Grace Lutheran Church LWML Sunday 18th Sunday after Pentecost, October 7, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

18^th Sunday after Pentecost "The Great Divorce Reconciled"

October 8, 2006 Mark 10:2-16

Today's Gospel lesson reveals a common event in the ministry of Jesus. The Pharisees ask him a question in order to test him. I think a preacher is either anxious to preach on these scripture lessons or he is grinding his teeth at night. The Old Testament lesson and the Gospel lesson were not brought together accidentally. Genesis 2 records God seeing Adam and realizing that it is not good for him to be alone. Eve is made from bone of bone and flesh of flesh. Genesis records how God has made us for relationship with one another, it is not good for us to be alone. The Gospel of Mark is a question about divorce, about the breaking of the relationship created by God in Genesis.

Preaching to you this weekend is filled with a lot of emotion for me because I am a child of divorce. My mother divorced my father when I was seven years old. I asked my dad this week what would be some potholes I should avoid as I preach on these texts. He told me with sadness in his voice, "Remember Evan, no one wants to be divorced."

Reading a devotional book about surviving the pain of divorce the writer describes the day at the courthouse with these words, "It's all over. One final session in court, and a life together is over. If the marriage had ended in death, there would have been a funeral. Your friends would have been with you for a final service. Word and sacrament would have been a comfort. Next Sunday there would have been prayers for the survivors. The grief could have been open and even proud. One need not apologize for death. But this is divorce…and divorce is completely and utterly without honor. Now you are alone. No matter who is with you, you are alone."

Divorce is not a part of God's plan in creation. God made us male and female for relationship, togetherness. When the Pharisees asked the question, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" Instead of asking Jesus, "What is the best way for a husband and wife best love and serve each other?" they asked Jesus, "What is permissible?"

Jesus asked them, "What did Moses command you?" They remember Moses words allowing a man to dismiss his wife by writing a certificate of divorce.

Jesus reminded them that this was given by Moses because of the hardness of their hearts. Divorce was not allowed because it is a part of God's plan, Moses permitted divorce as a concession to the fallen human condition. But Moses' description of how to divorce does not wipe away Genesis 2 that marriage is primarily supposed to be a permanent union of one man and one woman.

Jesus pointed those listening to him back to the foundation of marriage. Jesus brought the discussion back to the inner spiritual problems that lead to divorce. When wondering if the church permits divorce and for what reasons, Jesus showed the discussion should not be about who gets to end a marriage and for what reasons. A discussion about divorce starts with God's original plan for us. God desires us to be in relationship with one another. God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone.

The hardness of heart that forced Moses' to offer the possibility of divorce in the book of Deuteronomy is the same hardness of heart that requires a savior. People struggle to remain faithful to their marriage vows. It is a very sad statistic that in America: one out of two first marriages end in divorce. Unfortunately when people divorce and then remarry they often carry the same struggles into their new marriage. Six out of ten second marriages fail. Even worse nine out ten third marriages fail. Although God intended marriage to be a lifelong relationship, tragically divorce has become commonplace in our society. Instead of the messages of our society, in both the Old and New Testament divorce is shown to be contrary to the foundations of marriage.

Divorce is sad and contrary to God's purposes for our relationships. I know that divorce happens and there are always reasons. Before we move on I want it be known that God's forgiveness wipes away all our sins. It is precisely on account of our sin that Jesus came into the world.

Because far more dangerous then the present rate of divorce is the Great Divorce of the sinner with God. The Great Divorce is not only sad but if left unreconciled it brings eternal death. More dangerous than the commonplace reality of divorce between men and women is a broken and dead relationship with God.

I would like us to look at the relationship of Hosea, the Old Testament prophet, to better understand how God desires to reconcile with us rather than permit the Great Divorce between God and humanity.

Hosea was called to be a prophet not just through the words he would proclaim but also the life he would live. Through word and action he would become a living expression of God's word to the people of Israel. God ordered Hosea to marry Gomer. She was an adulteress woman. Hosea was commanded to continue loving her and he took her back. Hosea's relationship to Gomer was meant to symbolize God's relationship to Israel. The second half of the book of Hosea moves on from narrating Hosea's relationship to Gomer to describing how Israel was falling in love with the false gods of Canaan. The Lord is relentless in his judgment against Israel's adulteress actions with false gods. But finally the book of Hosea closes with these words, "I will heal their waywardness. I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out. I will make a fresh start with Israel."

God desires to be in a relationship with all people. No matter how unfaithful people may be our God desires to be in a relationship with us. We have been married to God once again. The great divorce paper of our sin has been ripped up, because it has always been the desire of God to be a in a relationship with you. God embraces adulterers, divorcees, sinners us all. Christ has come to be our bridegroom. He has come to bring us back into a relationship with God. His righteousness, his faithfulness, his sacrifice on the cross becomes ours through faith in him.

Captured by the love of Christ our soul looks trustingly to him. We no longer need to try to see how far we can push the limits of the law and still feel like we are still justified. You are justified by Christ and his faithfulness to the will of his father. You don't have to find a loophole in the law like what the Pharisees looked for in their testing of Jesus.

Divorce in our society may happen but that does not mean it is a part of God's plan. The Great Divorce of the unrepentant sinner from a relationship with God is not the desire of God. We are reconciled to Almighty God by Christ who once again asks for our hand in marriage.

Even the most faithful Christian will find the road of marriage difficult. People will find themselves divorced. When the tragedy of divorce occurs we do not cast stones of judgment. Instead we cast these persons to the loving care of Christ. 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your cares on Jesus, because he cares for you." I encourage you to point your friends that our hurting to Jesus. Jesus loves and forgives and embraces. We are all sinners, but he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins.

Soli Deo Gloria

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