text from Mark that is provoking us this morning that is precisely what Jesus is doing. “What did Moses say?” In other words, what is the law, the holy scripture, the word of God on this? Well, you have heard it said … but I tell you … and Jesus reinscribes, rewrites and offers a teaching that was, for whatever reason, more appropriate to his time. Sometimes, as in this case, his new teaching feels more restrictive, although binding men to their promises in an age when women were utterly dependent upon their husbands was, in fact, a new understanding of justice. Other times, as with “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” becoming “love your enemies,” the teaching clearly opens new paths to mercy and new understandings of justice.
If nothing else, Jesus is constantly teaching his followers one lesson: you have to get a new mind for a new time.
All of which leads me to ask: if the church can employ an interpretive practice that virtually ignores this text on divorce, why does it remain so hung up on a handful of other passages used to oppress gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons?
Why has the church continued to practice exclusion and oppression and participated in a culture of violence against the GLBT population? More pointedly, why does our denomination, our corner of the church, continue to deny ordination to men and women who are clearly gifted and called to offices of deacon, elder and minister of word and sacrament based solely on sexual identity? Why, in an age when divorce is nearly an epidemic, do we want to deny -- solely on the basis of sexual identity -- the right to marriage to couples who want to make covenant promises to each other? Why? Why? Why?
More to the point, how long must we continue down this dark path before light and more light break forth?
On this Sunday of World Communion we must ask these questions, and we must recommit ourselves to pressing them in the church and in the broader society. For if we, in this small congregation in our little corner of the world church do not continue to speak, our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender sisters and brother around the world will continue to be victimized.
I did a Google search on the term “gay bashing” last week, and I limited the results to postings from the previous week. I got more than 95,000 results.
• A gay New York DJ was assaulted and called “faggot” on the streets of Manhattan last week. Two young men in London, Ontario, were beaten after being harassed about their sexual orientation last week. It was the second instance of reported gay bashing in that city during the past two weeks.
• A young man was beaten to death in a Sydney, Australia, park last week. Police suspect the murder was a hate crime directed at the man because of his sexuality.
• Petty Officer Third Class Joseph Rocha, a sailor trained to work with military dogs in the Navy's anti-terrorism, force protection, and explosive detection operations, was brutalized for more than two years at his base in Bahrain after his refusal to hire a prostitute raised suspicions that he was gay, it was reported last week.
Those are but a few instances reported from the developed world, the liberal West, during the past week or so.
Why do we keep pushing for marriage equality and for ordination within the church? Because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and the inverse is also true: justice attained anywhere, even when it begins as a trickle in a small church like this one, continues to flow out until justice rolls down like a mighty water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
So, on this Sunday of World Communion, we break bread and share a common cup – women and men, young and old, gay and straight – committed to the ongoing work of breaking down the barriers that too often stand between us, until we come to that day when all of God’s children can gather at the big table and share in the joyous feast of the children of God.
This morning, as we gather at the table, we will be served by elders who have been ordained because they are called to this service and gifted for it. They happen, as well, to be gay – and a little more gaiety is always welcome at the joyous feast.
This morning, as we gather at the table, there’s a poster up here that represents more light shining down on the PCUSA. This evening, we’ll add this to a collection of images representing the change we are working for, specifically in the wording of our Book of Order regarding ordination. I invite you, as we continue our worship, to think about friends and loved ones who have been denied their full welcome and empowerment in the church and broader culture – whether in ordinations or marriage rights deferred or denied, or in violence suffered, or in falling victim to AIDS in an epidemic of fear and denial. As you come forward to receive the sacrament, you are invited to write the names of such friends and loved ones on this poster, for it is in the names of such people, some scared, some brave, some scarred and some silenced, that we strive for justice, and work to add another leaf to the big table. Amen.
October 4, 2009
How many of you have experienced a divorce in your family – either parents, siblings or your own marriage?
Most of us have walked on some part of that road, and all of us know people who have.
So what do we do with this text from Mark?
But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
The text seems pretty clear. The plain meaning seems obvious. Divorce, according to Mark’s Jesus, is outside of God’s plan for creation.
And yet … and yet the church has either simply ignored this passage or found creative ways around it – annulment comes to mind. “That marriage? Never happened.”
Why even focus any attention on this ancient text which obviously does not stand as prohibition or, to be honest, even as moral guidance in our time, and has not stood as such for a very long time if it ever truly did?
Well, the text itself does not much interest me beyond the reminder that love is a gift of God. I am, however, much interested in what has been done with this text and how that speaks to our time – particularly this time: the Sunday of World Communion and the day on which the local Open Doors/More Light Presbyterian chapter has its annual meeting.
