PROPER 22 (27) – Year B
20th Sunday after Pentecost — October 6, 2024
Gospel Lectionary Text
Mark 10:2-16
10:2 Some testing him, asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
10:3 He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"
10:4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her."
10:5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.
10:6 But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'
10:7 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
10:8 and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh.
10:9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
10:10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.
10:11 He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,
10:12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
10:13 People were bringing children to him in order that he might touch them, and the disciples spoke sternly to them.
10:14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
10:15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."
10:16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
CONTEXT
Welcome to the 20th Sunday after Pentecost. In the last several weeks, the disciples have struggled to grasp the implications of Jesus’ teaching. Remember Peter’s rebuke of Jesus? The disciples' debate over greatness? Their proprietary claims on ministry?
This week their struggle continues. Religious leaders come to test Jesus on specific matters of the Law to see if he has a legitimate claim to messiahship. Meanwhile, a group of parents bring their children to Jesus, hoping that he will bless them. The disciples get angry at the parents. It is a scene that is thick with irony and not without comedy. It’s like watching a Monty Python skit lampooning religious hypocrisy.
The text invites us to imagine Jesus sincerely reflecting on the purpose of the Law, its radical commitment to relationality, and the power of love needed to maintain the most intimate relationships, which are the bedrock of social cohesion. Meanwhile, the disciples are trying to expel the very families who are in dire need of a blessing — presumably the same couples struggling to survive the challenges common to human intimacy. One wonders if the disciples were ever able to look back on this incident and laugh.
Question
How often do we, like the disciples, become gatekeepers of grace, missing the point of Jesus’ love?
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, wild and free. Do as you please. Shine your light on me that I might see things as they are, not as I am. Free me to act in your name with courage, creativity, and compassion. See the complete prayer
Word from Below Reflections
One Humanity
By Rev. Sarah Wiles |
I don’t believe this is a text just to people who are divorced or considering divorce. That’s not who Jesus addressed it to, and we shouldn’t relegate it to a limited audience either. Jesus is speaking to all of us as he calls forth a way of being that is one flesh, one humanity. This,...
The Gift of Losing Control
By Scott Dewey |
During the recent visit of Pope Francis to the United States, one optic stood out: his daily embrace of children. Cynics might dismiss this as calculated media strategy or worse. An online commenter sneered, "Imagine that, another priest hugging and kissing children." But Pope Francis, the "pope of the periphery," makes cynicism difficult with his...
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Weekly Homily by James Alison