|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Job 1:1; 2:1–10 |
Psalm 26 |
Hebrews 1:1–4; 2:5–12 |
Mark 10:2–16 |
I would like to first comment on the book of Job, secondly on the Gospel passage, and thirdly on the tragedy this past week in Lancaster County, Pa.
Compiled likely in the 6th or 7th century before Jesus, but based on sagas that go back over a thousand years before that, the Book of Job is refreshingly honest. Its authors are unafraid to say, “We do not know, we have no satisfactory explanation for undeserved suffering.” It comes out of a wisdom tradition that is always open to new and deeper knowledge, but also realizes that all knowledge is partial and at any given time we will not be able to comprehend the totality of good and evil, and that there will always be limits. Job’s wife, Job’s friends, and even Job himself presume that they will be able to figure out why good and innocent people suffer so. They come up with all the usual explanations: Job is guilty for something hidden, he is being punished for something his ancestors did, or somehow, this affliction is God’s will and fits into a larger plan that cannot be discerned. From the beginning it is a given that Job, representative of every righteous person who ever lived, is not guilty of anything deserving such punishment. After all the speeches, and proposed explanations, God in effect says, “You are too small to figure it out. None of you know what you are talking about. You are not able to judge, you are not able to know the secret mind of God, so cut it out. Do be presumptuous in your capacity of understanding, and accept that there are great questions of life that you will need to live with, but will never answer. Yet also know that when you cry out against injustice, and suffering, God will hear, and be present among you.” The Book of Job is about the presumption of humanity’s power and pride in its capabilities as much as about the problem of evil.
The passage from the Gospel, like the message of Job is deceptively complex, and contrary to a cursory reading, offers no easy answers or judgmental conclusions. The question that was asked of Jesus was really a trap, much like the question of “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar”. If Jesus answered one way it would seem as if he was going against the whole of Jewish tradition, and if he answered the other way the state authorities might have arrested and beheaded him as they recently had done to John the Baptist who had openly condemned the marriage of Herod to his brother’s wife. Instead of debating why people might want to leave a marriage, Jesus focused on the intentions of why people get married in the first place. Jesus noted that Genesis talked about mutual support, of each party being a helpmate to the other, and of being partners in a life’s journey. Note Jesus did not imply subservience or one-sided obedience. Jesus meant equality. Jesus never defined marriage as a way to control or excerpt power over another person.
The specific sentences regarding divorce reflect the early church’s struggle with changing secular circumstances, and later the Gospel of Matthew and St. Paul will continue to modify the church’s response. In Jesus’ time, there was little legal protection for a divorced wife and children, and Jesus’ primary concern was centered on their vulnerability and their need for protection. Like the intention of marriage itself, Jesus’ words were never intended to justify exploitation, manipulation, or power tripping. That is why the highlight of this passage is Jesus’ insistence on welcoming children into his arms, much against the disapproval of his disciples and insisting that the example of welcoming children who are completely without power, who are not going about the business of collecting and retaining worldly power, illustrates new way of valuing life that the Gospel is inaugurating. Jesus always centered on right relationships, not on power.
Shortly after the tragedy, a nurse midwife who had delivered several of the children in the Amish schoolhouse was asked by an outside news reporter, “How will the families ever recover from this? Without hesitation the midwife replied, “They would recover and continue to live on here in Lancaster County because they were a community of people of strong faith. They had faith in God and they know that God will see them through.”
She did not say that it would be easy or deny that it would take a long time. She knew, however, that as a community the Amish would mourn together and read their Bible together. In the days ahead, the Book of Job, a book from a people who had experienced great and senseless evil against them over many centuries, will be read. Together they will affirm that God is a loving God, not a capricious one and it is worthwhile to cry out in profound sorrow for life is precious and does have meaning. Amish families will comfort one another and help one another to believe and trust that they were not being punished, that the tragedy of the past week was never God’s intention. They will come to realize that God is in mourning, too, and among them on that terrible morning and in all their days to come.
There will be no real answers to the why of this evil or any terrible evil, past or future. There never are. But as generations of Biblical people before them, the Amish understand the life of discipleship is not about our capacity to wield power to enlarge control. Quite often when tragedy strikes, genuine discipleship takes courage to say “we don’t know.”
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
