Unity, Brokenness and Grace

Transcribed from the sermon preached October 7, 2012 

The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

Scripture Readings: Genesis 2:15-3:21, Romans 3:19-31, Mark 10: 2-12

If the norm and ideal are not met on a regular basis, is this a reason to change it?  If we acknowledge that we as a nation fall far short of the high words in our declaration of Independence, should we change them.  Should the founders, who fell far short themselves, have aimed lower.  Like this for instance: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created unequal and some will have the right, endowed by their Creator, to life, liberty and the persuit of happiness.  Women, and Africans and Native Americans, and the people of countries we decide to invade, they are not endowed by their Creator with these same rights.  But we will still be more free and more democratic than the vast majority of nations in the world.”  How would that be for a Declaration of Independence?  Or how about this: I pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for 1%.”
Or how about this: As a couple gets up to commit themselves to one another the minister says, Repeat after me; “I Jim, take you Sally, to be my wife, and I promise to love and cherish you, until things get tough, or you look old, or get sick, or poor, and then I am going to split.”
In First Century Israel, like today, for many men, it was easy to dismiss his  commitment to his wife and ask for a divorce.  And it would have been even less likely in First Century Palestine for a woman to be able to remarry or to care for herself financially.  So Jesus, no doubt talking to men, goes beyond what was permitted in the Law of Moses and holds them up to a higher standard.
Now before we continue shine light on the high value of the marriage commitment, we should reflect for a moment on the variety of relations found in scripture.  The Creation story was not used to establish monogamous marriage between a man and a woman in scripture.  Adam and Eve do not have a marriage ceremony.  They just hook up because, well, there is nobody else around.  We know that the patriarchs practiced polygamy, held concubines and slaves forbirthing children and sexual favors.  And of course the concubines and slaves would have had very few rights or say in the matter.  Wives too, while higher up the social ladder than concubines and slaves, still had few rights.  We know that the way marriage is written in the law, that it was an institution for the protection of the property of men.  Also in places, scripture prohibited marriage across race and ethnicity, even though there is nothing in the Creation Story that would lead anyone to that idea.  The other day on Facebook someone posted a sign that had a picture of the bible and said, “Hit like if you believe in this book.”  Now first off, I never hit like or post when someone tells me I have to, or when the implication if I don’t is that I am somehow not part of the “good” peoples group.  It is just annoying.  But more annoying is pretending that it is self-evident and we all know what we are believing in when we say we believe in “this book.”  I don’t believe in holding concubines and slavery, even if I am slightly jealous of King Solomon.
It is quite clear that our sexual organs were created and evolved for the primary purpose of procreation.  This is a fundamental and basic truth.  It will always be the case that the vast majority of people will pursue heterosexual relations, both for pleasure and for the procreation and nurture of children.  Homosexuality is not a threat to that.  What is less clear is how committed we will be to the responsibilities that come with the sexual relationship and relationships in general.  Jesus emphasizes the responsibility and commitment.  From a divine point of view, love trumps lust.
Marriage is a great and beautiful thing, the essential building block for society, for safe, trusting and beautiful sexual relations, for the sustenance and nurture of children. There may be exceptions for the rule, but the rule remains, God created us with a love that is intended to last.  There are all sort of families with marriages that are a mess, and there is no question that a family with a bad or abusive husband and father can be like a prison.  Holding the standard of life-long commitment in marriage is not intended by God to be used as a spiritual weapon by men to force women to put up with abuse.  And though women are more vulnerable and tend to have less power, they are not immune to sin, to being obnoxious or horrible partners, to succumbing to the temptation of the snake.  Or, to put it more simply, sin cuts across gender; the devil is an equal opportunity tempter.  But with all that said, marriage remains the best place for sex.  Contrary to popular opinion, married couples report being happier in their sex lives that single people.  More important still, even as marriage was written as a protection of the property of men, Jesus expects marriage as an institution to protect women and children. 
Research is very clear, that children raised in two parent families are less likely to have trouble in school or with the law. 
According to the National Center for Law and Economic Justice
·  34.2% of families with a female householder where no husband is present were poor and 17% were living in deep poverty. 7.6% of married couple families with children were living in poverty and 2.4% were in deep poverty.
