Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 31:7–9 | Psalm 126 | Hebrews 7:23–28 | Mark 10:46–52

​“Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51).
 
Last week, we spent some time reflecting on the kind of leadership we really need today… and the ministry that Christ invites His people to share in with Him: not seeking after our own honour or status or glory… but sharing in God’s great love for the world… serving the wellbeing of others… and even suffering along with Jesus until the fullness of His Kingdom, won once and for all  at the cross, comes at last.
 
We looked at how upside down this vision of greatness looks from the perspective of the world around us… but also at how powerful and transformative it can be to be led by God’s self-giving love in all we do.
 
But what about those who are not at all concerned about greatness, and those who are already powerless? Those with no ambitions, apart from being set free from their own crushing situations?
 
If Christ’s “upside down” Kingdom would have us reconsider what it means for those who might be called to take the lead… how are we to rethink the stories of those who are most often seen as insignificant? The people on the margins. The poor. The isolated. The vulnerable. For those of us feeling lost, broken, hurting and alone today… what hope does Christ’s Kingdom really have for folks like us?
 
Our Gospel reading today tells us the story of a man named Bartimaeus whose whole life was transformed by a passing encounter with Jesus Christ our Lord. It’s a story that stands is shape contrast with our Gospel reading from last week, and the bold request from James and John, who, despite their closeness to Jesus, could not yet see the truth of what God’s Kingdom was all about. No, this week we are invited to see a stranger… a poor blind man who looks to Jesus for mercy… and receives far more.
 
But before we dig into the story itself, I’d like us to take a few minutes to look at the significance of the title that Jesus is called here: “the Son of David”.
 
David was by far Israel’s greatest king… ruling over the twelve Tribes of Israel, and establishing Jerusalem as it’s capital city. He came from incredibly humble beginnings… the youngest of eight brothers, tasked with shepherding his family’s sheep. But the LORD noticed David… and raised him up to be the shepherd of God’s sheep… the king over God’s covenant people, protecting and providing for them, and guiding them in God’s good ways.
 
And at a crucial point in his story, David receives a powerful promise from Yahweh, the Living God… that one of his descendants would reign as king forever.

Excuse this long passage, but listen to the promise that God made to David, and to all His people. 2 Samuel 7:8-16:
 
“Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
 
And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies.
 
Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”
 
What a powerful, hope-filled promise God gave to David and to his people. But the rest of story of David’s descendants, and his nation is not a happy one. As we read through the rest of Israel’s story in the Scriptures, we find it’s a story of self-destruction.
 
Not long after God makes this promise to King David, he falls into grievous sin. He has an affair with Bathsheba, gets her pregnant, then has her husband killed to cover it up. And from this point on, David’s household descends into bloody infighting, intrigue, and incest… and one of his sons, Absalom, whose name means “my father is peace” leads a rebellion against him.
 
Eventually, one of Bathsheba’s sons, Solomon, becomes king after David dies. And his story seems to start out pretty well. When God says to Solomon “Ask what I should give you.” (1 Kings 5:3), Solomon requests wisdom to rule and guide God’s people well. But soon he too ends up falling into the trap of sin. As his power and greatness grew, Solomon became more and more like the rest of the kings of the earth, amassing military power, forging networks of alliances, and hoarding wealth… placing his hope in his own resources and capabilities instead of in the Living God.
 
And so, even though Solomon was the one who built the first great Temple to God in Jerusalem, his reign would end with him setting up many places of worship for the false gods of the nations around Israel, leading the people away from their covenant relationship with the LORD.
 
And the story gets worse. His son Rehoboam takes the same path as his father, and leads the nation into civil war, splitting the Northern ten tribes of Israel from Judah in the South. And it’s a giant downward spiral from there, as king after king after king abandons their calling to care for Gods people, and lead them in His holy ways… seeking instead their own ambitions and greatness… at great cost to their own people.
 
Now a handful of David’s descendants did try to turn things around again. Kings of Judah like Hezekiah and Josiah. But these were the exceptions that prove the rule. Eventually, due to their unending unfaithfulness to the LORD, first the northern Kingdom of Israel, and then the Southern Kingdom of Judah are swept away into Exile.
 