This is not a lecture in hermeneutics; it is a sermon – well, in fact, it is a brief communion homily, so I am not proposing to drag us through a history of Reformed Biblical interpretation from John Calvin through Jack Rodgers. We could do that in a different setting, and it would bring us to the same point. But for the moment, let it suffice to remind ourselves that Jesus himself gives us warrant to reinterpret sacred scripture and recast it for a new time.
Reinterpretation of scripture was one of Jesus’ favorite teaching tactics. “You have heard it said … but I tell you …” and every time he used that phrase it was to take a piece of Jewish scripture and recast it for his own time.
Indeed, in the text from Mark that is provoking us this morning that is precisely what Jesus is doing. “What did Moses say?” In other words, what is the law, the holy scripture, the word of God on this? Well, you have heard it said … but I tell you … and Jesus reinscribes, rewrites and offers a teaching that was, for whatever reason, more appropriate to his time. Sometimes, as in this case, his new teaching feels more restrictive, although binding men to their promises in an age when women were utterly dependent upon their husbands was, in fact, a new understanding of justice. Other times, as with “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” becoming “love your enemies,” the teaching clearly opens new paths to mercy and new understandings of justice.
If nothing else, Jesus is constantly teaching his followers one lesson: you have to get a new mind for a new time.
All of which leads me to ask: if the church can employ an interpretive practice that virtually ignores this text on divorce, why does it remain so hung up on a handful of other passages used to oppress gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons?
Why has the church continued to practice exclusion and oppression and participated in a culture of violence against the GLBT population? More pointedly, why does our denomination, our corner of the church, continue to deny ordination to men and women who are clearly gifted and called to offices of deacon, elder and minister of word and sacrament based solely on sexual identity? Why, in an age when divorce is nearly an epidemic, do we want to deny -- solely on the basis of sexual identity -- the right to marriage to couples who want to make covenant promises to each other? Why? Why? Why?
More to the point, how long must we continue down this dark path before light and more light break forth?
On this Sunday of World Communion we must ask these questions, and we must recommit ourselves to pressing them in the church and in the broader society. For if we, in this small congregation in our little corner of the world church do not continue to speak, our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender sisters and brother around the world will continue to be victimized.
I did a Google search on the term “gay bashing” last week, and I limited the results to postings from the previous week. I got more than 95,000 results.
• A gay New York DJ was assaulted and called “faggot” on the streets of Manhattan last week. Two young men in London, Ontario, were beaten after being harassed about their sexual orientation last week. It was the second instance of reported gay bashing in that city during the past two weeks.
• A young man was beaten to death in a Sydney, Australia, park last week. Police suspect the murder was a hate crime directed at the man because of his sexuality.
• Petty Officer Third Class Joseph Rocha, a sailor trained to work with military dogs in the Navy's anti-terrorism, force protection, and explosive detection operations, was brutalized for more than two years at his base in Bahrain after his refusal to hire a prostitute raised suspicions that he was gay, it was reported last week.
Those are but a few instances reported from the developed world, the liberal West, during the past week or so.
Why do we keep pushing for marriage equality and for ordination within the church? Because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and the inverse is also true: justice attained anywhere, even when it begins as a trickle in a small church like this one, continues to flow out until justice rolls down like a mighty water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
So, on this Sunday of World Communion, we break bread and share a common cup – women and men, young and old, gay and straight – committed to the ongoing work of breaking down the barriers that too often stand between us, until we come to that day when all of God’s children can gather at the big table and share in the joyous feast of the children of God.
This morning, as we gather at the table, we will be served by elders who have been ordained because they are called to this service and gifted for it. They happen, as well, to be gay – and a little more gaiety is always welcome at the joyous feast.
This morning, as we gather at the table, there’s a poster up here that represents more light shining down on the PCUSA. This evening, we’ll add this to a collection of images representing the change we are working for, specifically in the wording of our Book of Order regarding ordination. I invite you, as we continue our worship, to think about friends and loved ones who have been denied their full welcome and empowerment in the church and broader culture – whether in ordinations or marriage rights deferred or denied, or in violence suffered, or in falling victim to AIDS in an epidemic of fear and denial. As you come forward to receive the sacrament, you are invited to write the names of such friends and loved ones on this poster, for it is in the names of such people, some scared, some brave, some scarred and some silenced, that we strive for justice, and work to add another leaf to the big table. Amen.
posted by David Ensign at
11:49 AM
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