Readings:
Genesis 2.18-24
St. Mark 10.2-12

Well . . . as someone separated from his spouse, today’s Gospel is . . . a challenge, a rebuke, and, quite frankly a source of pain.  It makes me wonder why I didn’t take a vacation this Sunday. Seriously, between the First Reading and the reading from St. Mark, I can only imagine some of the mischief that is emanating from some of the world’s pulpits this weekend. You just know that in too many places (one is too many) there’s someone yammering about so-called Biblical Marriage, and doubtless more than a few preachers and a few parishioners who upon hearing the first readying have at least contemplated the cliché about “God creating Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” But any of that line of thinking is less than helpful, less than Good News. I would assert rather that the texts this morning are, as much as anything about our puny, self-serving, self-justifying attempts at morality and religiosity; and in these texts, there is more than enough stuff, custom-crafted as it were, to make all of us squirm.

But before we get to squirming, a quick tour of “biblical marriage” (a term that makes me want to hurl every time I hear it). Some of you have heard me in Bible Study or from the pulpit mention that Scripture says King David had at least eight wives and ten live-in mistresses; and that Biblical King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 live-in mistresses. And as far as the vast majority of the Bible is concerned, women were property, plain and simple – first the property of their fathers who arranged their marriages (for a price), after which these women became the property of their husbands. It was also the case that men of means could and would buy more than one wife – and concubines were common and acceptable, and the more the merrier. But only males were allowed to divorce their wives, to cast them aside – and there are even two different Biblical traditions concerning the grounds for divorce – one being adultery on the part of the wife. Her intimacy with someone other than her husband or husband-to-be was a property crime against her husband, her father, and her family of origin; the penalty for this particular property crime was death by stoning. Second, the Bible, not always consistent with itself, in another place allows for divorce merely if a husband is displeased with his wife – for any reason – the wife burns the toast, and out she goes – but least in this case there would be no death exacted. By the time we get to the Apostle Paul – well, he had a rather dim view of marriage in the first place – saw it as an impediment to discipleship – Paul advised marriage as the last resort for those who couldn’t contain themselves. And, if someone was aiming to be a bishop, that someone should have only one wife – anymore than that presumably a very distracting situation – which means polygamy was still practiced in New Testament times amongst the faithful. So much for one man and only one woman. Biblical marriage, my big, fat . . . . . tuchus.

And just one other thing to get straight. In the Lutheran tradition, marriage is most assuredly not a sacrament – in our tradition there is no such thing as Holy Matrimony. Marriage is the business of the State – a legal matter – a part of the first use of the Law – to keep us in line and to force us to do that which we might not otherwise be inclined to do – marriage, a legal instrument to urge us in the direction of faithfulness toward spouse and family, to compel us not to interfere with one another’s relationships – and should divorce be sought by either party, the marriage and family laws of the State are there to ensure the economic well-being of former spouses and their children. The Lutheran tradition holds that after being married by the State, a couple may then go to the church and request to be surrounded by prayer – to receive a blessing, words of benediction – after all, marriage is extraordinarily difficult work, and therefore couples need all the help and prayer they can possibly get.

So, with all that in mind let’s tune in on Jesus and the Pharisees. We join Jesus this morning as he is on his way to Jerusalem – on his way to the Cross. (And it’s things like this encounter he has with the Pharisees that will get him nailed there.) The Pharisees, trying to entrap Jesus, ask if it is lawful – according to the Bible, according to religion – for a male to divorce his wife. Instead of answering directly, however, Jesus puts the question back on the religious leaders: “What does your religious law say?” (And you here have already heard that the statutes of religious law were potentially wide enough to drive a truck through.) Jesus replies to their citation of the law by saying, in effect: “Listen Moses allows the evil of divorce because it’s preferable to the evil of a woman being put to death by her husband because she can’t boil water.” This even though divorce usually sentenced the woman to a life of destitution – the sex-trade industry being about her only chance to earn enough money to live on. Isn’t Biblical Marriage lovely??

