Psalm 26 Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12 Mark 10:2-16

“In these last days, God has spoken to us by a Son… He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being and he sustains all things in his powerful word.”  

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews confirms that God came to earth in the human person of Jesus Christ.  God’s “exact imprint” came to earth in the human person of Jesus Christ that we might know God and God might know us through human life.  Jesus came to live and die as one of us.  Jesus came that he might live the real life that we live.  

Had God not come to earth in the human person of Jesus Christ, wouldn’t we be inclined to say, “Oh well, how can I relate to God; how can God relate to me?  God has never known the suffering I have suffered.”  

By virtue of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we know that in our suffering we may beg comfort from One who has suffered, one who not only experienced human suffering beyond our human suffering but one who suffered for us – for each of us, and one who continues to suffer with us; one who loves us unconditionally and weeps with us in our suffering, one who invites us into inestimable comfort, one who calls us into a peace beyond our understanding.

Jesus came that he might live the real life that we live.  

Jesus came to die the same human death that we will die.  Jesus knew human death.  Our human death is a source of uncertainty for us; if we are honest, the thought of our earthly death is a source of fear and uncertainty.  And, as fearful as it might be, I wonder often what life would be like if we knew we could never die, even when our earthly bodies were completely worn out; what if we could never die?

Divorce, too, is a death – the death of a relationship blessed by God – the tearing apart of a union of two that had been united into one flesh in the sight of God.  Few of us go through life without being touched by divorce, either first-hand or through those we love.  We cannot deny the tragedy of divorce. 

In Jesus’ day, marriage and divorce were male-centered; men negotiated the marriage; men negotiated the divorce if that became expedient for them.  In our Gospel lesson, certainly, Jesus is speaking to the cruelty of the unjust and discriminatory divorce process of his day. 

But we cannot dismiss his admonitions as applicable to the present day.  The words are uncomfortable for us; few of us are unaffected by Jesus’ words; some of us stand convicted by his words.

So, what should we expect?  Would we want Jesus to say that it’s all fine, divorce and remarry to your heart’s content despite the hurt it brings.  Don’t worry; you deserve to be happy.  No, I think not.

None of us can disagree with the reality of the tragedy of divorce.  Yet, from our time in the Garden of Eden, we no longer live in perfect communion with God.  We are frail humans with free will to make poor choices and suffer the consequences of those poor choices.  And, what if there were no provision for divorce?  How often would that be the greater tragedy?

All of us would agree that in an ideal world, there would be no divorce.  Jesus reminds us to set this value as our goal – to move toward this goal rather than away from it.  

By all means and above all else, Jesus goes on to remind us of the tragedy of divorce as it adversely affects our children – those hurt the most by divorce and remarriage.  Jesus refers to the place of children in the Kingdom of God.  As Jesus receives the children, he reminds those around him that it is as a little child would receive the Kingdom of God that we are to receive the Kingdom of God – that is, we are to receive the Kingdom of God with the trustful simplicity of a little child.

The ideal of the human family is our window into the Kingdom of God.  And we are to receive the Kingdom of God with the trustful simplicity of the little child – the little child who looks to us adults as we adults look to God for protection and provision – the little child who does not deserve the hurt caused by the poor decisions of us sometimes-very-selfish adults.  

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews confirms for us that Jesus Christ is the exact imprint of God’s very being.  God’s very being knows our earthly suffering.  Through Jesus Christ, God knows life as we know it.

Jesus’ words are not words of condemnation, Jesus’ words of words of mercy and grace. Jesus’ guidance is toward the perfection of God’s Kingdom – God’s Kingdom made perfect through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.