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A preacher usually groans when...

Illustration
Proper 22 | Ordinary Time 27 - B
Mark 10:2-16
A preacher usually groans when it is discovered that the sermon text for Sunday is Jesus' strict teaching regarding divorce and remarriage. Dotted throughout the congregation are divorced persons, and persons who have remarried following divorce; for such people this passage can reopen old wounds and stir again feelings of failure. But is avoiding those words because of their painful nature an option? Can we pick and choose what we want to hear from Jesus? No, we need to hear all of what Jesus is saying to us -- including that which makes us uncomfortable.
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