Welcome to the Household
Sermon
God in the Present Tense
Cycle B Gospel Text Sermons for Pentecost Middle Third
Object:
Some years ago, theologian Edward Farley raised a good question for preachers: "When we stand up on Sunday morning, what is it that we preach?" he asked. "Do we preach the Bible or do we preach the gospel?"1
That might sound like a strange question in your ears. The Bible announces the gospel of God. Just remember John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." Or Ephesians 2, "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." There is blessed good news in the Bible. It needs to be announced over and over again so that people can believe it and embrace it.
There are some Bible passages where we don't hear much good news and for a lot of people, our gospel text is one of them. Jesus takes a hard line on divorce and remarriage. Those of us who have survived a divorce may squirm a bit. Those who are feeling a bit tentative about their relationships are chastened. As a preacher who has moved through my own divorce and remarriage, I confess this is an awkward place for me to find any good news.
It may help to remember the setting. The Pharisees were putting Jesus on the spot. "Is it lawful to divorce?" they asked. This was a trick question. They were ready to pounce on whatever he said. The Bible does not speak with a single voice on issues of marriage and divorce. If Jesus says, "Stay married," they will point him to the texts where Moses allowed for divorce. If Jesus sides with Moses and says that divorce is permissible, they may accuse him of being soft on marriage. It is a conflicted situation, to say the least.
Who knows what prompted their question? Maybe they were confused and had legitimate questions. Over in the gospel of Luke, this same Jesus was heard to say, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate his wife and children cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). God knows the church was listening closely when he spoke those words. Whatever Jesus will now say will be frozen in perpetuity, as if it applies identically to all people, in every age, in every culture.
"Is it lawful to divorce?" Divorce, like marriage, is in no small part a legal matter. The requirements differ from place to place. Our own states cannot agree these days on who is able to be married -- much less divorced. It depends on the laws of where you live. The church has not always been involved. The first recorded Christian marriage was about 900 AD and church weddings did not become widespread until well after the Reformation. We have a short memory about such things.
Sometimes we read backward, as if our current understanding has always been the norm. Consider those good-hearted people who trumpet the "biblical standard of marriage." What exactly do they mean by that? Father Abraham was promised a baby but his wife could not produce, so they agreed he could impregnate the servant girl. That's in the Bible. Is that a standard for us? Father Isaac had two wives, one of whom he didn't like very much; he endured them both simultaneously. King David had a few more wives and at least one who did not like him. This is in the scriptures but it isn't very helpful. King Solomon reportedly had 700 wives and 300 girlfriends -- who knows if that is literally true? Maybe the old boy was bragging. One thing is for sure, Solomon was an exhausted man.
Ed Farley is right: You can find anything you want in the Bible. That doesn't mean what you find is the gospel. We have to sift through the multiplicity of the Bible's experiences. We have to untangle the accumulated snares of our own cultural understandings and legal interpretations. It isn't easy to do!
It's there in the gospel of Mark. There are two sets of cultural fingerprints on today's text. Jesus says, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery." Behind that pronouncement is the assumption that every marriage is made in heaven and therefore must be kept intact. That's a noble thought but I do not believe that is always true. There are ill-advised weddings, hurry-up weddings, got-to-get-my-needs-met weddings. There are also good weddings of good people that end up broken. Is the church in the business of perpetual punishment? I don't think so.
Mark seems to get his fingerprints when he goes on to say, "And whoever divorces her husband and marries another...." Now wait just a second, Mark, no Jewish woman in first-century Palestine had the legal right to initiate a divorce! It seems the church's preacher was trying to interpret the word of Jesus for the Roman empire in a time and culture when women had more legal rights. The world of the text enlarged as the gospel expanded and the church scrambled to interpret the old text for a new day.
Should we preach the text or preach the gospel? That's a good question for the church. If we stick with this text as it is, somebody will use it as a club and whack others in judgment. They do so out of the same "hardness of heart" that provoked old Moses to go easy on divorcing couples.