What had started off in the hope of peace and life had ended in disaster. God’s people were carried off as the spoils of war… led far away from home with no way to return in sight.
 
Our own stories can feel like this at times. When we turn on the news and see all of the conflicts and chaos at work… between our nations, our political parties, our communities… and even our homes. There’s so much confusion, and fear driving people’s decisions… overshadowing so much of the good gifts that life has to offer. What kind of hope is there in times like this? Especially for those so easily overlooked?
 
After all, most people are not really scheming for power or glory. Most of us are just trying to get by, while facing all sorts of struggles… in mind, body, and spirit.
 
So where can we look for hope today? We can look to God’s great mercy and unfailing love.
 
Our first reading this morning comes from the prophet Jeremiah, whose own situation was pretty bleak. He was called to serve as God’s prophet, sharing His words of warning, as Jerusalem was about to fall. Much of Jeremiah’s message was about calling God’s people to turn around… to repent… to stop placing their hope in their own schemes and plans, and instead to accept the coming consequences of turning their backs on their covenant with the LORD.
 
But our reading today is one of the few bright spots in the prophet’s message: that despite how dark the future was going to get, the LORD had not abandoned them. God tells them to trust Him… to place their hope in His mercy and love… and one day the Exile would end. God would bring their children home again, and lead them into life.
 
This was a promise not to avoid suffering, but to come through it. The Exile would still happened… but it’s darkness would not endure. It would not be the end of their story. God gives them this word of hope:

“See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.” (Jeremiah 31:8).
 
And true to His word, the Living God brought them back from Exile. But for many years they were still kept waiting for the promised descendant of David to reign as their Messiah King. To provide for and protect them, and lead them into God’s good Kingdom forever.
 
And this is when Jesus of Nazareth comes onto the scene. He was a descendant of David’s line, but born and raise in obscurity… living among the poor, and lowly… and at this point in the story, He was travelling from town to town without a home… bringing the light of God’s good Kingdom to all those still dwelling in darkness.
 
Last week we heard how even His closest disciples imagined that He had come to set up a great earthly kingdom, one that would overthrow the Romans, and that would lead them to status and glory.
 
But we saw that Jesus had come to bring about God’s heavenly Kingdom to bear fruit here on Earth. Not expanding with military force or amassed wealth, or strategic alliances, but through everyday people being touched and transformed by the great mercy and self-giving love of the Living God.
 
The people He met received glimpses of this Kingdom at work in His teachings, and miracles… signs of God’s power and purposes… bringing help, and healing and hope to those around Him, as He slowly makes His way to the cross, to overthrow once and for all all the powers of darkness that keep us trapped in our old self-destructive ways.
 
To set us free from the fear of death, by facing it for us, and rising again to new life.
 
And to set us free from our guilt and shame, taking our sin onto Himself, so that we can find true forgiveness.
 
And to set us free from all that keeps us from taking part in the New Life God has in store for all of His children. From sharing in the life of His New Creation, as we follow Him even now.
 
While He was on the way to this ultimate victory, Jesus touched and transformed many lives… turning them around, and through their stories, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into view.
 
And one of those lives belonged to Bartimaeus, a blind beggar sitting by the road outside of Jericho, who hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Though he was blind, Bartimaeus could see in Jesus the hope for new life that he needed… that he was longing for.
 
So he starts crying out: “Jesus, Son of David… have mercy on me!” Son of David. Son of God’s promise to care for His people Israel… the coming King… “have mercy on me!”
 
Those around him tried to silence him… to shut him up, but Bartimaeus would not be deterred. “Son of David… have mercy on me!” He continued to shout as the crowd passed him by.
 
But the LORD took notice of him. Jesus did not ignore his cries, and He would not leave His sheep behind.
Mark 10:49-51, “Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”
 
“What do you want me to do for you?”
 
These were the very same words that Jesus spoke to James and John last week, when they made their bold request… blindly asking for the favour of sitting at Christ’s right and left hand in His Kingdom… seeking places of power and glory for themselves, and missing what God’s Kingdom is really all about.
 
