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October 6, 2024

Isolation vs. Relationship

Preacher: Rev. Jack Meehan Series: Lectionary Category: Biblical Scripture: Mark 10:17–22

The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

October 6, 2024

Mark 10:2-16

 “Isolation vs. Relationship”

Most days for lunch, I’m sitting at my desk eating whatever I brought from home – usually a salad, carrot sticks, and a few other things. Nothing fancy. Now you know what your pastor has for lunch! I will scroll through the news feed to see what’s going on in the world around us, some of which I’m already aware of and some which I’m not. Here’s something that I was not aware of. For those who are engaged to be married, you can celebrate by including Domino’s Pizza. Huh? No joke – for your wedding you can request people to gift you with funds for pizza from Domino’s using their wedding registry. This launched in 2017, and it’s active and real. As we all know, the next generation doesn’t want the china, crystal and silver that their parents got for their wedding. Pizza gift money is among the new things for wedding gifts. Who knew?  But what happens when the pizza gift money isn’t enough? Or when husband and wife find out that this marriage thing is having problems? Or when separation and divorce seem inevitable? What then? In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus speaks to the Pharisees about this, and then welcomes the little children. The message for today, based on the Gospel lesson, is entitled “Isolation vs. Relationship.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Today’s Gospel is a hard text that speaks to the trauma of divorce. No one gets married thinking that their marriage won’t work out, but it happens. People who are divorced can sometimes, maybe oftentimes, feel like second-class citizens within the church. There is talk in the Narthex or out in the parking lot. Information is shared, which may or may not be true. People choose sides about who they’re going to support or not support. Instead of compassion and understanding, there can be cold shoulders and judgmental looks. As a result, people who have gone through divorce feel like they no longer have a place in their own church, and so they leave. What do we do? How do we handle this? How do we understand Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel? We see two worlds colliding with one another here in Mark 10. The world of the Pharisees and the world of Jesus come into conflict with one another. The Pharisees really aren’t concerned with divorce at all. That’s just the presenting issue for what they’re really after here. What they’re concerned with is entrapping Jesus in his own words. They’re testing Jesus (v. 2). The original word here (πειράζω) is the same word used to describe Jesus being tempted by the devil during his forty days in the wilderness (Mark 1:13). It is testing with an evil intent; to take someone down and destroy him. The Pharisees were all about loopholes, exceptions to the rule, and how far the envelope can be pushed. They cite Moses who allowed a man to divorce his wife. By the time of Jesus, this allowance because of human sin and hardness of heart had degenerated into gross abuse. A man could divorce his wife for any reason he wanted. All he had to do was to say, “I divorce you,” three times and it was done. And the woman, the man’s wife, was then put out on the street; forced into an incredibly vulnerable place and exposed to great risk. Are we really that different from the Pharisees? We look for ways to bend the rules to our advantage. We search out loopholes that will benefit ourselves, often at the expense of others. Left to ourselves, we are bent toward isolation rather than relationship.

Jesus hits the reset button on all of this, and he goes back to God’s original gift of marriage at creation. We hear about this in today’s Old Testament lesson (Genesis 2:18-25). At Christian weddings, this is a passage of Scripture that is often chosen to be read, and for good reason. In a world that is broken and shattered with the effects of sin, we need to be reminded that God’s goodness in the gift of marriage is still there. At the very beginning of creation, God said: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). In our post-pandemic modern world of virtual everything, there is a crushing sense of loneliness and isolation that plagues our lives. Over and over, research tells us that people are desperate for a sense of belonging; of friendship and companionship. Whether we are introvert or extrovert, we were designed by God to be in relationship with one another. Whether we are single or married, the blessing that we receive from trusted friends, neighbors who surround and help in time of need, the enjoyment of the company of others – these are all gifts from God.

These gifts point us to a deeper, more intimate relationship, and that is God’s gift of marriage when two lives are joined together and become one. Despite our unfaithfulness, God’s design and purpose for marriage remain unchanged, as Jesus teaches us in today’s Gospel lesson. Despite our bent toward isolation, despite the fracture and break-up of what God has joined together, despite all of the pain that goes with divorce, despite sin and its consequences in our lives, we are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. The Word of God remind us: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16). The broken relationships of our lives does not mean that we should bear this pain alone. Jesus, our great High Priest, entered our broken world of pain and suffering to bear this for us. Jesus willingly took all of this upon himself when he went to the cross. Through his death, we have been given new life and the assurance that even now, God is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). This relationship with Jesus that began with our Baptism into his death and resurrection (Romans 6:1ff.) is timeless and eternal; even death cannot destroy it.

Today’s Gospel lesson closes with Jesus blessing the children, reminding us that unless we ourselves become like little children, we will not enter the kingdom of God. This is one of those passages in the Gospels where Jesus became vexed, upset, and indignant. There is righteous anger here on Jesus’ part because the disciples thought that he was above spending time with a bunch of kids. That’s important for us to remember in church and ministry today! Things like Sunday Morning Children’s Ministry, our Early Childhood Education Center, Confirmation, and other ministries for children and youth are hugely important. All of these are opportunities to bring our children to Jesus. We are not to hinder them, but to do everything we can to bring them to Jesus. The dependency and need of little children, their ability to share unabashedly what they’re thinking or feeling, their joy at simple things, their smiles and laughter, their trust in parents and caregivers – all of this reminds us that this is our model for life in Jesus’ upside-down kingdom where the last are first and the first are last.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves us and laid down his life for us, who has led us out of isolation into saving relationship with him and with one another, bless us in our life together. Amen.

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Oct 27

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