I think of that lady who told me once to my face, "You're a nice enough man, Reverend, but I hate to tell you that you are going to hell because you have been divorced." It was a strange thing for someone to say and for most divorced people, hell comes before the divorce, not after it. Some time later her husband filed for divorce and she disappeared. I never had the chance to find her and ask if she wanted to modify her view.
Certainly there is good news in the word of Jesus. He quotes the promise of Genesis from his Hebrew Bible, "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." That is the promise of every human relationship: two lives growing together, becoming so intimately connected that each person thrives and that the two become united in the mystery and grace of God.
If the living Christ has his say, every human relationship is precious. When two people unite in a lifelong commitment, those promises are made to be kept. If those promises are broken, redemption is possible. God creates something new out of our brokenness and that is the real good news. Pain and destruction never have the last word on God's children. There is the real possibility that God will do something more.
I can say this because I have lived it. It happened again recently at a wedding reception. My wife and I dropped by to extend our good wishes. There, all of a sudden among the appetizers, was my former wife, also an invited guest. The three of us were chatting, enjoying the party, laughing, and celebrating.
Just then, a photographer who didn't know us appeared and said, "Smile!" The three of us posed together. There was a big smile, a flash, and click. Suddenly it hit all of us -- that was a little weird. My ex-wife said, "Wasn't that kind of awkward?" Then my wife joked, "Let's get reprints as Christmas gifts and freak out the kids!" The three of us exploded in laughter. It was a brief joyful, funny moment. Over the years, all our moments have not been like that but after the dust settles for a while, why can't we all try to live in peace?
I believe this is what the living Christ wants for all of us: to move through whatever pain and brokenness we know and as awkward as it is, to live in peace. That does not always happen. It never happens easily. But as much as anything I know, this is the will of God.
I hear a bit more gospel in another text appointed from today's lectionary from the letter to the Hebrews. It includes that wonderful line for every person, regardless of whether they are single or married, divorced or remarried, gay or straight, settled or in transition, at peace or at war, broken or temporarily intact: "The One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father; for this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters" (2:11).
Did you hear that? Jesus is not ashamed of us. Whatever we have done, whatever we have survived, Jesus is not ashamed of us. Blind to what we have done or whom we have neglected, God welcomes us through the grace of Jesus Christ. This is the love that gathers us here. Our filing status with the IRS does not determine how much God loves us. As the unmarried risen Christ is heard to say, in the imagination of Hebrews 2, "Here am I with the children whom God has given me." There is a new reality in the grace of God: strangers can live peacefully, make promises and keep them, encourage one another to flourish. Look around -- there is a new kind of life among the brothers and sisters of whom Christ himself is not ashamed.
In my home, I am prone to make speeches. It probably has to do with the day job. Shortly after my remarriage, one night I realized that everybody was at the same supper table. Her two kids, my two kids, the two of us, all together -- that doesn't always happen and they were getting along so well. I was profoundly moved. So I cleared my throat and said, "I would like to say something." Spoonfuls of mashed potatoes paused in mid-air.
"As all of you know," I said, "I study the New Testament. The word 'family' does not appear much in the New Testament. When it does, the word 'family' rarely describes the church. Some people talk about the church as if it is a family but that's not really how the Bible talks about the church. No, the Bible prefers to use another word, the word 'household,' and I just wanted to say, that's what we are -- a household."
Five people were staring at me, the mashed potatoes still poised in mid-air. I said, "Do you know the difference between a family and a household? People get born into a family and they are stuck together. But in a household, people are there because they are wanted. They are chosen and precious. So I simply want to say we are a household."
My stepson smiled slyly and said, "Can I have more potatoes?" but before it got back to normal, I remember seeing a smile, a wink, a couple of rolled eyes at crazy Bill, maybe even a tear. It is the lesson that I want everyone under my roof to know deep in their bones, the same lesson they have taught me: You are here because you are wanted.
Look around this sanctuary. This is the household of God. None of us were born to be here but every last one of us is loved, welcomed, and adopted by the grace of God. We are here because Jesus, the risen Jesus, is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. He calls us to his table to receive the costly grace that he offers as a gift and to do whatever we can to live toward his promised day of peace.
May this be so for every last one of us through the love and power of God. Amen.
