Trinity 19: Genesis 2, 18-24, Mark 10, 20-16

Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan

 

We have just all witnessed Sarah and Luke saying their marriage vows to each other in the sight of God. The reason they asked for this is that they were married in a Registry Office when their faith did not mean the same to them.  We rejoice that they are making a journey of faith together and we pray that renewing their marriage vows here will bring a rich blessing to their marriage.

The vows are lovely – of course they are, and the vows when they were first married represent the legal commitment to each other. I rather like the words we all said together for they represent the spirit of marriage, and most importantly that marriage should bring joy and be life-giving.

In the reading we heard from Genesis this morning takes us into the world of mystery – the mystery of our beginnings, of Creation. Humanity has a pivotal place in this mystery, and God has so created us, man and woman, so that we might have a special place in stewarding his creation, but primarily that we should give glory to God on behalf of all creation. In that sense of representing creation, humanity is essentially a priesthood, and we approach the mystery of creation as a priest approaches the mysteries of the sacraments.

For thousands of years the description of the mystery of our beginnings have been received and accepted as Genesis presents it. Woman has been given as a companion for man. We are even told that God takes a rib from Adam and creates Eve. This has given rise of course to the assumption of the superiority of man over woman, which culturally is challenged in many parts of the world, but which strongly prevails in many cultures in our own time.

It was not until the 18^th century that there was any real challenge to the assumptions made in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. The findings of the scientific Enlightenment that began to emerge then brought a critique to inherited religious views about our origins.  The church did not respond well to these challenges preferring to ignore the findings of science in favour of biblically inherited narratives from a non-scientific world.

This non-scientific world was also a world into which Jesus was born. He is God’s Word, or Wisdom, made flesh in a time and place. His culture would not have dreamed of challenging Genesis, as there was no credible threat to it, no alternative world view to challenge it. There was just the bible narrative about how the world was created, what part humans played within it, and the distinctiveness of male and female.

So much of this is now challenged, not so much by scientific theories, but by the reality in people’s lives. I simply don’t believe that there were not and always have been people whose gender is not so clear, whose orientation is not majority, who feel different to what people expect of them as a man or as a woman. It is simply that social conformity could not be challenged. Public life at least had to look normal. There must have been a great deal of unhappiness and pretence.

There is a great deal of concern in parts of the Christian church about same sex relationships, and how the church should respond to this. Those who oppose it point us to a small handful of verses in the bible that explicitly condemn same sex relationships. These verses, of course, are there – we cannot deny it. But how many of those who wish to build a case against same sex relationships will insist that there is only one true version of how the world came into being, disregarding all scientific insights. How many of them accept the inferiority of women to men? What does Jesus say about this difficult issue in human sexuality – well the answer is nothing.

However, Jesus does have something to say about divorce and remarriage, a practice that in most western cultures is accepted, and the church now endorses by marrying people who are divorced. Even the conservative Greek Orthodox church re-marries up to three times.

So Jesus says nothing about what many churches do not yet do, but yet he endorses the prevalent view about divorce and remarriage. It would seem his message in St. Mark’s gospel this morning is unequivocal. I will stop here for a moment, just to let you think quietly about this gospel reading – or if you feel confident enough just turn to your neighbour to find out what your neighbour thinks, and maybe why.

Thank you for thinking about this. I suspect the views in this congregation, and more importantly the personal experience that is shared by many of you, will make this gospel very uncomfortable reading.

The reply that Jesus gives is by no means as straightforward as it may seem. A man could divorce his wife – but not vice versa because a woman would lose all her social status, her possessions and the protection of her family. A man could divorce his wife simply by saying three times ‘I divorce you’ so it was hardly a fair and legal process – it was just the whim of a husband. So in a sense we need to understand the words of Jesus in its real social situation. It is better all round for man and woman to remain together in marriage, and god ordains marriage for the wellbeing of man and woman, so don’t let man (or woman) destabilize it.

Both readings challenge the modern Christian in different ways. It is so important that as Christians we actively discuss such matters, and journey together in a deepening sense of faith together as Christ’s church. It is so significant that Luke and Sarah are on that journey., and crucially important that while he is with us for a year Fr. James will offer opportunities for all of us to grow in faith and hope and love.

We all participate in a divine mystery, which is the marriage of Christ to his Church. What God has joined together, let no one separate.