And now Jesus says these same words to Bartimaeus… coming to Jesus poor, blind, and desperate… and who looks to Jesus not for a favour… but for a miracle.
 
“The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’” (Mark 10:51). “Let me see again.”
 
Think about it. As bold as James and John’s request had been, what Bartimaeus was asking for was even greater. James and John at least kept their ambitions grounded in the realm of possibility. After all, every earthly king and queen has honoured counsellors to rule by their side. They were asking for positions for themselves within an earthly Kingdom… not requesting the impossible.
 
But what Bartimaeus asked for goes well beyond the bounds of a reasonable request. He asked Jesus for what God alone could give: to restore his sight…. to completely transform the story of his life, his present circumstances and hopes for the future… to restore his sight… setting him free to take hold of the wealth of possibilities that so many of us take for granted… like the freedom to behold the beauty of the world around us, and seeing familiar faces of loved ones again… and the freedom to no longer stumble along in the darkness, but to choose his own path… to live life to the fullest. To restore his sight would be to restore his whole life.
 
And this request would be madness… insanity, if he asked anyone else to do this for him. But Bartimaeus was looking to the only One who truly could set him free. For Jesus really is the Son of David… the promised Messiah, come to set God’s people free… to protect and to care for them as a true King should… just as a shepherd tending their sheep… seeking to sustain them, provide for them, and lead them always into life.
 
And Jesus remains our Shepherd King, our Messiah today! He alone is the crucified and Risen Lord, and we can look to Him to bring us the freedom we all truly need: the freedom from the fear of suffering, and death… the freedom of forgiveness of our sins… freedom from guilt and shame… from hatred, and greed… the freedom to live and love God’s way.  
 
And unlike His answer to James and John, our Lord looked at Bartimaeus in compassion and love, and “said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.”
 
In an instant, Jesus transformed Bartimaeus’ life… as He has transformed the lives of countless others over the centuries… including in this very room: opening our eyes to help us share in God’s Kingdom… setting us free to truly live.
 
But did you notice what Bartimaeus chooses to do with his newfound freedom? He follows Jesus. He focusses his attention… his life on the One who set him free, and lets Him lead the way. He places his faith in Jesus, not just for a favour… or for a miracle… but to lead him into life.
 
Is that our response today? As we face our own struggles… in body, and mind, and spirit… are we open to following Jesus, not as a way to avoid all suffering, as we saw last week… but as a way to take part in God’s Kingdom, here and now, and forever… wherever He may lead us?
 
Following Jesus won’t be easy. Many challenges will come our way when we try to live His way in the world. But even when things get rough, and we can’t see an end to the difficulties that we have to face, we can look to Jesus and know that we can trust Him to lead us into the new life of His Kingdom. We can believe in His mercy, and compassion, and in His steadfast love which is stronger by far than any darkness that may lie before us.
 
So like Bartimaeus, may we also look to our Saviour Jesus, our Shepherd King, and follow Him. May we not be discouraged or deterred by the voices and forces that try to keep us from His side. May we place our faith and hope in His great mercy and unending love. And may our transformed lives help others glimpse God’s heavenly Kingdom at work even now. Amen.  
 

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 53:4–12 | Psalm 91:9–16 | Hebrews 5:1–10 | Mark 10:35–45

“For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:35-45).
 
What kind of leadership do we really need today?  
As I’m sure we are all well aware, tomorrow is our Provincial Election Day… when we the people of New Brunswick will choose between the competing visions of the future our politicians have been pitching to us. A lot of promises have been made. A lot of time and money has been spent. All to convince us to entrust these select representatives with the authority and power to lead us.
 
Of course, this isn’t the only election on people’s minds these days. In just a few weeks, our neighbours in the United States will also be holding their own massive Presidential election. And while there will be lots of other American government officials chosen at that time, a huge amount of energy… not to mention time and money… has been focused on promoting each side’s candidate in the hopes that they will be elevated to the highest office in their country… a choice that shines a huge spotlight on an ever growing clash of values and priorities… and which will likely go on to have some truly worldwide implications.

