There is an old spiritual aphorism from the Eastern tradition that says: A guide for your soul leads by emptying people’s minds and filling their hearts; by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. She helps us lose everything we know – everything we desire – and creates confusion for those who only trust themselves.
• I think there is some of this “soul guidance” going on when Jesus tells those with ears to hear that they must NOT keep the little children from him. “Let the little ones come to me… for unless you become like these – the vulnerable and trusting – you will not enter the kingdom of God.” Mark 10: 14-16
• I also suspect that there is some similarly subversive “soul guidance” going on in the church’s decision to include this text for the day th
at our tradition calls “World Communion Sunday.”Most of the time, you see, we Christians – Protestant, Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox – aren’t very good in calling people out to lose everything we know so that our hearts might be filled. No, we have become masters of emphasizing NOT what we hold in common – the love and mission of Jesus Christ – but rather all our differences.
• Denominations celebrate what separates us from our sisters and brothers in faith – we almost seem to revel in refusing to recognize our commonalities – by building up our case for this or that which divides the house.
• It’s like that old joke that says people of faith too often refuse to recognize one another. Jews don’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah, Protestants don’t recognize the Pope as the head of the church, Catholics don’t recognize the validity of women as clergy and… Baptists don’t recognize one another in a liquor store.
A little flip, to be sure, but you get my point, yes? We have become masters not of guiding the soul but celebrating our differences. But what would happen, do you think, if we started taking Jesus seriously? What would happen if instead of emphasizing our differences, we started honoring all that we hold in common – especially our calling to care for the least of these my sisters and brothers within and among us?
What would happen if instead of setting up tests of faith and spiritual hoops for hard-working people to jump through like the Pharisees did with Jesus – what would happen if we actually encouraged Christians to come together on behalf of the little children?
• We don’t have to point fingers and argue about who has a monopoly upon the truth be that Catholic, Protestant, Anglican or Orthodox. These are differences within the family – and big families have lots of different ways of doing things – there are vegetarians and carnivores, gay and straight, young and old, rich and poor and everybody in-between, right?
• On my mother’s side of the family – the wild Irish side – I am the oldest of nearly 40 grandchildren – and let me tell you that in that family there were LOTS of differences. I think the same is true in the wider Christian family when we are really ins
pired by the heart of Jesus. I’ve experienced the mysterious grace and awe of God with my Episcopalian sisters and brothers – I’ve been moved to tears of praise in Roman Catholic worship, too – and let me tell you that my heart has been filled to overflowing in both Russian Orthodox worship as well as some get down, kick butt Black gospel worship, ok?And that is why I think that this Sunday – World Communion Sunday – invites us to consider what would happen if we started letting Jesus empty our minds of everything we think we know about the faith so that he might fill our hearts?
That would be waaaaaaaaaay more interesting to me than another sermon about what separates us. It would also be a whole lot more interesting to me than enduring another sermon by a conservative or a liberal telling me what the Bible does and doesn’t say about marriage and divorce – which is what a surface reading of today’s texts call for – what does Jesus – or the Bible – teach about marriage and divorce?
Don’t get me wrong: I think marriage and divorce and wrestling with the words of our tradition are important. But there are two essential insights about today’s lessons:
• First, they remind us that there really is no ONE truth about marriage and divorce in the Bible. A quick survey points out that in Deuteronomy Moses says that a man can divorce his wife, then Paul teaches that d
ivorce is permitted in some instances – like when a non-Christian partner requests it – while Jesus says that you can never separate what God has joined together in Mark 10.• In Ezra we’re told that a good husband should divorce his foreign and unbelieving wife, in I Corinthians Paul also teaches that a good spouse will NOT divorce his or her unbelieving mate. And then there is the case of Joseph, a righteous man betrothed to Mary the mother of our Lord, who felt it was his duty to divorce Mary quietly because she had been unfaithful. (see Brian Stoffregen at The Text This Week)
Are you with me on this? There really is no ONE Biblical testimony or teaching concerning what God desires for marriage and divorce. To be sure, Jesus lifts up what is best about marriage – our goal – but all the rest is essentially a call to fidelity and the mess of human reality with lots of mistakes and grace all mixed up together. So let’s
not get distracted by the obvious; rather let’s empty our minds so that our hearts might be filled on a deeper level.Which is my second point: namely, that the only reason why those who opposed Jesus asked him these marriage questions was to trick and wound him. They already knew what the tradition taught – they were scholars for goodness sake – so they weren’t interested in clarity or doctrine.
No, they wanted to cause scandal and division in the ranks: they didn’t want a unified Jesus movement showing bold acts of compassion and radical hospitality. For the love of God they wanted to maintain the status quo with its very clear divisions between insiders and outsiders – the good guys and the bad guys – those on the side of the Lord and the infidels. No wonder Jesus gave them a good and quick answer and then moved on to something much more important: blessing the small and wounded children. That is what is really important here: now, we’ve often made this into something sentimental and sweet, but the hard fact is that the only reason why little children were being brought to Jesus… was for a blessing.
Sociologists tell us that in Jesus’ day 60% of all children under the age of 16 died. What’s more every other time the word touch – apto – is used in Mark’s gospel it has to do with Jesus touching another so that they might receive a healing.
• And that’s what’s happening here: he put his hands on them – they were sick – so this is much more like a first century Palestinian emergency room than a sweet family picnic. This is a matter of life and death.
• And once again the disciples – who you would have thought might have known better by now – were doing what to these mothers and their aching children? Turning them away – just like they stopped the exorcist from healing in Jesus’ name in last week’s lesson – they were shutting down the healing rather than advancing the cause of blessing.
One wise soul guardian put it like this: Jesus demanded that his followers stop getting in the way of healing: unless you become like one of these…
Jesus is warning his disciples that they must give up the normal human calculations of greatness if they are going to participate in his rule of God. You must become like these wounded and vulnerable little ones… which is a call to trust. Trust God like a helpless child… trust Christ’s grace like one without any other hope… trust the upside down wisdom of your heart rather than the sophisticated truth of the status quo…
It is much easier to be hard-hearted – and hard headed Pharisees and denominational cheer leaders – than to empty our thoughts so that Jesus can fill our hearts. Children know much better how to do this than most of us adults… but that is what is at stak
e for the good news to be good: so… let those who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church… hear!NOTE: If you want to join us and move beyond the divisions... on October 18th a bunch of Christians and Jews are going to walk to raise awareness about world hunger and get some money donated, too. The Pittsfield Area CROP Walk starts at 1 pm. For more details: www.churchworldservice.org/site/PageServer
2 comments:
Great point on number two, I never thought to put in context of why they would ask! However, you know you always have 3 points so you owe me one. I had a history teacher who used to laugh and tell us that of all places to pick a pure breed, Germany was the worst choice. After a short period of time some one would come along from the East and wipe em out, over an over. Same thing with the idea of getting the best scoop about marraige in the bible. Just a really bad choice if you are looking for "a" right choice.
Thanks, dear man... so many options in a collection with so many perspectives.
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