For Sunday, October 7, 2018 Proper 22
Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus 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
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.
Mark 10:2-16
Children are messy, loud and exhausting and the greatest gift in life. Relationships are hard work,
and the greatest blessings in our lives. In real relationships we show our true selves, in all our
mess, brokenness and beauty. We want to be loved and understood. Children want to be loved
embraced exactly as they are and celebrated fully. None of us is far from the little child we once
were, aching to be accepted, included and welcomed with open arms.
Jesus is tested by the Pharisees about divorce. Jesus turns this on them to encourage all of us to
honor those who we have committed ourselves to. The disciples are uncomfortable with his teaching.
as are we and ask him again, and he wants them to take seriously their commitments. They lived in
a time when wives were often considered possessions, not partners. And then the children burst in,
and are rebuked by the disciples. Jesus opens his arms to them, and asks us to be like the little ones
who have mobbed him. Fully loved and fully recognizing the love around them. We are invited today
to embrace the mess of relationships we have been given and to see the light of God's love and the
transforming power of love in our lives.
Today, I ask God to help me honor and embrace all the messiness in my life. May we see every
relationship, every commitment as a gift and run like enthusiastic children into the arms of the
Incarnate God, who is always ready to bless and embrace us.
Children are messy, loud and exhausting and the greatest gift in life. Relationships are hard work,
and the greatest blessings in our lives. In real relationships we show our true selves, in all our
mess, brokenness and beauty. We want to be loved and understood. Children want to be loved
embraced exactly as they are and celebrated fully. None of us is far from the little child we once
were, aching to be accepted, included and welcomed with open arms.
Jesus is tested by the Pharisees about divorce. Jesus turns this on them to encourage all of us to
honor those who we have committed ourselves to. The disciples are uncomfortable with his teaching.
as are we and ask him again, and he wants them to take seriously their commitments. They lived in
a time when wives were often considered possessions, not partners. And then the children burst in,
and are rebuked by the disciples. Jesus opens his arms to them, and asks us to be like the little ones
who have mobbed him. Fully loved and fully recognizing the love around them. We are invited today
to embrace the mess of relationships we have been given and to see the light of God's love and the
transforming power of love in our lives.
Today, I ask God to help me honor and embrace all the messiness in my life. May we see every
relationship, every commitment as a gift and run like enthusiastic children into the arms of the
Incarnate God, who is always ready to bless and embrace us.
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give
more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us
those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we
are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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