Friday 25 February 2011
- Bible Book:
- Mark
] wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'" (vv. 5-6)
Background
Recently, I listened to someone introducing a new recording ofpiano music by Robert Schumann. The presenter spoke with admirationof the way in which the pianist had engaged with a particularlymercurial composition, full of changes of mood and direction. Itrequired responsiveness and flexibility - not the imposition of thepianist's own will. The gift-like quality of this music, said thepresenter, was such that it required to be approached withhumility.
To describe humility as an act of receiving and accepting a gift ishelpful for our understanding of these verses on the subject ofdivorce. They appear within a sequence of discussions that focus onwhat Jesus expects of his disciples, so may be seen as furthercomment on the nature of discipleship.
What is interesting for us is that Jesus' public response dwellsnot on the rights and wrongs of divorce. He implies that divorce isa human device designed to address the difficulties of falliblehuman beings who wish to impose their own will on a situation. Infact, no Pharisee or Jew of Jesus' time would have needed to askthe question: "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" (verse2). The accepted teaching of Moses already made it quite clear thatdivorce was an acceptable procedure - though, as today, there weremany discussions about the circumstances that might or might notjustify divorce.
Rather, Jesus takes this opportunity to look back beyond Moses'pragmatic decisions to God's original vision for the world andreminds us that marriage is a gift from God. Jesus looks beyondhuman law to the life that God offers us, and to which Jesus hopeswe will be responsive. Receiving any of God's gifts for a lovinglife (marriage included) with flexibility and thanksgiving is thehallmark quality of humble discipleship.
To Ponder
When relationships reach a point of breakdown,what role does Christian humility have in our lives then?
We often say that "it is better to give than toreceive"; are there occasions when it is "good to receive"? Whatare they?