One Broken, Resurrected Flesh

I have been quite absent from this blog for awhile, mostly because I use it to share fairly "polished" thoughts, which usually end up being sermon manuscripts...and I didn't do a lot of preaching last year. This sermon is the third I have preached in my new position assisting the campus pastor at the University of Texas Lutheran Campus Ministry. It was hard to write, because both the creation story and Mark's gospel give us difficult words with painful legacies. I hope you find my approach a life-giving one. I do believe that is what God in Christ fully intends...to give us all life and wholeness...

A Sermon for Lutheran Campus Ministry-UT Austin,

October 7, 2012

Lectionary 27B - from Genesis 2:18-24 and Mark 10:2-16                                                                         

I was sorting through my very large pile 

     of neglected mail this week,

          when I came across an envelope 

     from one of the congregations I get mail from sometimes.

A lot of the time they’re just asking for money…

     but I opened it…

It began benignly enough…

     a generic message from the council president

          about how well the program year is going –

    lots of kids in Sunday school…

          the strength of the social outreach program.

Then it began to talk about transitions… 

          again, a fairly neutral word.

   Then, a paragraph said that one of our pastors

        was publicly announcing that she and her husband

              were beginning legal divorce proceedings…

  I felt like I had been punched in the stomach… 

     and the hits kept coming…

          because I read on to find out 

     that one of the other full time pastors

was also announcing that he and his wife were separating.

The letter ended with an announcement 

     of the upcoming council forum

          to discuss various topics 

     of interest or concern to the congregation…

it was to be held…this afternoon.

I doubt the council knew the lectionary 

      when they scheduled the forum…

          nor do I think that the main purpose of the forum

      was to discuss the family lives of the pastoral staff…

  but still…

I prayed for this church family this afternoon,
     the day we heard these words from the Gospel of Mark. 

          knowing it must be a very painful day for them.

For all of us, I think this gospel text hits very close to home…

     for some of us it hits at home…not just close to it…

We have all witnessed or lived through broken relationships 

     and through divorces.

Even in the most peaceful ending of a relationship, 

     we feel grief, anger, loss...

          We live through a small death…

After all, our relationships support our lives,

     They are the solid framework on which we build so much.

When one of them shifts, it is like breaking a bone.

     We can’t walk away from those moments. 

          Sometimes we barely limp.

And a marriage isn’t just any relationship.

     The closest relationships in our lives are our heart’s home.

When they break, it’s like someone has committed arson.

     What was home becomes hollow, burned out, toxic.

We hear in Genesis when God sees the first human

     – that beautiful, fresh creation – 

          something is clear immediately.

“It is not good that man should be alone.”

     God sees the first human and knows 

          that solitude is not how we are meant to be. 

We need each other – networks of love and support.

     We may not all need to be married 

          when it comes right down to it…

               but we all need to love and to be loved.

And so here I need to say something 

     about that fundamental relationship

          so beautifully acclaimed in Genesis

               when Adam says of the human companion 

     God makes for him,

“This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.”

     “This is the one who can know my heart 

           and be my partner.”

Partner. That is the word that Genesis uses.

     God intends for our most intimate relationships 

          to be mutually loving and strong.

Some will say that God built a system of subordinate, 

     hierarchical relationships

          in creating man first and woman second…

but a friend of mine,

     who is a much better Hebrew scholar than I am once told me:

“If God had intended Eve to be Adam’s servant,

     she would have been made from the soles of his feet.

If she was just to be a trophy, a decoration on his arm…

     she would have been made from the crown of his head.

But she wasn’t, she was made from his side. 

     She was, and is, his equal.”

The heart of the creation story…of our human story…

     is mutual love and support,

          not hierarchy…

and not a cookie cutter for every relationship there will ever be.

If Genesis tells us one thing, it should be this:

     It is not good for us to be alone. We need each other.

          We need to love. We need to be loved.

     We need to give and to receive. 

          We are meant for community.

If we get hung up on the other details of the story, 

     we miss the point,

And we become very much like the Pharisees 

     in Mark’s gospel today.

Because, this is what I think is happening in Mark 10:

In their question about the permissibility of divorce,

     Jesus hears the Pharisees

          using sacred human relationships as playing pieces

              in their game of cat and mouse with him, 

     and he gets genuinely pissed off.

This is one of those times 

    when the way we hear Scripture matters…

          and it matters that we hear it spoken aloud…

We often hear it read,

     when the Pharisees ask if it is lawful 

          for a man to divorce his wife that Jesus says,

          “What did Moses command you?” quite placidly…

But given the context, 

     I think it just as reasonable that Jesus might reply,

          “What did Moses command you?” 

               in such a sarcastic tone 

          that he it is already clear that he is calling them out

               for their ulterior motives...

because, after all, they know what Moses commanded.

     They know the law. 

          They don’t need to ask Jesus to know what it says.

     And he knows that…and so do they.

And when Jesus goes on to critique Moses 

     for caving in to the hard hearted people,

          I think the subtext of what he’s saying is this:

“How dare you? 

     How dare you come 

         and ask me for permission to break things…

     to break people?

I came here to heal and to make the world whole.

     People were made to be together. 

          Married people become one flesh.

     What you talking about is tearing apart flesh...

          Open bleeding wounds.

How can you be so callous?”

Jesus lays into anyone who displays indifference

      towards human pain and brokenness…

It is hard to talk about what Jesus says here,

     because we are not so sure we can literally get behind it.

The clearest argument we would bring to him, of course,

     is that of relationships that are abusive. What then, Jesus?

Any one of us can testify that Jesus’ main assertion is true:

     that divorce is bad…is painful…

          is not what God hopes for for us.

And yet, we also know that divorce 

    is really naming a brokenness

         that is there already…

The bones are already broken. 

     Our heart’s home is already burning to the ground.

          We are already limping and homeless.

Divorce can be, and often is, a path to fuller life, to healing…

     to the very wholeness God wishes for us.

And if Jesus were being asked the Pharisees’ question 

     by an abused husband or wife,

          I think he would say something quite different…

               but with the same fundamental message.

I came here to heal…to make the world whole…

     to make you whole.

I think that is why Jesus turns to the children 

     just after this shrill conversation

          as it is told in both Mark and in Matthew…

He turns to the ones whose emotions are so honest,

     Maybe he turns to them because he has to talk to someone

           who won’t make his words about politics or power.

Maybe he just needed a hug. Maybe he needed to cry.

     Maybe he just really likes patty-cake and tic-tac-toe…

Or maybe he knew that the children 

    were wiser than anyone else in the room.

          Maybe it was a little bit of all of those things.

And it perplexed the Pharisees and disciples

     who were still interested in figuring out 

          who was allowed to do what

              and who they could righteously judge 

          for making bad choices…

    who the worst sinners were…

who was too broken to be allowed…

But…Jesus is not in the habit of vilifying the broken...

     or suffering…or silly…

He is in the habit of loving them, healing them, 

     dying and rising for them,

          and bringing them through death and into life.

Jesus is in the habit of gathering them…gathering us…

     week after week after broken down week…

and saying, “This is my body. This is my blood.

     I give them for you.

          You are part of my broken body now. 

We are one flesh, now, too.”

And we are. We all are.

     We are the Body of Christ. 

          One broken, and resurrected flesh.

Made to be loved by God…

     and fed and healed by God 

          so we might love one another.

May it be so.

Amen.