18th Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Mark 10:2-16
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
How often we think of marriage as something that we do. I’m going to find the perfect spouse. I’m going to be the perfect spouse. We’ll make a great couple. I’m getting married. We’re getting married. And on we go. So, its no surprise that when things don’t go our way, when we fall “out of love,” when there are troubles and disagreements, when we’re tired of marriage, we think we can just end it. It’s no big deal. We got into this on our own; now we can get out of it on our own. No harm done. Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away. And that’s the end of that.
Or is it? Jesus said, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. This wasn’t God’s plan for His gift of marriage. Rather, from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. In creation, God found that Adam needed a suitable helper. God said: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” And so, woman was created as a helper fit for him. This does not indicate inequality in the creation of man and woman. But we also see that man and woman are not identical. God has given man and woman each a distinct, separate station in the world, in marriages, and in families. This is God’s plan for marriage and family. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
Our sinful hearts always seek to separate what God has joined together, to depart from the good gifts He has given us and to return to our own ways. God has instituted a plan for marriage and family, that husbands and wives would love each other in perfect faithfulness. We would rather be adulterous. We are not quick to fear and love God so that we may lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do and husband and wife love and honor each other. Some of us may think we’re doing pretty good in this area but our sexually-impure thoughts and speaking also break the sixth commandment. Jesus doesn’t let anyone off the hook: “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:28).
Today’s Gospel emphasizes the “one flesh” of marriage. They are no longer two but one flesh. This certainly isn’t popular in our current American context, where the individual is supreme. Being bound together with another person to love and care for them, at the expense of our individuality is not something our society is quick to embrace. But listen to the closeness shared by God’s marriage of his first human couple: “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” Adam said: “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
In marriage, God has joined two people into one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. Once marriage has occurred, its not up to humans to change it. God has joined a man and woman together and only He will end it when He calls them to Himself in heaven. Our marriages are a reflection of the union of Adam and Eve through Adam’s rib being put into the side of Eve. Through divorce, we may try to separate what God has joined together, but in reality, though a human court may say the marriage is over, God does not recognize this. That’s why our Gospel lesson today recognizes divorce and relationships after it with other people to be adultery – sin against God’s gift of marriage and sexuality. God has joined one man and one woman together for their lives together on this earth. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
Those who seek divorce and thus despise God’s clear teaching about and plan for marriage remain under wrath and damnation. Those who plan to break God’s commands and plan to repent and feel sorry about it later mock both God’s good gift of marriage and His gracious forgiveness. Knowing of God’s forgiveness is not a license to indulge in sins and a sinful lifestyle ahead of time. True repentance cannot be planned.
Does this mean that there is no forgiveness for those who are divorced and remarried? What about those of us here today, or those among our families and friends who are divorced and remarried? Where God gives recognition of sin and repentance, there God also gives complete forgiveness of sin. Christ’s death and resurrection that brought healing and hope to our hell-bound lives brings forgiveness to all of our adulterous sins. For those longing to have done things differently in the past and to be able to undo their sin, God proclaims in Christ: “It is different. It is forgiven.” True repentance cannot be planned, but true repentance can be given by God. In that repentance there is full forgiveness.
For those single among us, especially the youth of the church, exploring the richness of God’s gift of and plan for marriage is important. Marriage is not something to be entered into lightly or carelessly. Marriage is not just about our decision to be with someone for the rest of our lives or a casual experiment. God’s gift of marriage cannot be tested beforehand. Those living together before marriage are in a relationship that is destructive of true love in Christ. Anyone contemplating marriage or in a dating relationship should closely examine what God’s Word says on marriage, that among Christians it would be seen as a gracious and wonderful gift of God to His creation. Anyone contemplating marriage should give first priority to the reception of God’s love and forgiveness with their future spouse.
In marriage, we have a wonderful picture of Christ’s relationship to us. In addition to the purposes of caring for one’s spouse and for the creation and care of children, marriage serves as a picture of what Christ’s relationship is to His bride – the church, that is, us. Marriage is not around to bind us unhappily to someone we can get upset with, but to demonstrate, though imperfectly, that perfect marriage that exists between Christ and His people.