__________
1. Edward Farley, "Preaching the Bible, Preaching the Gospel," Theology Today, Vol. 51, No. 1 (April 1994), 90ff.
That might sound like a strange question in your ears. The Bible announces the gospel of God. Just remember John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." Or Ephesians 2, "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." There is blessed good news in the Bible. It needs to be announced over and over again so that people can believe it and embrace it.
There are some Bible passages where we don't hear much good news and for a lot of people, our gospel text is one of them. Jesus takes a hard line on divorce and remarriage. Those of us who have survived a divorce may squirm a bit. Those who are feeling a bit tentative about their relationships are chastened. As a preacher who has moved through my own divorce and remarriage, I confess this is an awkward place for me to find any good news.
It may help to remember the setting. The Pharisees were putting Jesus on the spot. "Is it lawful to divorce?" they asked. This was a trick question. They were ready to pounce on whatever he said. The Bible does not speak with a single voice on issues of marriage and divorce. If Jesus says, "Stay married," they will point him to the texts where Moses allowed for divorce. If Jesus sides with Moses and says that divorce is permissible, they may accuse him of being soft on marriage. It is a conflicted situation, to say the least.
Who knows what prompted their question? Maybe they were confused and had legitimate questions. Over in the gospel of Luke, this same Jesus was heard to say, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate his wife and children cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). God knows the church was listening closely when he spoke those words. Whatever Jesus will now say will be frozen in perpetuity, as if it applies identically to all people, in every age, in every culture.
"Is it lawful to divorce?" Divorce, like marriage, is in no small part a legal matter. The requirements differ from place to place. Our own states cannot agree these days on who is able to be married -- much less divorced. It depends on the laws of where you live. The church has not always been involved. The first recorded Christian marriage was about 900 AD and church weddings did not become widespread until well after the Reformation. We have a short memory about such things.
Sometimes we read backward, as if our current understanding has always been the norm. Consider those good-hearted people who trumpet the "biblical standard of marriage." What exactly do they mean by that? Father Abraham was promised a baby but his wife could not produce, so they agreed he could impregnate the servant girl. That's in the Bible. Is that a standard for us? Father Isaac had two wives, one of whom he didn't like very much; he endured them both simultaneously. King David had a few more wives and at least one who did not like him. This is in the scriptures but it isn't very helpful. King Solomon reportedly had 700 wives and 300 girlfriends -- who knows if that is literally true? Maybe the old boy was bragging. One thing is for sure, Solomon was an exhausted man.
Ed Farley is right: You can find anything you want in the Bible. That doesn't mean what you find is the gospel. We have to sift through the multiplicity of the Bible's experiences. We have to untangle the accumulated snares of our own cultural understandings and legal interpretations. It isn't easy to do!
It's there in the gospel of Mark. There are two sets of cultural fingerprints on today's text. Jesus says, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery." Behind that pronouncement is the assumption that every marriage is made in heaven and therefore must be kept intact. That's a noble thought but I do not believe that is always true. There are ill-advised weddings, hurry-up weddings, got-to-get-my-needs-met weddings. There are also good weddings of good people that end up broken. Is the church in the business of perpetual punishment? I don't think so.
Mark seems to get his fingerprints when he goes on to say, "And whoever divorces her husband and marries another...." Now wait just a second, Mark, no Jewish woman in first-century Palestine had the legal right to initiate a divorce! It seems the church's preacher was trying to interpret the word of Jesus for the Roman empire in a time and culture when women had more legal rights. The world of the text enlarged as the gospel expanded and the church scrambled to interpret the old text for a new day.
Should we preach the text or preach the gospel? That's a good question for the church. If we stick with this text as it is, somebody will use it as a club and whack others in judgment. They do so out of the same "hardness of heart" that provoked old Moses to go easy on divorcing couples.
I think of that lady who told me once to my face, "You're a nice enough man, Reverend, but I hate to tell you that you are going to hell because you have been divorced." It was a strange thing for someone to say and for most divorced people, hell comes before the divorce, not after it. Some time later her husband filed for divorce and she disappeared. I never had the chance to find her and ask if she wanted to modify her view.
