Healing Not Condemnation

Mark 10:1-16

Sometimes scripture says things wedon't want to hear. Sometimes scripture has a tough word that gets alittle too personal. This passage deals with divorce. I am nottelling you anything new when I say that 50% of all marriages end indivorce. That means that over 50% of you have been affected bydivorce I have never been divorced but my life has certainly beenaffected by it. I have seen the pain of failed relationships. Ihave watched people struggle with the process of ending a badmarriage. I have felt some of the consequences of divorce The actof ending a marriage is not really the problem. The act, the divorceitself, is merely a symptom of the brokenness that is the realsource of the hurt. It is the brokenness that causes all the damage.

The word love written in many languages.  These were Embroidered on a stoll which became a wedding gift at a wedding I officiated recently. 

We are broken people. We have brokenrelationships. What God intends for us us not always what we do. Wefail! We trip! We get stuck down there in the ditch in the muck andthe mud, and Jesus comes along and reaches out his hand and pulls usup out of it.

Now would you rather that our Lordwould come along and say, “Well, you're down there in yourbrokenness. You are stuck in the muck and the mud, and I want you tobe okay with it. I want you to lay there and think that the mud isokay, that you can live with it and that tripping and falling wasokay.” or does Jesus say, “You know, you tripped because youweren't paying attention. You fell because you were not holing myhand. But that's okay. I'm here now. Take my hand. Come up out of themud. Let me clean you off.”

Hear me. I am not saying that thelegal procedure of divorce is the point that fall. The divorce isthe symptom and a consequence of human brokenness.

I officiated a wedding a few yearsago. A very young couple. The man was an idealistic dreamer. Thewoman was a recovering heroine addict. There was a lot of brokennessto start with. I didn't help as the officiating pastor. I didn'tcouncil were I could see real problems down the road. I didn't findfor them the support they would need. I, as their pastor failed inmany ways. My brokenness, the communities brokenness played a partin the eventual divorce of this young couple.

We can't change what happened in thepast. We can't fix that. But from here on we can refocus and recommitour lives to Jesus. We can do better. We continue to let Jesus livein us and we continue to find life in Him.

The Pharisees were not interested inhelping anyone who was broken to come up out of the mud. They wereinterested in making sure that everyone followed the law as preciselyand as thoroughly as possible because that was their job. That wastheir understanding of their relationship to God. When everybodyfollows the law correctly then God is pleased. According to their wayof thinking. Now that wasn't God's way of thinking. God came, in theform of Jesus, to let us know that its not about following the ruleslaid down its about loving God first in your life. Its about lettingGod live in us and finding life in God.

During this teaching there were somewho were bringing their little children to be blessed by Jesus. Jesuswas right in the middle of a teaching! He was right in the middle ofhis discourse. He was expressing the will of God. He was settingpeople on the right course. So his disciples, thinking they werehelping the Lord out, said no to the people bringing their children.We are doing important things. We are learning form the Lord. ButJesus said, “Don't stop them!” “Don't prevent them coming tome. It is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs to.”

We are supposed to have a child likefaith. We are supposed to Trust God completely as our Holy Parent.We are supposed to draw sustenance from our life in God. We are torest peacefully in the strength of Gods presence. We are to seekguidance by the wisdom of God through the written word and therevealed word. This is the ideal way to be a human. To be a childto our Holy God.

Did Jesus intend that day to give adiscourse on divorce? I don't think so. Should we be talking abouta doctrine of divorce in the church? No. I don't think so. Remember Jesus' purpose and promise in the Gospel of John. In thethird chapter it says “for God so loved the world that he gave hisone and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish buthave eternal life.” That is the most memorized verse in all ofChristian scripture. It all about having that childlike relationshipwith God through Jesus Christ. But remember the 17^thverse as well. For God did not send the Son into the world tocondemn the world, but to save the world through him.

These words of Jesus on divorce arenot words of condemnation. He was asked, challenged and tested. Jesus merely stated the reality of the situation. Jesus offered somepretty straightforward words on the subject. The thing that thePharisees know and that Jesus knows and that we all know. It thatdivorce, the end of a marriage, the end of a relationship is not ahappy thing. It may be a necessary thing. It may be the only choice.It may be the way things are, but no one ever is happy about thecircumstances that lead to divorce

Jesus is lifting up the ideal. Jesusis lifting up the way things 'ought to be'. I cant think of anyonethat would disagree that when two people come together before God topublicly profess their love and devotion to each other that that loveshould last forever. That's the ideal. Jesus is just stating theobvious. No one should impede that. No one should deny that. Butthere is human Brokenness. There is human weakness that comes intothe equation.

The good news is that Jesus is God. That Jesus is the God of new life and new beginnings. No matter howwe have failed, no matter how human brokenness has shaped our lives,Jesus continually invites us to find life in him.

50% of all marriages fail. That's notthe shocking news to me. The shocking part is that with thatknowledge, 100% of brides and grooms believe it wont happen to them.

In the last month I officiated twoweddings. Statistically speaking, one will make it. If I thoughtabout that long enough I might be discouraged in officiating any moremarriages. But when I think about it a little more, I think what anamazing thing it is to make that kind of commitment to another humanbeing. God gives us the ideal. God gives us the target for our lifetogether. In marriage we get to practice showing patience, lovingkindness, generosity. In love we protect, trust, hope and persevere. What a gift that is, to love another as God loves us! It is betterto take aim at this target, to try our best at the risk of missingthe mark than to never try at all.

Of course we need not be married topractice loving each other unconditionally. This is our calling asGod's children. It's just that that special relationship of marriageis a very special proving ground.

This is Wold Communion Sunday. Allaround the world today Christians of every sort are participating inthis Holy Sacrament. We enter into the Mystery of God. This breadand this juice, somehow, by the power of the Holy Spirit becomes forus the body and the blood of Jesus. We eat this meal and the HolySpirit dwells within us. We sit at God's Table and we share a HolyMeal together. What ever divisions we have made and what everdivisions we have inherited are dissolved in this meal. All areinvited and all are welcome here. No matter how any of us havefailed in the past it is forgiven. This is a day of new beginnings.

So, How is it with you today? Nomatter what came before this moment, no matter how many successes orfailures God has an unrestrained love for you. God is waiting foryou to love him back in the same way. God is inviting you to be hisChild. God is inviting you to trust in him, to lean on God'sstrength and wisdom in your life. God is inviting you to follow himin His way.