God has joined together Himself with human flesh in the person of Christ. In this union, Christ lived a perfect life for us. The perfect life He lived, the healing and forgiveness He bestowed, His passion and death for our sins, His triumphant resurrection from the dead to destroy death are all life-changing for us because God united Himself to humanity. God has come to His creation in the union of God and man in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer. This uniting of God and man is what we call the incarnation. God became man incarnate – in the flesh. This is a great miracle that brings about our salvation and is central to our lives as Christians.
When we understand the beauty of God’s gift of marriage, man and wife working together for the good of each other, the man defending and providing for his wife, the wife caring for and helping her husband, we see the wondrous relationship that Christ has with us. St. Paul writes: Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25-26).
We – the church, whether single, married, divorced, divorced and remarried, widowed, living in repentance – are the bride, now having been saved because the Bridegroom – Jesus Christ – “gave himself up for her.” He gave up Himself on the cross that forgiveness might be given to us. Even when we are unfaithful to Him, He still receives us back. While we may be tempted to divorce Him in our hardness of heart, He will never divorce us! When we mess things up, He takes care of them. Our names are written in heaven because He cleansed us through the washing of water with the word and gives us His own Name. He loves us and joins Himself to us in one flesh and thereby sanctifies us – makes us holy.
So, marriage is about forgiveness. This forgiveness of Christ to us in our relationship with Him is the same that allows us to forgive our spouses and all other neighbors here on earth. The forgiveness won by the union of God and man in Jesus Christ is given to us through the words – I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These words take away the impurity of our adulterous lives and replace it with the perfection of the forgiveness of Jesus. These words present you to God in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. Just as He forgives us from being unfaithful to Him, this same forgiveness allows us to forgive our spouses when sin enters our marriages.
We rejoice in God’s gift of marriage – the marriages of our friends and family, our own marriages, spouses that have already been taken by God to Himself in heaven, and perhaps future marriages of those who are single. We live in the perfect forgiveness of the one marriage of Jesus Christ to His church, which forgiveness gives all of us the certain hope of eternal life in the Marriage Feast around the Lamb of God in heaven. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in true faith until life everlasting. Amen.
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
How often we think of marriage as something that we do. I’m going to find the perfect spouse. I’m going to be the perfect spouse. We’ll make a great couple. I’m getting married. We’re getting married. And on we go. So, its no surprise that when things don’t go our way, when we fall “out of love,” when there are troubles and disagreements, when we’re tired of marriage, we think we can just end it. It’s no big deal. We got into this on our own; now we can get out of it on our own. No harm done. Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away. And that’s the end of that.
Or is it? Jesus said, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. This wasn’t God’s plan for His gift of marriage. Rather, from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. In creation, God found that Adam needed a suitable helper. God said: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” And so, woman was created as a helper fit for him. This does not indicate inequality in the creation of man and woman. But we also see that man and woman are not identical. God has given man and woman each a distinct, separate station in the world, in marriages, and in families. This is God’s plan for marriage and family. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
Our sinful hearts always seek to separate what God has joined together, to depart from the good gifts He has given us and to return to our own ways. God has instituted a plan for marriage and family, that husbands and wives would love each other in perfect faithfulness. We would rather be adulterous. We are not quick to fear and love God so that we may lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do and husband and wife love and honor each other. Some of us may think we’re doing pretty good in this area but our sexually-impure thoughts and speaking also break the sixth commandment. Jesus doesn’t let anyone off the hook: “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:28).
Today’s Gospel emphasizes the “one flesh” of marriage. They are no longer two but one flesh. This certainly isn’t popular in our current American context, where the individual is supreme. Being bound together with another person to love and care for them, at the expense of our individuality is not something our society is quick to embrace. But listen to the closeness shared by God’s marriage of his first human couple: “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” Adam said: “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
In marriage, God has joined two people into one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. Once marriage has occurred, its not up to humans to change it. God has joined a man and woman together and only He will end it when He calls them to Himself in heaven. Our marriages are a reflection of the union of Adam and Eve through Adam’s rib being put into the side of Eve. Through divorce, we may try to separate what God has joined together, but in reality, though a human court may say the marriage is over, God does not recognize this. That’s why our Gospel lesson today recognizes divorce and relationships after it with other people to be adultery – sin against God’s gift of marriage and sexuality. God has joined one man and one woman together for their lives together on this earth. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
Those who seek divorce and thus despise God’s clear teaching about and plan for marriage remain under wrath and damnation. Those who plan to break God’s commands and plan to repent and feel sorry about it later mock both God’s good gift of marriage and His gracious forgiveness. Knowing of God’s forgiveness is not a license to indulge in sins and a sinful lifestyle ahead of time. True repentance cannot be planned.