Every community throughout history has had to try to work out the tensions and challenges of leadership… of figuring out how to keep their people united… how to survive together, and to overcome the many challenges being faced… and how to strive for the best future… at least, the best future for themselves.

And like so many things in life, leadership is complicated… and messy. Those who seek to gain and exercise authority will face all sorts of serious temptations, and may end up in situations that can expose our worst weaknesses and tendencies. Things like greed and corruption, using our power to exploit others for selfish gain. Or giving in to fear and hatred against those who seem to threaten our groups position. Or fueling mistrust and cynicism that eat away at the communities we claim to serve.

These same dynamics are at play in some form in every human society… even in the ones who consider themselves to be explicitly Christian.

So it is good news for us that our Scripture Readings today  present us with a challenge to the whole way we humans think about and exercise leadership… challenging us to rediscover what the power and authority of the Living God is all about.

Our Gospel reading today from Mark Chapter 10 tells us of a moment when two of our Lord’s closest disciples ask Him for a favour:
 
Mark 10:35-37, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’  And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’”

James and John were asking straight up for authority… for power… to be Christ’s Kingdom cabinet ministers… to belong to the top tier rulers when Jesus finally takes charge. Bold move. But I mean, why not right? They had been with Him a long time. They had paid their dues. They had shared in His ministry, with all of it’s ups and downs. They thought they knew what it would take. Somebody was going to be by Jesus’ side in His moment of glory. Why not them?

Well, one reason at least is that it seems like James and John, despite being two of Christ’s closest followers, had also completely misunderstood the nature of the Kingdom Jesus had come to bring. They wanted to share in Jesus’ power and authority… to be lifted up and to reign in glory at their Master’s side.
 
But to be lifted up beside Jesus in His glory was not at all what they had imagined. And Jesus tells them both that it was not to be their fate to have this favour granted.
 
Honestly, what comes to mind when I hear this part of the story is the old warning: ‘Be careful what you wish for!’

Thinking back to the example of Elections again: how many times have people elected a person or party, only to find out after the fact that they should definitely not have been trusted with the reins of power? If we don’t know what someone’s really about… what drives them… and what guides their way, we might be very surprised by the direction that they end up leading us down… for better, or for worse.

I often listen to a history podcast, and they have been working through a series on the events of the French Revolution… what a mess!

They reminded me that, at that time, like today, so many people were longing for freedom from the very serious challenges they were facing. They longed for things like ‘liberty, equality, and fraternity’… all good things, I hope we’d all agree. But the ways that these ideals were pursued led to an ongoing saga of extreme paranoia, divisions, and widespread bloodshed… a time that’s often been simply called the Terror… as one group after another seized power for themselves, and executed those who opposed their own particular vision of the future for their country.

One person’s hero quickly became the next person’s tyrant. And all these cycles of violence paved the way for one of histories most infamous Emperors, Napoleon Bonaparte, to raise himself up above all his rivals, and bathe Europe in war. And this is a pattern that has played out again and again: someone wants to become great, and so they step over and crush anyone else in their path.

But we know Jesus is not this kind of King… one who rises by holding others down… who reigns by using fear, or hatred, or endless divisions. And if we want to be a part of His Kingdom, and share in His rule and reign… than we have to do things His way: not seeking to be served… to have our ambitions met… but to serve.

After the other disciples start to get upset with James and John, Jesus tries to set the record straight.
 
Mark 10:42-45, “So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’”

This passage and others like it has influenced our language about leadership in the West. We speak of our politicians and government employees as ‘public servants’… holding up the ideal that leaders are supposed to be working for the common good… not just pursuing their own interests. This is all a remnant of centuries of Christian influence on our culture’s imagination… but it’s true meaning goes far deeper than just the words we say.  

When Jesus tells us that He came to serve, He is offering us a whole different path to follow… and a completely different reason to seek greatness at all. Why did Jesus come to serve? Why does He call us to do the same? The answer lies at the heart of the story of the Good News:
“to give His life a ransom for many”.

A ransom is a payment made to set someone else free. This word is used in the Bible as the price to buy freedom for those who were captives or enslaved… giving them the gift of liberty, erasing the lines that kept them cut off from their fellow humans, and placing them on the same plain… to offer true liberty, equality, fraternity… true fellowship. Jesus came not to get His own way, but to ransom humanity.

