Pentecost 20 Year B

This morning’s reading from Genesis rings out with a message of God’s desire in Creation for that which is good. God recognises that it was not good that the man should be alone, and having created plants, the seas, the earth, God creates animals and birds, and finally a companion. Our reading finished at verse 24, but verse 25 is also worth hearing in relation to seeking to understand our Gospel passage, which states that they ‘were both naked and were not ashamed’. In God’s Creation there is no shame and nothing hidden between the two. They, in their nakedness and their togetherness, are able to be the people God desires them to be, and their relationship with one another adds to the fulness of their being, supporting them to be their best selves.

The whole of the Creation story in Genesis has these words that ring again and again like a tolling bell, it is good, it is good, it is good, it is very good. This story of Creation, of God’s desiring all things into being, rings out goodness; a story that tells of God’s very being, and that calls all Creation to the fulness of its being.

Our Gospel reading from Mark, speaks to times when humanity has, in our brokenness, caused this goodness, this fulness that lies ready at the heart of every element of Creation, to be diminished.

The Gospel begins with the Pharisees, quoting from Deuteronomy, and asking Jesus a specific legal question, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’

It’s interesting that this encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees takes place down by the Jordan, in the wilderness of Judaea where John the Baptist had lived and worked, and it’s worth remembering what had happened to John the Baptist. He was executed. Why? Because he had criticised Herod Antipas for marrying his brother’s divorced wife, Herodias.

When we know this context, the trap the Pharisees seek to set for Jesus makes sense. They’d like him to make some pronouncement about divorce that they can call out as treason, and then they can get rid of him too. After all, John the Baptist kept speaking about the Messiah who was to come after him. For the Pharisees. if Jesus is this man, they need to shut this movement down as soon as possible.

But Jesus, not trying to evade the Scripture with which they try to trap him, turns to writings in the first book of the Torah, in Genesis, and to the creation story. Creation that rings out the message, the desire of God, for all that is good.

His answer to the Pharisees is that according to the law, yes divorce is something that is permitted, but, he says, divorce is not what God intended.

In 1st Century Galilee, a woman who received a ‘certificate of divorce’ lost all status. She had no right to own property, and could find herself, in an instant, homeless, begging on the streets, or forced into prostitution to survive. She becomes in that act of the man’s divorcing of her, utterly vulnerable and powerless.

It’s no coincidence that Jesus moves from the divorced woman to speaking about children, children who in 1st century Galillee, were similarly powerless. In verse 15 he says, ‘Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’

‘A little child’. When you hear those words what image comes to your to mind? Maybe a favourite memory with a particular little child you know well. Perhaps a child being read a bedtime story? Or being picked up by someone who cares for and about them when they have fallen and hurt themselves? A child laughing freely in delight. Or maybe a child being held close, protected and safe when they are afraid?

Some of the images we have seen of children in conflict zones around the world in recent months are etched on my mind. In particular I remember the look in their eyes. It is like the horrors they have witnessed, acts of aggression and war towards them, their families and friends, committed by adults with power, have seared a deep wound in their ability to be little children; it is impossible for them to trust adults around them.

Jesus speaks of a little child. Recognising their vulnerability, and their dependence on others it seems to me he speaks of the complete trusting surrender of a child in the arms of someone on whom they can be utterly dependent, for he then does this. He takes the little child in his arms, lays his hands on them, and blesses them; and intimates that this is the Kingdom of God.

Through Mark’s gospel Jesus has been teaching a kingdom of justice, of righteousness, of love; the Kingdom of God where every person we encounter is equally worthy of our respect and love and is equally loved by God. Clearly, Jesus had a profound concern for those whose lives could be torn apart by a signature on a piece of paper.

In discussion with the disciples in their house Jesus reframes the discussion, in a way that puts the focus not on the legality of divorce, but on the human story. The human story that sadly is not unfamiliar to us; the damage done when relationships break down, when people are hurt, and when a relationship that was about life and flourishing has become something that causes pain, and a shrinking or diminishing of one or both people. A relationship far from God’s intention in providing a companion to Adam.

His words suggest that relationship breakdown, in this discourse divorce, is a source of deep sadness to God. A human consequence of human brokenness. A tragedy and painfilled cause for great sadness, yes, and also surely a cause for love and compassion. For God’s desire, shown in the Creation narrative in Genesis, is the flourishing of all. And when a relationship has reached a point that works against this, surely God would desire something to change ... Would desire healing, and love; would desire to hold those who hurt and are broken, hold them like a little child in his protective arms, and tell them they are precious, and loved, and safe.

No-one who comes to God in their brokenness; no-one who ever regards themselves as unworthy, or ‘the least’; will ever be rejected by God or deprived of God’s tender love. Inclusion in God’s kingdom is not dependent on status or attainment or following the law. Every one of us who have made mistakes, hurt others, who are broken, who have failed in marriage or anything else - all are unconditionally included in God’s covenant of love.

These words in Mark on divorce must not be taken as abstract moral principles that codify traditional, patriarchal forms of marital and family relationships. That way lies hurt, rejection, and an insult to the gratuitous nature of God’s outpouring of love, in Creation, and in the hearts of all who are ready to open themselves to it. The truth of God’s Kingdom is love, for all Creation, immeasurably … here … now ... and for ever.

Amen