Connections

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

October 7, 2018

22 Proper B

          After our father died back in April, my brother, sister, and I needed to figure out how to celebrate his life and that of our mother who died five years earlier.  For those of us who live and breathe in the church world, we have a starting point for that celebration.  We will have a funeral or memorial service.  My family of origin-my parents and siblings-does not have that starting point.  I am the sheep who left the fold in search of other pastures.  So, my siblings and I threw the great memorial cocktail party. We set the date in late June and sent out invitations by email, snail meal, word of mouth, and any other means we could think of.  Our goal was to invite anyone who wanted to come and celebrate the lives of our parents.

          When the day arrived, my brother, sister, and I were bowled over by both the people who came from far and near, and the deep connections we felt with people we had not seen in decades.  George, our babysitter when we were elementary school children, came from California. I’m pretty sure I had not seen George since 1970.  I had not seen Burton, our cousin from Nashville, since our grandmother died in 1988.  Julie was our dad’s friend from elementary school in New York during World War 2, and I hadn’t seen her in at least 40 years.  And 90-year-old Harry was our next door neighbor in New Jersey in the 1980’s.  Despite the time and distance since our last encounters, the deep and lasting connections we had with each other were renewed in a single short afternoon.  Our friends and family span the religious and political spectrum from one end clear to the other.  But our shared stories, laughter, and memories gave us an experience of our common bond and deep connection that I will not soon forget.

          Job, on the other hand, is feeling quite the opposite this morning.  In a story that develops over many chapters and raises more questions than answers, Job finds himself tested by Satan and disconnected from his health, his family and friends, his belongings, and his future.  The story raises disturbing questions about God when we hear God agree to let Satan test Job's faith right up to the limit of taking Job's life.  While the intent of the story is to wrestle with the problem of why bad things happen to good people, the story also points to the fundamental importance of being connected with other people as part of our being connected to God. 

The Pharisees have no interest whatsoever in connections this morning. In fact, their intent is quite the opposite as they arrive to test Jesus.  They ask Jesus "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” This is perhaps one of the most difficult and painful gospel lessons in the lectionary and I know from your faces as the gospel lesson was read that you are wondering what I will do with this text. However, the Pharisees are not really interested in Jesus’ teaching on divorce.  They are interested in trying to trap Jesus in a loose/loose situation.   The Pharisees ask Jesus "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" If Jesus says "no," he will contradict the teaching of Moses, which allowed a man to write his wife a certificate of dismissal and divorce her. He will also be in trouble with the Romans, since just 4 chapters earlier John the Baptist lost his head, literally, for being critical of Herod Antipas who had divorced his wife to marry his brother’s former wife. If Jesus says "yes," he will raise a whole host of legal and theological questions about marriage. Jesus appears to be trapped.

          Our response to this gospel reading often divides us in one of two camps.  For those of us who have never been divorced, we can easily think that finally there is one hard teaching of Jesus does not apply to us.  For those of us who have experienced the pain of divorce, this passage can make us feel judged, alienated, and condemned by the church, if not Jesus.   Whenever we think Jesus is dividing us, however, we should probably read a bit more closely. 

To respond to the Pharisees’ test, Jesus appeals to Scripture as he usually does when being tested. But Jesus does not appeal to the law of Moses, which would give a straight forward answer to the question put to him. Instead Jesus raises the stakes much higher and appeals to the Creation stories which remind us that we are all connected. Jesus’ answer to the question about divorce is really a teaching about all those places where hardness of heart has caused separation and division that is contrary to creation as God intended it.  The rancor, finger pointing, and name calling we have seen over the past weeks on all manner of issues have brought out the worst on all sides of every issue. I believe God’s heart is broken by the way human beings treat each other.  God created us to be connected, even when we disagree.

Jesus is not letting any of us off the hook this morning.  The Pharisees came to test Jesus with a question about divorce. The answer they anticipated would give separation and division the final word. Instead, Jesus reaches all the way back to the creation of humankind to give them and us an answer that applies to all occasions of human brokenness and gives our connection with each other the final word. Then Jesus takes little children into his arms and blesses them. Little children understand that their survival depends on their connection to God and other people.  This morning, Jesus holds before us the deep connections God intended for us in creation and intends for us now and always.

                                                          Amen.