From the Daily Lectionary for Wednesday in the Fifth Week after the Epiphany
Mark 10:1-16
He left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them.
Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 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. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
The two topics here seem at first unrelated. The first is Jesus’ teaching on divorce; the second, Jesus receiving children into his fellowship. I think Mark is speaking of a vital disposition as to the way one lives one’s life.
Divorce is always tragic. It results from our “hardness of heart,” as Jesus puts it. Hardness of heart has many more consequences, such as a lust for wealth and power, a lack of empathy, a callous disregard for the good of the other. One might say that hardness of heart is closely linked to self-interest; and in the collective society, in our communities and institutions, it will wreak havoc.
The remedy is a predisposition of vulnerability, personally and collectively. To welcome the least among us into the family circle, children the example here, is to soften our hearts, open them to the possibilities of love. The premise here is that it is our practice that informs us, that is to say, to be compassionate, one has to practice compassion; to be empathetic, one must practice empathy; to be in love with our neighbor, we must practice love for our neighbor. Our practice shapes our believing. Our hearts are formed by our willfulness, our doing. Our free will, our freedom to choose can save us from the diabolic specter of self-interest. Our commitment to the practice of the faith engenders a maturing faith.
That is why the Gospel writers are so adamant about serving the least among us. They know that in serving the other, particularly the unloved, that we encounter the living God. We come to know God by being proximate to the lost and the least. It is a mystery that runs counter to our cultural conditioning. We look for God in the lofty climes of our self-sufficiency. We look for the ecstatic moment of enlightenment if we would but think of God rightly; but such a pursuit is fruitless. God is revealed among the broken fragments of our humanity. God simply invites us to love God’s people…. and in doing so, we will know fully the love of God.
A Prayer of Self-Dedication (BCP p. 832)
O God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and for the welfare of your people; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