And not through use of terror… through the shedding of the blood of His enemies… but through His own blood being shed on their behalf… serving their best interests by laying down His own life at the cross.

This had been His plan all along. Back in our first reading today from the Prophet Isaiah, the seeds of hope were already planted. Back in Isaiah’s days, the Israelites had long been drawn into the same old self-destructive patterns of slavery to power at work in our world, leading them on the path to devastation and eventually Exile. But the Prophet Isaiah held out the hope of God’s surprising promise to save them… a hope that has echoed down through the centuries, and points us once again to the cross.
 
Isaiah 53:4-6,
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
 
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
 
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
 
Jesus came to be that faithful, suffering servant… to bring about God’s good Kingdom by ascending the throne of His cross… ruling God’s way by giving up everything in order to save the world that He loves.

Because love is the why behind it all. Love is the reason that God sent His Son to give His life for the likes us. Love led Jesus to the cross, and love is what held Him there to the end.

And love is how Jesus reigns in our lives even now. Love is the power of God at work in us today. Love, not just for us, or those on ‘our side’… but love for us all… love that sets slaves and captives free… love offered equally to everyone from all nations… even to our enemies… love that draws us together into God’s worldwide family.

So, back to James & John’s request: they asked for power and authority and positions of honour for themselves. But to sit at Christ’s right and left hand meant to share in His sufferings… to be lifted up on a cross along with Him… to die with Him, as He gave His life to ransom us all. James and John had no clue what they were asking for… and in the end others would take up those places at Calvary… the two criminals that died at His side.
 
And yet, Jesus invites James and John, and the rest of us to also share in His sufferings in our own ways… to share in His baptism… to drink from the cup of His calling… to offer our lives along with Him as instruments of God’s great compassion and mercy for our frightened, fractured, and imprisoned world. To die to our own ambitions… and maybe even to face death itself for Jesus’ sake, in order to serve those around us… sharing Christ’s saving love, offered up at the cross, once and for all… so that all who trust in Him might share in His resurrection life that even death cannot defeat.

So, as we reflect on the people who we will let lead us… not only as elected officials, but as examples, or sources of inspiration, or as those who may influence our visions of the future, let us remember that first of all we are called to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ our Saviour King.
 
May His great love guide us, and keep us, and empower us to resist the impulse to seek our own self-centred goals… or to give ourselves over to the agendas of others… but instead, to help us share with Christ in His sufferings… to walk in His holy ways, and to share His saving love with those all around us today.   

I’ll close now with a poem I’ve shared before by the priest and poet Malcolm Guite:
 
See, as they strip the robe from off his back
And spread his arms and nail them to the cross,
The dark nails pierce him and the sky turns black,
And love is firmly fastened on to loss.
But here a pure change happens. On this tree
Loss becomes gain, death opens into birth.
Here wounding heals and fastening makes free,
Earth breathes in heaven, heaven roots in earth.
And here we see the length, the breadth, the height,
Where love and hatred meet and love stays true,
Where sin meets grace and darkness turns to light,
We see what love can bear and be and do.
And here our Saviour calls us to his side,
His love is free, his arms are open wide.[1]
 
Amen.


[1] Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (Norwich, UK: Canterbury Press, 2012).

​

We are blessed to be joined by Archbishop David Edwards this week, as we celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday at St. Luke's Gondola Point. Instead of a sermon text, here are two videos from the Bible Project exploring the biblical theme of Generosity, and Christ's teachings around Wealth and Worry as found in the Gospel of Matthew.
​Enjoy, and be blessed!

Our Service of Morning Prayer and Bulletin this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Genesis 2:18–24 | Psalm 8 | Hebrews 1:1–4, 2:5–12 | ​Mark 10:2–16

“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’” (Genesis 2:18).
 