Does this mean that there is no forgiveness for those who are divorced and remarried? What about those of us here today, or those among our families and friends who are divorced and remarried? Where God gives recognition of sin and repentance, there God also gives complete forgiveness of sin. Christ’s death and resurrection that brought healing and hope to our hell-bound lives brings forgiveness to all of our adulterous sins. For those longing to have done things differently in the past and to be able to undo their sin, God proclaims in Christ: “It is different. It is forgiven.” True repentance cannot be planned, but true repentance can be given by God. In that repentance there is full forgiveness.
For those single among us, especially the youth of the church, exploring the richness of God’s gift of and plan for marriage is important. Marriage is not something to be entered into lightly or carelessly. Marriage is not just about our decision to be with someone for the rest of our lives or a casual experiment. God’s gift of marriage cannot be tested beforehand. Those living together before marriage are in a relationship that is destructive of true love in Christ. Anyone contemplating marriage or in a dating relationship should closely examine what God’s Word says on marriage, that among Christians it would be seen as a gracious and wonderful gift of God to His creation. Anyone contemplating marriage should give first priority to the reception of God’s love and forgiveness with their future spouse.
In marriage, we have a wonderful picture of Christ’s relationship to us. In addition to the purposes of caring for one’s spouse and for the creation and care of children, marriage serves as a picture of what Christ’s relationship is to His bride – the church, that is, us. Marriage is not around to bind us unhappily to someone we can get upset with, but to demonstrate, though imperfectly, that perfect marriage that exists between Christ and His people.
God has joined together Himself with human flesh in the person of Christ. In this union, Christ lived a perfect life for us. The perfect life He lived, the healing and forgiveness He bestowed, His passion and death for our sins, His triumphant resurrection from the dead to destroy death are all life-changing for us because God united Himself to humanity. God has come to His creation in the union of God and man in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer. This uniting of God and man is what we call the incarnation. God became man incarnate – in the flesh. This is a great miracle that brings about our salvation and is central to our lives as Christians.
When we understand the beauty of God’s gift of marriage, man and wife working together for the good of each other, the man defending and providing for his wife, the wife caring for and helping her husband, we see the wondrous relationship that Christ has with us. St. Paul writes: Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25-26).
We – the church, whether single, married, divorced, divorced and remarried, widowed, living in repentance – are the bride, now having been saved because the Bridegroom – Jesus Christ – “gave himself up for her.” He gave up Himself on the cross that forgiveness might be given to us. Even when we are unfaithful to Him, He still receives us back. While we may be tempted to divorce Him in our hardness of heart, He will never divorce us! When we mess things up, He takes care of them. Our names are written in heaven because He cleansed us through the washing of water with the word and gives us His own Name. He loves us and joins Himself to us in one flesh and thereby sanctifies us – makes us holy.
So, marriage is about forgiveness. This forgiveness of Christ to us in our relationship with Him is the same that allows us to forgive our spouses and all other neighbors here on earth. The forgiveness won by the union of God and man in Jesus Christ is given to us through the words – I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These words take away the impurity of our adulterous lives and replace it with the perfection of the forgiveness of Jesus. These words present you to God in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. Just as He forgives us from being unfaithful to Him, this same forgiveness allows us to forgive our spouses when sin enters our marriages.
We rejoice in God’s gift of marriage – the marriages of our friends and family, our own marriages, spouses that have already been taken by God to Himself in heaven, and perhaps future marriages of those who are single. We live in the perfect forgiveness of the one marriage of Jesus Christ to His church, which forgiveness gives all of us the certain hope of eternal life in the Marriage Feast around the Lamb of God in heaven. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in true faith until life everlasting. Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
10/12/2006
