Last Sunday's sermon covered that always difficult topic of the sin of divorce. There can be little doubt when one reads the scriptures for today's sermon that divorce is indeed a sin... a big one to be honest.
I've included a link to a previous article that I wrote on divorce and marriage so I'll try to avoid replicating too much of that post. One of the major problems we have today is that people want to deny or rationalize away their sin (pretty much all sin), it's something that is done constantly with the sin of divorce.
The argument often focuses on the angle that in Jesus' time a divorced woman was left with little hope and would often have to resort to prostitution in order to survive. That sounds like a very valid argument and it is almost always accepted and heads nod and the hurt feelings of having sinned are assuaged... there's just one problem... CLEARLY, Jesus isn't worried primarily about the welfare of the woman. If he was then there wouldn't be a prohibition upon her divorcing her husband and remarrying, and there wouldn't be sin involved in another man marrying a divorced woman.
Luke 16:18 New International Version (NIV)
18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Obviously, there's more at stake here than just concern for the woman's welfare. The problem is the breaking of a covenant and the breaking of the relationship between the husband and the wife, and the two parties with God. Marriage in a Church is, in fact, a sworn covenant with the Almighty and isn't something that can just casually toss aside... no matter how much we might wish to do so.
In the sermon, I mentioned the Prodigal Son and his father's relationship and then I didn't get around to fully connecting that to the prohibition on divorce (one of the problems with my stream of consciousness style of preaching). The issue in the story of the Prodigal Son is, of course, one of reconciliation, the beauty of the story is the full reconciliation of the father/son relationship with the father rushing to the son, the giving of the ring, robe, and shoes, and the celebration thrown in honor of this restored relationship. The sin in divorce is the breaking of the covenant and the broken relationship that divorce entails... the sin in the remarriage is the inability to restore or reconcile that which is broken.
The problem of divorce in our lives merely mirrors an even greater problem and that is the problem of minimizing, rationalizing, or even completely disregarding our sins. Until we acknowledge our sins and confess them to our Creator... we'll just keep on sinning... and sin is of course, what divides us from our Lord. Our Lord who so desperately wants only reconciliation with His children and His creation.
Be a blessing to someone today (reconcile with them!).
In His Grace & Love,
Roy
Mark 10:2-16 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,[a] 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Footnotes:
a) Mark 10:7 Other ancient authorities lack and be joined to his wife
 |
| Photo by Christian Begeman |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful in your comments to each other and to myself as well.
Thank you and Bless you for reading and commenting.