I’ve really been struggling with these texts since I learned I’d be preaching today
The scripture selections this week have been used in harmful ways
They’ve been used to promote women’s subservience to men
They’ve been used to shame our beloved LGBTQ community members
They’ve been used to restrict and regulate the institution of marriage
They’ve been used by the church to deny people’s access to God
So, I’ve really been struggling
Trying to find meaning within these texts
Wondering why these messages are Holy
Seeking the good news not only for myself
But for my friends…
My friends who are divorced, gay, transgender or in abusive marriages
As I floundered in this place of uncertainty
I looked for something solid to hold on to
I followed my roots to not only these selected scripture readings
But also out and around them
I grabbed onto the root of the larger biblical narrative
I remembered the root of Lutheranism
I heard wisdom from the root of our ancestors
My friends have been hurt by these readings
I love my friends
So I began with love
Augustine, one of the earliest Christian theologians, offered this root:
“Whoever thinks that he understands the divine Scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all.”
Augustine offers the wisdom of building double love
I held onto double love as the foundation of our understanding
Martin Luther began growing the root of paradox back in 1520 with “The Freedom of a Christian”
Paradox is evident in the main themes of his work as he declares:
“The Christian individual is a completely free lord of all, subject to none”
And
“The Christian individual is a completely dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”
Paradox is a strong root that runs through the ground of our Lutheran beliefs
It is the insistence upon a both/and understanding of life and faith
It is the resistance to simple, single right answers
The root of paradox requires persistence to wrestle with these messages
I also zoomed out to the roots of the larger biblical narrative
The story of God’s unconditional love
The story of emancipation from forces of evil
The story of God’s presence and creative power within all things
Making things new
The larger biblical narrative insists upon grace
And denounces condemnation of people who are other
I relaxed into the roots that God is for humankind
So, nourished by these various roots
How do we understand what we hear within these scriptures today?
Looking for the double love
Struggling within the paradox
Held by God being for us
The gospel of Mark is paired with the second creation story from Genesis
In this creation story we hear about how God creates man and woman
Jesus references this story when he’s challenged by the Pharisees about the issue of divorce
Looking at Genesis we read:
“Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’” (Gen 2:18)
This human, who was made from the ground, is one with the earth
This human has God’s very breath breathed into his lungs
This human is not intended to be alone
This human is designed by God to exist in community, to belong
This human requires a complimentary companion
This human, by design,
Is united with the earth,
with all living creatures,
and with the LORD God
BUT – that is not enough!
God says “It is not good”
So God demonstrates being for humankind and gets back to work
When we read that man needed a “helper as his partner”
These words are also interpreted as an “indispensable companion”
Someone who can supply what the other is lacking
This is not a subordination of women to men
This is not a pronouncement of heterosexuality as normative
This is a collaboration, a creation of partnership, that is necessary for life
“It is not good that humankind should be alone”
The final verse of this scripture, “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
Is also not a declaration or statement of what should happen
“Therefore” is an editorial comment
It’s like saying “this is why we do the things we do”
“Therefore” links the ancient narrative of this creation story
to contemporary understanding of male/female relations
contemporary being… 2000 years ago
Uncovering these roots we catch a glimpse of double love
Amidst God’s creation of humankind
Returning to the gospel,
We hear yet another story of Jesus
As he attempts to find some peace
Away from the crowds of people
But he is returned to the hot seat by the Pharisees.
He retreats and the crowds find him
The Pharisees come to test him
They’re trying to trap him once again
But this time he turns them back toward themselves,
He holds up a mirror with his words to reflect their law
The law of Moses and the story of Genesis
I wonder about the mood in this story
I wonder if Jesus was irritated,
With this never-ending dance with the crowd
I wonder if the Pharisees felt indignant
Or maybe even amenable to his response
Jesus has gone about the community disrupting the status quo
And now he tells them what they expect to hear
Did he placate them for the moment?
I wonder if Jesus was tired, impatient or weary
I wonder if he was distracted and planning his next move
I wonder, as he traveled around with society’s castaways…
Women and men who were sinners and prostitutes …
what did Jesus really believe about the institution of marriage?
I wonder what he learned from his mother,
Mary, about what marriage means
As she found herself pregnant, unwed, and displaced
I wonder what he learned from his father,
Joseph, about how a husband treats his wife
As he humbled himself to honor his betrothed.
I wonder and wonder because I find that this
and so many stories of the bible
don’t have enough details to satisfy my curiosity
With my hands dirty and worn from digging around in these roots
I have no clear answers to show for it
I’m left wrestling with the paradox that
Relationships bring the deepest, greatest joy of one’s life
And
Relationships bring the deepest, greatest pain of one’s life
I’m left seeing double love in God’s design of humankind to not be alone
I’m left in awe of the fullness of the arc of the biblical narrative
Perhaps that’s why these texts are Holy
Perhaps sacredness lies within the wrestling and wondering
Perhaps the good news is found when there are no clear answers.
Because then space is created
And God enters this space of our lives
God meets us there and we become God’s new creation
As we discern what God asks from us
Amen.
