Genesis 2.18-24; Hebrews 1.1-4, 2.5-12; Mark 10.2-16

Genesis 2.18-24; Hebrews 1.1-4, 2.5-12; Mark 10.2-16

“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days, God has spoken to us by the Son.” God has spoken to us by the Son.

Today’s reading from the New Testament letter of Hebrews wants us to see the whole sweep of biblical history reaching perfection and completion in Jesus. Ancestors in faith like Abraham and Sarah gave hints and glimpses of God at work in the world. Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and lesser-known women who were prophets—Miriam, Hulda, Deborah—beckoned people to find the deepest meaning for life in God and the greatest purpose for life by walking in God’s ways. All of them, ancestors and prophets together, were like sketches of God to the world. Now, in Jesus, we see the full portrait of Divinity. Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s very being, perfectly mirrors God’s glory, sustains all things with his powerful word. “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days, God has spoken to us by the Son.”

While today’s second reading directs our full attention to Jesus, in today’s gospel, the perfect mirror who reflects God’s very being, reflects back to us the imperfection of our lives. We see this as Jesus takes up the subject of divorce. ‘Anyone who divorces and marries another commits adultery.’ Now if, as Hebrews says, Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word, there is something in this powerful word about divorce, remarriage, and the violation of the seventh commandment that knocks us off balance. Because it’s personal. Very personal. This a topic that has touched all our lives. And if it’s not reality for you directly, you don’t have to look far to see this experience in your circle of family and friends.

Jesus’ word is hard to hear. ‘Anyone who divorces and marries another commits adultery.’ This is hard to hear because you and I know couples divorced, now remarried, whose new life together is a vibrant, life-giving reflection of God’s desires and intent, more than many relationships we know or could imagine. For Jesus to describe this as breaking a commandment? To be fair, this isn’t the only time Jesus says something hard to hear. Our Lord speaks as strongly here as he does when he says the way to greatness in the kingdom is through the leastness of the cross; that if your hand or foot cause you to stumble, cut them off; that “if you do not forgive the sins of others, then your heavenly Father will not forgive the wrongs that you have done.” Only where is the forgiveness and grace in today’s gospel to make us people of grace?

Throughout the Bible, the subject of marriage is often, and regularly, about more than the relationship of two people made one flesh. Marriage is a sign of something greater than itself, an interpretive arc over the whole scripture, a lens to read the entire Bible. Like the harmonious relationships of light and dark, sun and moon, and heaven and earth at the beginning of creation, marriage is meant to embody God’s desire for two-people-made-one-flesh in a harmonious relationship of their own. Jesus echoes this harmony in the gospel. “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.” Throughout the Bible, the love God has for his people is compared to the bond of marriage.

The Old Testament prophets speak about God as husband, and Israel—the nation, God’s own people—as wife. “Your creator will be your husband,” says Isaiah. The prophets also know the heartache of broken relationships. Hosea has been one of the appointed daily readings this past week. He pictures God as a heartbroken lover of an unfaithful spouse, describes the Lord’s agony when a beloved and chosen spouse turn from faith to faithlessness. God knows the pain of infidelity from the inside and has compassion for people suffering broken relationships of their own.

The image of marriage as interpretive arc over the entire biblical story continues in the New Testament. Jesus speaks of himself as the bridegroom. Ephesians calls marriage ‘a profound mystery,’ embodying the self-giving love of Christ and the church as bride. And at the end of the Bible, Revelation sees the coming together of heaven and earth and says, “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” In the Bible, marriage is often, and regularly, about more than the relationship of two people made one flesh. It is a lens to read the entire Bible as a story of delight, heartbreak, and self-giving love—an image of life in God.