·  Children living in single female-headed families were more than four times as likely to be living in poverty, and seven times as likely to be living in deep poverty, than children living in married couple families.  It is easier to survive and prosper with a partner.
According to UNICEF there are 2.2 billion children in the world.  One billion of them live in poverty.
Clearly, the culture of easy sex and easy divorce is hard on women and children.  Men, whether they should or not, tend to get the easy out and move on, while women still have fewer marketable skills, they are much more likely to have the bulk of the burden caring for the children and earning a living.
Men using women and leaving them with children to raise and limited income is not God’s plan. One billion children living in poverty is not God’s plan. In addition to affirming marriage, we also want to promote education for women. The number one way to reduce infant mortality is female literacy.
From a divine point of view, love trumps lust.  This doesn’t mean that pleasure doesn’t matter or that it is bad.  It just means that love is more important, primary.  It means that we enter into relationship knowing that we do not know all we need to know and that we each have strengths and weaknesses which will contribute to the blessings and curses of the relationship.  But the intent is to hang in there and work and grow together.  “What God has joined together let no one separate.”  
The standard and the ideal remain, we are going to hold our expectations high.  How do we do this?  We realize that the standards to which we hold ourselves are not ours but God’s.  When we are sure to fall short, the only way we can hold these standards is by grace.  
On the one hand, what Jesus speaks of is a very narrow subject; he is simply addressing an issue of his day when the subject is presented to him.  In human terms, marriages may end.  In God’s eyes, they are intended to last. 
On the other hand we may extend the subject matter broader to human relationships.  God intends love to prevail: in our family, in the Church, in the community, in our nation and between nations.  And yet we all fall short of the glory of God.
Now if everything had gone well in the garden, there would be no need for any discussion of divorce, no need for discussion of what is sin and what is not.  Laws only come after there is a need for them.  When there are too many accidents at an intersection, we put up a stop light.  If there were no safety problems, then there wouldn’t be a light.  When someone covets his neighbors wife, we come up with a law against that.  When someone kills, God lets us know by a written law, thou shalt not kill.  Now just because there is not a written law against what we may do, it doesn’t make it right.  The law is limited.  Nobody as far as we know asked Jesus about whether a woman should stay in an abusive marriage.  As far as we know nobody asked Jesus to speak on whether it was ok for a husband to drink and gamble the family’s money away while the wife faithfully obeys the commandment against divorce.  No matter how many subjects the scripture deals with, there would still be more left uncovered. The law doesn’t cover what God thinks about every situation.  For instance, what if someone is on the verge of death, and you are taking them to the hospital, and you come to the light and no other cars are around? We  need the law, because it reminds us what is right, but it is not itself the right, but only tries to point to it. 
No human being, says Paul, will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
[21] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it,
[22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction;
[23] since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
[24] they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
[25] whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins;
[26] it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus. 
So when we fall short, in whatever way, whether through a broken marriage or brokenness within marriage or some other relationship, whether there is a law against it or not, by the grace of God through Christ, we acknowledge it and ask for forgiveness, and move on, intent on doing better from here on out.  And there are many situations to which the law is only so much help, and we have to make our own decisions to the best of our ability.  We try to stay true to the Holy Spirit, try to be conscious of our own personal bias and sinful nature and resist it.  We try to Love the Lord our God with all our heart mind and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We hold ourselves to a higher standard than the world may ask or expect.  Then by the Grace of God we make our decision.
So today is World Communion Sunday, a day in which Christians throughout the world, despite their differences in ethnic and cultural laws, despite the fact that each and everyone of us, married or unmarried, falls short of the glory of God, we give thanks and praise that God has not divorced us.  We give thanks that God’s love and forgiveness is steadfast and sure.  We gather together with people all across the world who recognize that today, and when all is said and done, we are saved by the Grace of God through Christ Jesus. 
[33] Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies;
[34] who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?
[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
[38] For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
[39] nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.