Our Scripture readings for this week are definitely difficult, touching on some pretty painful subjects for many of us, both here in this room, and also in our communities. They can be difficult for those of us who have experienced personally the pain of divorce… and also for those of us who have perhaps longed to experience marriage, but have not had those longings fulfilled. These passages can also be painful for those who have felt intense pressure to conform their own relationships to fit an ideal in which one party is somehow meant to dominate, and the other must always be submissive.
 
If today’s readings from the Scriptures are difficult for you, you’re not alone. Thankfully, you are surrounded here by your brothers and sisters in Christ who can help you to find new strength, and hope, and courage as we seek to walk together in God’s ways… and find again and again that our Father in Heaven, the Living God, is offering us all Good News even in the most difficult places… and that His word to us today is part of His gift of life-giving love.

I know that these passages have sometimes been used to justify sexist attitudes, and patriarchal practices… but I believe that instead of avoiding these difficult passages, we are much better off to attend to them, and see how they are actually intended to open our eyes to God’s heart and deep desire for humanity as a whole… which is certainly not outdated, but perhaps needed now more than ever. And when we do so, I believe that we’ll find, not ancient arguments in favour of patriarchy… but a deeper appreciation for the Good News of God’s reconciling love, and true fellowship offered to all.
 
And so, to help us reflect on this Good News in our readings today, I’d like us to take a closer look at some of the language… the words and concepts that the Scriptures use in these passages, and see how they make sense within the Biblical story of God’s great love for the world.
 
The first word we need to look at a bit more closely is the Hebrew word for humanity: adam.
 
Adam in Hebrew is related to the word for earth or dirt: adamah… kind of like how ‘human’ is connected to the word ‘humus’, which is Latin for ‘ground’, from which we get words like ‘humble’, for lowly, and so on. And this makes sense, when we think of how Genesis describes the first human being formed from the dirt. Before it’s used as a proper name, adam is simply the word for humanity… “people of the earth”… “dirt-people”. And yet, God has great plans for these lowly humans… these adam.  
   
Listen to what Genesis 1:27-28 has to say,
“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind [adam] in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind [adam] in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’”
 
The Living God creates humanity in His image. Not just one man named Adam, but the whole human race. And God creates them to represent His own character and goodness… not to oppress or subjugate… but to rule through caring for and cultivating His good world on God’s behalf. Humanity’s job is to be God’s representatives in Creation… acting like Him so that it all thrives and flourishes. How can we do that? Well, one thing’s for sure: we can’t do it all alone.
 
In our reading today, from Genesis Chapter 2, we hear for the first time in the story that something’s “not good”. Genesis 2:18, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that [adam, which the NRSV translates here as “the man”] should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”
 
Remember, at this point, humanity is one… united, but basically alone. This solitude is no good, it falls short of God’s intentions for His image-bearer… so God seeks to get the human a helper… which is the second word I think that we need to look a bit more closely at today.
 
What often comes to mind when you hear the word 'helper'? Often the way it’s used in our culture carries with it the idea of someone who is subservient… someone who’s job it is to do what someone else wants… like an employee, serving their bosses’ ambitions… doing what the important people tell them to do.  
 
But the Hebrew word for ‘help’, ezer has a different slant to it… one that emphasizes the vital importance of their efforts as the ‘one who brings aid’. The reference is not so much about a subordinate, but a saviour! One whose help is completely indispensable. In fact, in the rest of Scripture, ezer is frequently used to refer to God Himself!
 
For example, listen to the words of Psalm 70, and get a feel for how essential an ezer is:
Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
O Lord, make haste to help me [to ezer me]!
Let those be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who desire to hurt me.
Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!”
turn back because of their shame.
Let all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help [my ezer] and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
 
Did you feel the urgency and earnest longing in that prayer to God for help? And even though God proves to be our ezer again and again, no one should think of the LORD as being subservient to us and our plans. No, He helps us lowly people of the earth out of compassion and love… and as His images, He wants us all to be like Him and to ezer each other.
 
The logic of these first chapters of Genesis is not that ‘God made a man, and then made a woman to serve him.’ It’s that ‘God made a single human, split them in two, and now they can do something they simply cannot do alone… that is: filling the earth by sharing in loving fellowship together.
 
