Jesus calls on his disciples to use everything they have, all they’ve been given, in service of the most vulnerable: children, the poor, those forgotten and denied status by society. His criticism of the way laws are enforced is again and again about justice. Jesus follows the path of the early prophets of Israel that said that what God truly demands is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. As it says in the prophet Hosea, "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
In Mark’s Gospel there is a turning point when Peter and Jesus get into an argument. Peter calls Jesus the Messiah, Jesus tells them the Son of Man has to be tortured and killed. Peter doesn’t like it and tries to rebuke him. Jesus then tells his followers that if anyone wants to follow him, they must give up their hold on their own life, they must take up their cross and follow.
Everything that comes after that is part of the “take up your cross and follow” portion of Mark’s Gospel. Jesus’ teaching, his encounters with Jewish leaders, the questions and his answers, are all part of that theme of taking up the cross. What follows is a series of confrontations and teachings in which Jesus emphasizes that in the kingdom of God, the lost, marginalized, poor, and forgotten are the most important.
It is in this context that the passage in Mark we hear this coming Sunday comes up. Jesus calls divorce adultery, and seems to teach against the practice that allowed men to give their wives a certificate of divorce. I heard it said in a podcast this week that the moment anyone in a congregation hears this passage about divorce, a sermon already begins playing out in their mind. It is true, that this is an extremely loaded passage.
But if you think that Jesus is prescribing new rules to follow about who is “in” and who is “out” based on divorce status, then you haven’t been paying attention to the story in Mark. Jesus rebukes the unjust practices of divorce in his society, giving women status and voice when they don’t have either. Jesus re-frames the practice of divorce around whom it harms. And it is no coincidence that then he brings a child into their midst, exactly who is often so harmed in divorce.
Should we hate divorce, as Jesus seems to in Scripture? As a twice divorced person writing this, it is even more loaded for me. I think that if we hate divorce, we should hate the circumstances of this world, the pain, the hurt, the loss of relationship, the separation that happens in and around divorce. Often in today’s society, divorce is needed in order to protect the vulnerable, which is Jesus’ chief concern. If we understand sin not as mistakes we make or bad things we do that earn us shame or guilt, but instead as the brokenness and pain of this world, then certainly divorce is mired in sin. It is our limitedness, our brokenness, our selfishness, our inability to love as God loves that leads to situations of divorce. And it is truly children that so often pay the price and are most harmed.
I think Jesus would abhor using divorce as a litmus test, as yet another way to divide or categorize people. Jesus has many things to say about sin, but he also is very clear that the point is not to judge others for their sin. Jesus commands us not to judge. It is not for us to decide who is right and wrong, who is in and out, who is good or bad. It is our job to love, our job to serve, our job to grow and spread God’s kingdom where all are welcome and all are blessed.
This is why it is so key, so crucial, that Jesus sums up the law and the prophets as loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. It wasn’t revolutionary for Jesus to say that. It would have been commonly understood among Jewish teachers that the greatest two commandments are to love God and love your neighbor. But in the context of Jesus’ life and teaching, the point is clear. The law is about love. The law can’t cause harm, can’t marginalize, can’t divide, can’t hurt people. If it does, it isn’t about love, and therefore cannot be God’s desire. The law is only God’s law when it is love.
Jesus wants his followers to see that they have been blessed by God so that they can be a blessing to the whole world. God’s abundance and blessing is meant for all! It is our job as his followers to bless those who are least likely to be blessed by the world: the vulnerable, the marginalized, the poor, the forgotten, those in grief, the sick, and the suffering. May that law of love be written on our hearts and minds.
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