It is time for us to [attempt] to listen with open hearts to 'the divorce text.' We are treading on dangerous ground, a veritable mine field of emotions, for marriage and divorce are places where both love and hurt abound.
Genesis sets the tone for us this week. We look at the Genesis 2 rendering of the creation of man and woman: co-partners in God's work. Man is ish and Woman is ishshah (in the Hebrew) and the words alone tell us something of the relationship between these two.
At the first glimpse of Woman, Man cries out, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!" There is rejoicing. There is fellowship. There is a partnership forged to care for one another and all of God's creation.
By the time we get to the gospel of Mark, the bloom is off the rose and the Pharisees are trying to back Jesus into a corner. Focused on a legal system that had developed through the centuries, the Pharisees want Jesus to confirm or deny a man's superior rights and minimal obligations when the wedding of two turns into two households, two individuals.
Jesus is unwilling to play that game. He goes all the way back to Genesis and points out what God's intent was for creation - no one is to be left powerless, vulnerable. Every person bears consequences for his/her own actions, and God's kingdom of God has a special line for the nameless ones at the bottom of the heap.
It will be hard for folks to hear the nuances of these lessons because, as we all know, marriage and its unwelcome relative: divorce, are places where both great love and great hurt abound. Pray for those who are hurt when they hear this lesson; pray they will hear Jesus' call of love to them.
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