Mark 10:2-16 (Pentecost 20B)
St. John, Galveston 10/6/24
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    The family is the subject of the Gospel reading for this morning, as Jesus speaks about both marriage and children. The Old Testament reading, from Genesis 2, is also about marriage, and specifically about God’s design for marriage and for the family. “A man (He says) shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

    Taking these two passages together, I’d like to focus this morning on the family and talk about some of the pressures on the family that are quite troublesome and all too evident in our culture today. Ultimately though, the message is about God’s grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus, His call to repentance, and His assurance that He forgives all of our hard heartedness and waywardness, as He renews our hearts and minds, and as He sets us on a path that honors His will, which is ultimately to our benefit.  

    A couple was talking amongst themselves one day. They decided they didn’t want to have any children. The husband said, “Ok then, we’ll tell them right after dinner.” One of the most frequently witnessed pressures on marriage and the family these days is the tendency to put the cart before the horse. In the case of marriage, it is often said, shouldn’t you live with the person you want to marry before you marry them? I mean, you wouldn’t buy a car without kicking the tires first, would you? And besides, a couple doesn’t really have to have a piece of paper in order to honor God’s will for marriage, do they?

    The gospel reading before us this morning addresses the importance, even the holiness of marriage from the perspective of divorce. People were coming to Jesus and reminding Him that Moses allowed a husband to give his wife a certificate of divorce. While that is true, Jesus told the people that Moses allowed divorce, not because it is good, or because it’s right, or even beneficial. Rather, he allowed divorce, because of the hardness of people’s hearts. In the end then, divorce, the dissolution of a marriage, is ultimately a concession to sin.

    There is another passage in the Bible though that speaks about the importance of marriage in the eyes of God. I’m reminded of the encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well. The woman was a Samaritan, and so, she was amazed that Jesus spoke to her. After all, Jews and Samaritans, had no dealings with each other. Jesus though had a higher purpose in addressing her that day. He asked her to draw some water for Him. And from that, He spoke to her about living water. He said, “everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” “Sir (the woman said), give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water anymore.”

    Jesus then lead her to the living water by way of repentance. “(He) said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”” Which meant, from her perspective, it was a good time to try and change the subject.

    Like the woman at the well, when it comes to marriage, we tend to want to put the cart before the horse, evidenced by the fact that 70% of Americans believe that it is ok to live with another person in a sexual relationship before marriage. Unfortunately, what’s true of marriage these days, is also true when it comes to having and raising children. Consequently, there is a strong opinion among many, that a woman, or a couple, as the case may be, should have the right to decide whether or not to have a child after the child has already been conceived.  

    However the issue of the rights of child is argued culturally, the Scriptures are abundantly clear regarding the sanctity of life and the fact that God is the giver of life. As the psalmist wrote, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

    In this morning’s Gospel reading, the disciples were upset because people were bringing little children to Jesus. They were upset because, at that time, children were supposed to be seen and not heard. Jesus though said, 
“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” He then went on to say, “truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

    Now, there is nothing particularly pure and holy about a child. Anyone who has ever raised a child knows that. When a child though is given faith in Christ, through the water of holy baptism, they tend to hold that faith in a simple and in an unassuming way, which is to say, whatever they are told that God says, they tend to believe it.

    Jesus says, we all ought to receive the kingdom of God in the same way.  Though that may sound burdensome to us, because we often fail to receive God’s kingdom like a child, it is nonetheless a wonderful thing. God says to you, through His called and ordained servant, “I forgive you all of your sins.” And you say, “but!” “But, you don’t know. If you only knew what I’ve done!” “If you only knew.” But, none that takes anything away from the solemn promise of God to you. “I forgive you, He says, all of your sins.”

    I thought this week a lot about Fran and about all the people who have gone before us in the faith through this congregation. In my time here alone, it’s been well over a hundred people. In death, their soul is transferred from this militant church, to the Church Triumphant. Our hearts grieve because no one ever wants to see them go. At the same time, we have every reason to rejoice and to be glad as, like a child, we hold on to the words and promises of God.

    As we come forward to receive the body and blood of Jesus, God is at work forgiving our sins. “Take and eat, He says, this is My body given for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.” Whatever all the but’s are that we try to interject, whether regarding our marriage, our families, our children, God’s word and promise are greater.        
    There’s something else too, that is no less amazing, that happens here at the communion rail. The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant join as one to sing the wondrous praise of God. I think about Fran, I think about Myles and TA, as the beautiful words of the Communion Preface are spoken. “With angels and with archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify God’s glorious name.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +