Your True Value: Mark 10:2-16 - 20th Sunday after Pentecost

²Some Pharisees came, and to test [Jesus] they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” ⁵But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
 
  ¹⁰Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹²and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 

  ¹³People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. (NRSV)

Cross Sunset2 by Sean Wolf.  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Very early on in our relationship, Elizabeth and I cooked dinner together in the community kitchen of our seminary dormitory. 

One evening, I prepared a bowl of Uncle Bens Boil-in-the-bag Rice. 

Elizabeth takes one bite, and immediately spits it out.  “It’s undercooked!  It tastes like gravel,” she said.

After one bite, I couldn’t help but agree.

If Ben were my real uncle, he would’ve disowned me for disgracing his good name. 

However, if one were to abide by a strict interpretation of Old Testament Laws; and if Elizabeth were the one cooking dinner and I (as husband) was displeased—I could lawfully divorce her.  And I would have no further responsibility to her—or to our children—from that point on. 

On the other hand, if I were abusive and unfaithful to her, she could not lawfully divorce me.  Women had no say in matters of marriage or divorce. 

For most of human history, marriage wasn’t about love.  Families arranged marriages to advance their social and economic interests.  A wedding was a transfer of property.  The woman was property; her value measured by her ability to bear masculine children to preserve the family bloodline.

This is why Jesus objected to divorce: because women were being treated as disposable objects.  In God’s kingdom, no human being is disposable—for any reason. 

That’s good for us to keep in mind as Jesus addresses what is an extremely uncomfortable topic for us.

If you personally haven’t been through it, someone very close to you has.  It’s devastating in every way imaginable.

Sadly, we are living in a time where marriages are being entered into—and discarded—with extreme haste.  For many, the bonds of marriage are binding spouses and children to abuse, neglect, or exploitation.  Sometimes, a couple will try their hardest to make their marriage work—but still, their efforts fail.  In all those cases, divorce is the only way to break free of the misery and begin again.  But still, there is so much shame that comes with having been divorced.  And when you have people acting as if they’re superior for never having been through it, it only adds to your shame.

Let’s not forget the problem at the heart of Jesus’ teachings today is the devaluing of persons.  Much like in Jesus’ day, there exists today a social hierarchy.  You have honorable people at the top; less-honorable people at the bottom.  The further down the hierarchy you go, the more your life will be dominated by poverty, disgrace, and shame.  The further down you go, the more disposable you are.

In Jesus’ day, children had little or no status in the social hierarchy—even if they came from good families.  Much like women, they were property—and they could be disposed of by their male superiors at will. 

So when Jesus takes the little children into his arms, and when he attacks the customs of marriage and divorce, he is attacking the social hierarchy.  He is restoring humanity to human beings who were treated as disposable objects.  With Jesus embracing children and making friends in low places, Jesus becomes the measuring rod of their true value.  Most especially, he shows human beings their true value by giving his life for them.

The challenge for us, then, is to stop thinking of ourselves and others according to the social hierarchy.  When Jesus shows up, the hierarchy crumbles.  Shame is shattered; sin is forgiven; disgrace is removed.  Love covers over a multitude of sins.  The humble poor are exalted.  The proud are brought to repentance.  Those who have much share with those who have little.  Even the poor are empowered to radical generosity by the Spirit.  The least of us is as significant as the wealthiest because we belong to the Body of Christ.

The Church is where the social hierarchy crumbles, and the tyranny of shame is destroyed.  To make this a reality, ask: who among your neighbors is being devalued?  Who are the nobodies?  Who is the suffering and poor that are otherwise hidden from view?  They need more than handouts; they need hands to hold.  And yet when you enter kinship with these persons, they will help you to discover your true value as a child of God, as you do the same for them.

How have you been devalued—or do you devalue yourself?  What is your shame?  When you come forward for communion, dip your fingers into the baptismal font, make the sign of the cross on your forehead, and be assured that your sins and your shame are being washed away in the waters of your baptism!  Jesus values you just as you are today. 

And finally, how do you attempt to ascribe value to yourself with success, superiority, or strength?  Are you valued in a way that brings you power and privilege unknown to others?  What if you saw this not as an achievement or entitlement but a spiritual gift to share?  You can do so much more for others than you could ever gain for yourself.

In God’s Kingdom, everyone discovers their true value as a child of God—measured by the life Christ gave for you.  We won’t always agree, but the love binding us together is always something worth fighting for. But everyone can live peacefully and securely knowing that they can never be thrown away.