{"id":29,"date":"2012-07-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/10\/sunday-7th-october-2012-from-the-beginning-he-made-them-male-and-female\/"},"modified":"2012-07-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-10T00:00:00","slug":"sunday-7th-october-2012-from-the-beginning-he-made-them-male-and-female","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/10\/sunday-7th-october-2012-from-the-beginning-he-made-them-male-and-female\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 7th October 2012 – From the beginning he made them male and female…\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Word This Week:<\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Job 1:1, 2:1-10<\/a> and Psalm 26<\/a>\u00a0 OR<\/em>
Genesis 2:18-24<\/a> and Psalm 8<\/a>
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12<\/a>
Mark 10:2-16<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span>Thoughts on the Word:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Mark 10:2-16 (NRSV)
<\/span>
<\/span>Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, \u201cIs it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?\u201d He answered them, \u201cWhat did Moses command you?\u201d They said, \u201cMoses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.\u201d But Jesus said to them, \u201cBecause of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, \u2018God made them male and female.\u2019 \u2018For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.\u2019 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.\u201d
<\/span>
<\/span>Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, \u201cWhoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.\u201d
<\/span>
<\/span>People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, \u201cLet the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.\u201d And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. <\/strong>
<\/span>
<\/span> <\/span>
This week’s Gospel reading can be confronting in for people in a world where almost half of all marriages end in divorce, <\/span>however it is important that we not shy away from what Jesus is telling us here.\u00a0 What Jesus is telling us about marriage is extremely important, especially in a climate where the institution is coming under increasing attack around the world, and even in some quarters within the Church.<\/p>\n

Marriage in the eyes of Jesus is a sacred union, which inseparably <\/span>joins a man and a woman in a bond that is established by God.\u00a0 It is not something that can just be idly dismissed, and in fact Jesus warns that those who do divorce and remarry commit adultery.\u00a0 Now, in the corresponding passage in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 19) we see that there is one exception – sexual immorality (ESV) or unchastity (NRSV) is suitable grounds for divorce.\u00a0 Thus we see the importance placed by Jesus on the role and place of sex as a gift within a marriage, it is a special part of the bond that God establishes in marriage,\u00a0 and so integral to its foundation that it is the only reason provided for the permanent dissolution of a marriage.\u00a0 In today’s society however the number one reason given for divorce is not the unchastity of their spouse – it is ‘irreconcilable differences’.\u00a0 Put simply things get tough, and people decide its easier to divorce than to fight for their marriage, after all it is all about ‘me’ in the modern world – why should ‘I’ compromise, why should ‘I’ sacrifice some of ‘my’ happiness for the benefit of my husband\/wife.\u00a0 Narcissism is the chief cause of marriage failure in today’s society (in my humble opinion). <\/p>\n

So how do we reconcile world where the divorce rate is so high, and where a good proportion of those sitting in the pews on Sunday are divorced and in many cases re-married to Jesus condemnation of divorce?\u00a0\u00a0 Some people claim that divorce and remarriage puts these people in a constant state of sin, for which the only remedy is to reconcile with there original spouse, some churches even refuse the sacraments to people in this position.\u00a0 This in my view demonstrates both a lack of compassion and a lack of understanding of plain logic.\u00a0 If someone divorces and remarries it is safe to assume that they will consummate that new marriage (and in today’s world it is sadly likely that the relationship will be consummated before the marriage), once that happens – once either party to the original marriage commits adultery, a valid reason for divorce is raised, and a valid divorce occurs in the eyes of God.\u00a0 Now this does not make it ok that people get divorced, and it is not a justification for it – it simply shows that the sin of divorce is not an ongoing one, that it is a single event, for which a Christian can repent and move forward from.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I wanted to establish this aspect about the sin of divorce, <\/span>that it is an event and not an ongoing state, because divorce and remarriage are often raised as an example of Christian hypocrisy by those who advocate redefining marriage to allow for the union of same sex partners.\u00a0 It is argued that if divorced and remarried people are accepted in our churches, even in leadership roles, despite their state of ‘ongoing sin’ then we lose all credibility to refuse to allow same sex marriage, as even if we consider these people to be living in a state of sin – it is no different to the remarried heterosexuals. \u00a0 Of course when subjected to the logic I outlined above this charge fails.<\/p>\n

What advocates of same sex marriage (even those within the church) seem to miss is Jesus’ very clear defining of what constitutes a marriage in the eyes of God<\/span> :\u00a0 ‘But Jesus said to them, \u201cBecause of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, \u2018God made them male and female.\u2019 \u2018For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.\u2019 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.\u201d <\/strong>‘\u00a0 Jesus gives us a clear definition of marriage here by quoting from Genesis, a marriage is quite simply the joining as one a male and a female.\u00a0 There is no room for any other interpretation here – Jesus is clear about what a marriage is.<\/p>\n

What also seems lost on people is the importance of sex.\u00a0 As I stated before sex between a married couple is considered to be so sacred, so fundamental to marriage, that abuse of this gift is the <\/span>only <\/em>grounds for divorce provided by Jesus.\u00a0 Now given the importance placed on sex and the consequences of sexual immorality, is it reasonable to conclude that it would be acceptable in God’s eyes to change the definition of marriage to include homosexuals who unrepentantly practice a form of sex which is repeatedly condemned and declared to be immoral throughout scripture? <\/p>\n

Now I will no doubt come under some pretty heavy fire for this sermon, I will be labelled homophobic, a bigot and probably worse.\u00a0 The truth is however I am not a homophobe – I have no irrational fear of homosexuals.<\/span>\u00a0 I am not a bigot, and I do not wish any harm on any homosexual.\u00a0 I simply wish to acknowledge that marriage is a construct of God, designed for a man and a woman, that as the foundation of family it is also the foundation of society, and it should be protected. <\/p>\n

It must also however be honoured and given its rightful place by Christians.\u00a0 We must elevate marriage back to the sacred space it belongs and stop treating it as something that can be discarded when things get tough.\u00a0 Jesus viewed marriage as a sacred bond established by God, do you?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/p>\n

<\/span>God bless you this week.
Daryl.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Word This Week: Job 1:1, 2:1-10 and Psalm 26\u00a0 ORGenesis 2:18-24 and Psalm 8Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12Mark 10:2-16 Thoughts on the Word: Mark 10:2-16 (NRSV)Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, \u201cIs it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?\u201d He answered them, \u201cWhat did Moses command you?\u201d They said, \u201cMoses allowed … Continue reading “Sunday 7th October 2012 – From the beginning he made them male and female…\u00a0“<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}