Certainly there is good news in the word of Jesus. He quotes the promise of Genesis from his Hebrew Bible, "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." That is the promise of every human relationship: two lives growing together, becoming so intimately connected that each person thrives and that the two become united in the mystery and grace of God.
If the living Christ has his say, every human relationship is precious. When two people unite in a lifelong commitment, those promises are made to be kept. If those promises are broken, redemption is possible. God creates something new out of our brokenness and that is the real good news. Pain and destruction never have the last word on God's children. There is the real possibility that God will do something more.
I can say this because I have lived it. It happened again recently at a wedding reception. My wife and I dropped by to extend our good wishes. There, all of a sudden among the appetizers, was my former wife, also an invited guest. The three of us were chatting, enjoying the party, laughing, and celebrating.
Just then, a photographer who didn't know us appeared and said, "Smile!" The three of us posed together. There was a big smile, a flash, and click. Suddenly it hit all of us -- that was a little weird. My ex-wife said, "Wasn't that kind of awkward?" Then my wife joked, "Let's get reprints as Christmas gifts and freak out the kids!" The three of us exploded in laughter. It was a brief joyful, funny moment. Over the years, all our moments have not been like that but after the dust settles for a while, why can't we all try to live in peace?
I believe this is what the living Christ wants for all of us: to move through whatever pain and brokenness we know and as awkward as it is, to live in peace. That does not always happen. It never happens easily. But as much as anything I know, this is the will of God.
I hear a bit more gospel in another text appointed from today's lectionary from the letter to the Hebrews. It includes that wonderful line for every person, regardless of whether they are single or married, divorced or remarried, gay or straight, settled or in transition, at peace or at war, broken or temporarily intact: "The One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father; for this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters" (2:11).
Did you hear that? Jesus is not ashamed of us. Whatever we have done, whatever we have survived, Jesus is not ashamed of us. Blind to what we have done or whom we have neglected, God welcomes us through the grace of Jesus Christ. This is the love that gathers us here. Our filing status with the IRS does not determine how much God loves us. As the unmarried risen Christ is heard to say, in the imagination of Hebrews 2, "Here am I with the children whom God has given me." There is a new reality in the grace of God: strangers can live peacefully, make promises and keep them, encourage one another to flourish. Look around -- there is a new kind of life among the brothers and sisters of whom Christ himself is not ashamed.
In my home, I am prone to make speeches. It probably has to do with the day job. Shortly after my remarriage, one night I realized that everybody was at the same supper table. Her two kids, my two kids, the two of us, all together -- that doesn't always happen and they were getting along so well. I was profoundly moved. So I cleared my throat and said, "I would like to say something." Spoonfuls of mashed potatoes paused in mid-air.
"As all of you know," I said, "I study the New Testament. The word 'family' does not appear much in the New Testament. When it does, the word 'family' rarely describes the church. Some people talk about the church as if it is a family but that's not really how the Bible talks about the church. No, the Bible prefers to use another word, the word 'household,' and I just wanted to say, that's what we are -- a household."
Five people were staring at me, the mashed potatoes still poised in mid-air. I said, "Do you know the difference between a family and a household? People get born into a family and they are stuck together. But in a household, people are there because they are wanted. They are chosen and precious. So I simply want to say we are a household."
My stepson smiled slyly and said, "Can I have more potatoes?" but before it got back to normal, I remember seeing a smile, a wink, a couple of rolled eyes at crazy Bill, maybe even a tear. It is the lesson that I want everyone under my roof to know deep in their bones, the same lesson they have taught me: You are here because you are wanted.
Look around this sanctuary. This is the household of God. None of us were born to be here but every last one of us is loved, welcomed, and adopted by the grace of God. We are here because Jesus, the risen Jesus, is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. He calls us to his table to receive the costly grace that he offers as a gift and to do whatever we can to live toward his promised day of peace.
May this be so for every last one of us through the love and power of God. Amen.
__________
1. Edward Farley, "Preaching the Bible, Preaching the Gospel," Theology Today, Vol. 51, No. 1 (April 1994), 90ff.
