St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
October 6, 2024
Year B, Proper 22: The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
Serious Business, Abundant Mercy
Since I started serving here, a little more than three years ago, one of the biggest surprises has been the weddings.
We’ve had quite a few weddings these last few years, and there are already a few on the calendar for 2025!
In a time when so many people have either flat out rejected the church, or have simply drifted away, I think that this is a very encouraging sign.
Now, I’m sure that some of the couples have chosen to have their weddings here, in part, for the beauty of this place, or to maintain family tradition, or, maybe to keep the peace with parents and grandparents.
But, overall, I’ve found these couples to be quite serious in their preparation and quite sincere in wanting God’s blessing upon their union.
I always have several meetings with the couples, getting to know them, learning about their relationship and talking about challenges or difficulties they may have faced.
And, at our last meeting, we always talk about the service itself, reading through the words that they and I will say, reflecting on why we say these things, and what it all means.
During these conversations, the couples are often surprised when we reach the part of the service when the officiant asks the congregation – usually a lot of happy, fancily dressed people who are looking ahead to a great party – when the officiant asks the congregation a most serious question:
“If any of you can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, speak now; or else for ever hold your peace.”
During the wedding, this often elicits a few awkward giggles or the clearing of some throats.
And then, after waiting a beat, the officiant asks the couple the same question:
“…if either of you know any reason why you may not be united in marriage lawfully, and in accordance with God’s Word, you do now confess it.”
After another moment of awkward silence, we proceed.
Maybe these questions seem archaic or even humorous, but they’re important – not because this is an ideal time to reveal some impediment to marriage – but because they underline the importance of the promises these two people are about to make to each other – they remind us of how their relationship is about to change forever – and they point to the fact that marriage is serious business.
In today’s gospel lesson, we pick up almost exactly where we left off last week.
Last week, we heard a very common theme in the gospels: the disciples just not getting it.
You may remember that the disciples complained to Jesus that other people, not part of the “inner circle,” were casting out demons in the name of Jesus and they wanted Jesus to put a stop to that right away.
Jesus declined to do that, and he went on to highlight that our relationship with God is serious business – so serious that we should remove whatever causes to stumble, whatever causes us to sin.
Jesus says, “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.”
And now today, we heard another recurring gospel theme: the religious authorities playing a game of “Gotcha” with Jesus.
In this case, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Now, we should try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but this is a very suspicious question.
I mean, as Jesus points out, the Law of Moses is quite clear that, yes, a man could divorce his wife. The only debate was about under what conditions could he do so.
But the fact that the Pharisees ask Jesus this question would seem to indicate that they’ve heard that Jesus has been teaching something different – something more restrictive than the Law – and they want to hear him say it for themselves – they want to get Jesus on the record.
And Jesus gives them what they want.
He skips right over the Law and looks all the way back to the beginning – back to God’s original intention for marriage – that the two become one, and that this union should be permanent.
“Let no man put asunder,” in the thunderous language of the King James Bible.
And then, when he was alone with his disciples, Jesus goes even further and says that any divorced person who remarries is committing adultery.
Obviously, for many reasons, this is a very challenging, even painful, teaching and I’d rather talk about almost anything else - even the Orioles getting swept in the post-season yet again – I’d rather talk about almost anything else than talk about this.
But, let’s begin with some context.
First of all, much like the amputations Jesus had just talked about, Jesus’ hard teaching is a clear reminder that marriage is serious business.
In the words of the Prayer Book, “…marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance for the purposes for which it was instituted by God.”
Second, back in the first century, divorce was often very bad news for women. Men could cruelly use very trivial reasons to divorce their wives, leaving them quite vulnerable in a very harsh world.
Even with the safeguards that are in place now, that can still happen, unfortunately.
So, we can certainly hear Jesus’ teaching as a way to protect women from being discarded and abandoned.
Finally, any time we read short excerpts of Scripture, like we do in church every week, it’s important to remember that these are just little slivers of the great sweep of God’s message to us.
And so today, I want to point to the words of our collect, our opening prayer, especially this:
“Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy.”
God is abundantly merciful.
Marriage is serious business, but God is abundantly merciful
And since God is abundantly merciful, I am sure that our merciful God does not want people to stay in marriages that are physically or emotionally abusive.
And since God is abundantly merciful, forgiveness is offered when we mess up and fall short of the very high standards that have been set for us – which is very good news since, whether we’re married or not, we all mess up on a regular basis.
So, a tough lesson today, but here’s the good news:
Yes, marriage is serious business, but God is abundantly merciful.
Amen.
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