It is important to remember that long arc over scripture as we listen to Jesus in today’s gospel. Because each marriage has, in small measure, a purpose within the wider community; each marriage has a mission; each is a lens to focus the love of God for the rest of us to see. The marriage service in the prayerbook highlights this. It prays for the couple and asks that God, “Make their life together a sign of Christ’s love to this sinful and broken world, that unity may overcome estrangement, forgiveness heal guilt, and joy conquer despair.” That’s quite a job description both for newlyweds and for couples long married: that Christ’s love, unity, forgiveness, and joy would be known in them and through them. It’s a vocation description, really, embodying God’s steadfast love and faithfulness through all the joys and sorrows of life. Episcopalians and Anglicans may hesitate to call marriage a sacrament but there is certainly something sacramental going on here: an outward and visible sign of an inward, invisible reality; an embodied, tangible sign of Christ’s love for his bride, the church; a real presence of the truth of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness for the world and for our lives.

All of this is background, then, for today’s gospel—the test question posed by the religiously serious about divorce and then Jesus’ response to them. In Genesis, God said “It is not good to be alone.” And the mission of marriage is to be “a sign of Christ’s love to this sinful and broken world.” Yet it is precisely in this sinful and broken world where we live. And our relationships share in that sin and brokenness. St Paul once wrote, “Love is patient and kind.” Yet we know people in love who can be terribly impatient and incredibly unkind. Moses, we are reminded in the gospel, makes provision for divorce because sin breaks us, breaks what we hoped for, breaks a life we intended to have, a life God intended for our good. Marriages end. And because of sin—cruelty, neglect, abuse, and adultery—some relationships are not the instruments of God’s love they were intended to be so need to end. In other words, while the prayerbook marriage service declares that God has joined two people together, we know that not all marriages are made in heaven.

From the perspective of the interpretive arc of marriage over scripture and God’s intent for the gift of marriage, divorce and remarriage do rupture a relationship of two people joined as one flesh. You don’t have to tell that to people who have been through divorce. They already know that. Better than anyone. Anyone who has ever been in a custody battle or written a check for attorney’s fees knows this rupture. So does God as the prophets describe divine heartbreak over a covenant broken. It’s all the opposite of heaven.

Yet Jesus’ hard word today isn’t his final word or the last word on his life for us. These words come from the same Lord who says that people who are well have no need of a physician but those who know their need of healing. These words come from the same Son of God whose life is lived for all of us who fall short of God’s desires in countless and daily ways. If Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word, he will sustain and strengthen us who know our need of God. For any of us who have lived through divorce and remarriage, for any of you when your life falls short of God’s desires in any way, it is important to remember this: God’s welcome and acceptance of you is, according to the gospel, a free gift bestowed on a broken people, given generously and ungrudgingly. Sin never has the last word.

If Jesus today calls attention to human failing in one part of life, it is a case study of how behind and beyond all human brokenness there is the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. The question is not whether God forgives those who fail in marriage and whose marriages fail; there is never a question whether God forgives any of us any of our faults and failings. William Sloan Coffin once noted, “Christians have just enough religion to make themselves miserable. Guilt, we know; but not grace and mercy, forgiveness or joy or love.” Yet Jesus says, “I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind.” There is always forgiveness, always resurrection, always new life and a fresh beginning when you need it most through God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Always.

So, if marriage serves as an interpretive arc over the whole of scripture, an image of life in God, then under that arc stands the cross of Jesus Christ, the fullest revelation of God at work in and for our lives. “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days, God has spoken to us by the Son.” Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s very being, a perfect mirror of God’s glory and grace for us, sustains us by his powerful and gracious word. Our Lord, whose body was broken on the cross knows, in his body, the sin and brokenness of the world, our frail and fragile lives, the hopes we carry and the pain we bear, even as spouses. By Jesus’ cross and resurrection, your sin is exchanged for his forgiveness. On the cross, Hebrews says, Christ “made purification for sins.” No brokenness or sin that happens to you or is done by you is beyond the cleansing grace of Jesus Christ because Christ has espoused himself to you in steadfast love and faithfulness.