October 4, 2015

27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Genesis 2: 18-24; Hebrews 2: 9-11; Mark 10: 2-16

Today is Respect Life Sunday. It is also the feast of St Francis of Assisi which is a traditional day that many churches have a blessing for animals. These two celebrations mutually complement each other. They reinforce the teaching Jesus and the scripture authors constantly brought up: all creation has its source in God and because of that all life is infinitely sacred and valuable. I hope and pray that it would be hard to find people who disagree with the specialness of all life.

These basic views seem to be in opposition to the readings especially the Gospel. It seems that many people want to join the Pharisee group in trying to disagree with Jesus and are trying to find a loophole in His teaching or to find that God doesn’t even care about His beloved people when difficulties arise especially in married life. Does God care about me?

Exploring the Sunday Readings sets the theme for today’s readings that invokes a deep reflection for each Christian: ‘Loneliness is not the plan.’ In this article Alice Camille comments on today’s first reading from Genesis “It is not good for the man to be alone.” She states, “Every life has its lonely seasons. For an only child, it can be the early years spent largely with imaginary friends unless a play-day can be arranged. Most teenagers, even the popular ones, report an aching sense of being misunderstood, not truly accepted or appreciated by those around them. Young adulthood often feels like half-life lived in pursuit of a suitable partner, a place to belong. Yet marriage is no guarantee that the lonely days are over. And old age will find some of us living beyond a spouse, losing an essential friend, or saying our goodbyes to everyone and everything familiar before life’s close.”

The first reading is from the second account of Creation in the book of Genesis and it explains why a man and woman marry. Why? The answer is very basic: because they are made ‘of the same stuff.’ Living the Word, Scripture Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays and Holy Days explains this beautifully. “They are made of the same stuff. The Hebrew word for the earth out of which the first human is made is adamah. Hence the human is called adam or literally the ‘earthling.’ Until God makes a suitable partner for this creature the sexes are not distinguished. The adam encounters the new earthling and names her isha or woman, since she emerged from ish, The Hebrew word for a man. Unlike the other creatures, ish and isha share biology and are, therefore, suitable life partners.”

So there is a ‘match’ here…we are made for each other. In the family of Christ, no one is a stranger, everyone belongs, and every person is special, everyone is precious to God. As Paul is explaining in his letter to the Hebrews that all have the same origin: God. And because of this Jesus, who “lowered Himself” to be one of us, is not ashamed to call us ‘brothers and sisters.’ He loves us…He lived for us…He died for us…He taught us that the Father and the Spirit love us and this perfect relationship that they share which is their relationship of love is what God wants each person to share with Them in heaven.

Now to understand the Gospel and what Jesus is teaching we have to study Mark’s context. The journey to Jerusalem has begun. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus only goes to Jerusalem ONCE and that is the beginning of His ‘death march’. The theme of discipleship continues now in relationship to marriage (verses 2-12), children (verses 13-16), and possessions (verses 17-31). It is very significant that Jesus is now in “the district of Judea and across the Jordan,” (Mark 10: 1). This is King Herod’s jurisdiction. This is the Herod who was tricked into killing John the Baptist because of his views on divorce and remarriage…remember Herod had married the Herodias, the wife of his brother, Philip. Thus Herodias harbored a grudge against John and wanted him dead.

Now Mark shares how the crowds have begun to hover around Jesus; whenever this happens, Jesus teaches them. Now the Pharisees do not want to be taught, they represent those who want to trick Jesus to test Him. The issue at hand IS NOT the legal right to divorce which in Deuteronomy 24: 1-4 is taken for granted and tolerated “as an existing custom whose evils this law seeks to lessen.” (Footnote from the New American Bible). Dr. Bonnie Thurston a Marcan scholar in Preaching Mark says, “Since in Jewish Palestine women could not sue for divorce, many scholars think this periscope reflects the controversy between church and synagogue as it was played out in the early Gentile Church. “ The preacher should note that divorce was very common in the Roman world and that, within Judaism itself, there were two schools of thought on the matter. The followers of Shammai held that strict view that divorce should be sought only for infidelity. The followers of Hillel held a more lenient interpretation and allowed divorce for a variety of reasons.” Jesus takes a different approach. Dr. Thurston continues, “The law, He says, was shaped for those for whom it was written; it is concessionary. But what God wills is not what the law allows. The purpose of Deut 24: 1-4 was to ameliorate the harsh consequences of divorce. Verses 6-7 remind the crowd of God’s intentions for marriage before it was blotted by human sin (see Gen 1: 27; 2:24; 5:2). The principle Jesus lays down in vv 5-9 is actually stricter than that of the rabbis. Rather than ruling out divorce, He elevates marriage.” The question was brought up because if Jesus answered one way, He could be accused of disagreeing John the Baptist reproach of Herod for divorcing his wife and marrying his sister-in-law. If he agreed with John, He could become a target for Herod’s anger. Jesus was telling them that the Father’s desire was to unite us…and married couples in love. The Pharisees missed the whole point. Marriage is a wonderful gift from God that is meant to reflect the union God longs to have with His people. What a privilege it is to be united intimately with God and with another person. Two groups in the gospel are singled out for disrespect: women and children. Jesus raises up both groups and refuses to permit their degradation. In God’s kingdom all are welcomed and valued. Is this so with me?

So I reflect on:

• Is everyone I come in contact with welcomed and valued by me? Who might still be less welcomed and appreciated and how can I change that?
• Do I encourage married people to pray in gratitude about how their lives have been images of the creative love of God?
• Do I pray for people about to be married and for married friends and family facing special challenges?
• Have I become all that God wants me to be? Why…why not?
• Picture myself being asked these questions by Jesus: ‘What does commitment mean...Can I be committed to a cause…to people? Is love the basis of commitment? What kinds of things interfere with commitment? Can commitment die?