And just one other thing to get straight. In the Lutheran tradition, marriage is most assuredly not a sacrament – in our tradition there is no such thing as Holy Matrimony. Marriage is the business of the State – a legal matter – a part of the first use of the Law – to keep us in line and to force us to do that which we might not otherwise be inclined to do – marriage, a legal instrument to urge us in the direction of faithfulness toward spouse and family, to compel us not to interfere with one another’s relationships – and should divorce be sought by either party, the marriage and family laws of the State are there to ensure the economic well-being of former spouses and their children.

But marriage can be – was meant to be – a wonderful thing. Which is exactly what Jesus is getting at when he then refers to the creation story – the poem about first things – in which we hear that God saw that the human creature was lonely – and so the Lord God said, “It is not good that the human creature should be alone; I will make for this one a helper and partner.” But God saw that these other creatures God had created were not fit for the human creature – and so from the human creature God made another human creature so that they would be for one another fit helpers and partners. What Jesus is getting at in citing this poem is that God’s desire for us is that we not be alone – that we live in relationship with one another – that the human partners become one flesh – that is to say, one family. Jesus says in essence that this whole marriage and divorce business (and I do mean business) – where the male parties – the father-of-the-bride and the husband-to-be – are property owners and the woman is a piece of property to be bought and sold – and eventually gotten rid of like a used car – Jesus is saying that this property law and much else surrounding marriage came about because of the self-serving, rapacious, homicidal tendencies of humanity.

And then, when Jesus is alone with the disciples, he tightens the screws: “Here’s one for you males,” he says. “If you want to think of your wife as a piece of property to be gotten rid of on a whim – I’ll tell you what, women can also sue you for divorce – treat you like property and get rid of you on a whim. How’s that for equal opportunity adultery?” At this juncture, let’s take a necessary side trip to the Sermon on the Mount where we hear Jesus say that any and all who in their minds objectify another person as a thing, as a toy, as an object to be used for self-gratification – do that even in your fantasy life – and in God’s eyes you are just the same as an adulterer, just the same as anyone who steals another’s spouse away. (Do we not now smell both the goose and the gander, along with our own heads, all smoldering together in the same oven?) And indeed, if we fine Christians cannot fully and faithfully love the neighbor who is as close to us as that person whose snoring head rests on the pillow next to us – how dare we think we can love the neighbor outside our doors or across the world.

What Jesus is doing here in these narratives concerning marriage, divorce, and adultery is demolishing yet one more of our attempts at self-righteous, self-serving self-justification; Jesus is saying that all our projects and to justify ourselves to God end up being destructive of one another and of the very creation itself. So, says Jesus, not only are we not justified by our marital status, but let the one who’s never, ever objectified another human being in any way, shape, manner or form; let the one who has never, ever even thought of manipulating another person – for any and every reason imaginable – let that one cast the first stone.

But we all know that we are forever failing in our relationships, one way and another; and we all acknowledge there is only one who is perfectly loving and faithful – only One who can pick up that stone and throw it – the stone that by rights should be thrown at every one of us. And that Faithful One – well, that One utterly refuses to cast the stone of death – the Faithful One would rather die upon the cross than lift a hand in anything but blessing. And upon the Faithful One’s rising from our cruciform attempt to divorce that One, to put that One away, the Faithful One most oddly, most scandalously even, the Faithful One proclaims Everlasting Peace – with us who will never, not ever, no never be able earn God’s favor through our marriages or anything else.

And so here yet again today the Eternal Marriage Feast, thrown by the One who will not separate or divorce himself from us . . . . here today a love feast – thrown by God – by God, the Cosmic Lover of every one of every gender and sexuality; God the Cosmic, Interstellar Lover whose love will not be confined to the rules of religion. Come once more to celebrate with the One Lover from whom you will not ever be parted – not by mere unfaithfulness, and most certainly not by mere death – your Cosmic, Interstellar Lover who will stand at your grave, not to grieve your death, but to jump the broom with you, to carry you across the threshold, and to welcome you to your new and abiding home.