The Bible’s vision of how humanity is to reflect God’s image in the world is not about gender hierarchy, but about humans helping one another… caring for each other… welcoming those who are very different in some ways,  but who are still ‘bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh’… we serve as God’s image as we love one another.
 
With all this in mind, let’s turn now to our Gospel reading for today from Mark Chapter 10.
 
This whole episode starts off when some Pharisees came up to Jesus and asked Him: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2). Far from an honest question, St. Mark tells us that this question was a test… an attempt to trap or pin down this influential and controversial wandering teacher. At the time, this was a very politically charged question… something like asking an American politician about immigration policy or abortion today.
 
Even more light is shed on this debate by how St. Matthew tells the same story, in Chapter 19:3, because St. Matthew adds a few more words: “for any cause?” Matthew 19:3, “to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?’”
 
In short, the debate that the Pharisees were trying to draw Jesus into was about ‘what kind of limits were placed on men who were seeking to leave their wives’.
 
During those days, most Rabbis were divided on this issue: one camp said that divorce was only allowed under the most serious circumstances… like adultery. The other camp went so far as to say that there were no limits. A man could divorce his wife for any reason… even if their wife had simply ruined supper, they could put an end to their relationship.
 
This was a debate about the power that husbands were free to wield in their relationships… not an argument about what would be best for women, who had little to no say in the matter in that time and place. And yet at the same time, there were very serious consequences for women!

The dangers of being abandoned were very real, and devastating, as most women could not live independently in that culture and time. They lived either with a husband, or in their parent’s home… or at the mercy of strangers. Easy divorce for men meant that women had to live with the threat of divorce hanging over their head all the time. It was an incredibly uneven power dynamic, that tended to elevate husbands up over their wives. Not exactly the kind of loving fellowship we see God intended for humanity from the start.
 
When Jesus was asked about what was lawful, Jesus asks them about their understanding of the law. Mark 10:3-4, “He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.”
 
The certificate of dismissal or divorce was meant to be a form of legal protection for the woman, so that she could at least be able to remarry, if she was able to. As long as they took the proper legal steps, they seemed to see no problem with it. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as the Pharisees make it seem.

The passage in question comes from Deuteronomy 24:1-4, and it’s the only case study in the Torah that discusses the actual process of divorce among the people of Israel: “Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man’s wife. Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies); her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.”
 
The case takes divorce itself for granted, and offers some guidelines around it. But notice that the focus of this case study is the prohibition against remarrying the woman’s first husband after another marriage had taken place.  
 
According to the law of Moses, the big problem here is treating marriage like a temporary, casual contract… something that can be entered into and out of on a whim, instead of a coming together of two lives with the intention at least of being each other’s ezer and sharing in a lifetime of loving fellowship.
 
And so Jesus responds to their test by pointing back to God’s intentions for humanity: for us to share together in a fellowship of love.
 
Mark 10:5-9, “Because of your hardness of heart [Moses] wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
 
God’s intentions are for us humans, His image bearers, to live together in loving community. Not only in marriages, but in all of our relationships. But Jesus also knows that we’re all a long way from Eden… that we are all a part of a world that has already fractured and fallen away from God’s good ways… and that this brokenness is present to a greater or lesser degree in all of our relationships.

We all know that sometimes marriages must end, and that some relationships do far more harm than good. But the way forward is not simply to settle for shallower connections that are easier and easier to end… but to remember that God’s heart from the beginning, has been to bring us together… to share in His fellowship and love in community.
 
We humans belong together! And this goes way beyond the bounds of marriage! Notice how Jesus rebuked His disciples who were attempting to keep kids away from Him.
 
Mark 10:14-16, “But 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. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’  And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”
 
Young and old, male and female, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile… politically left and right… whatever way you want to spin it, we humans, with all of our differences, were made to be together… to be an ezer for each other… to care for and bring order to God’s good world… and to share together in His loving fellowship.
 
Sadly, there are so many ways that we humans, that we Christians, have forgotten what the Gospel is all about… not arguing over authority and power, but proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, God’s Son, who set aside His own high status and power and glory to be our ezer… our helper… our Saviour… choosing to bind Himself to us lowly sinners… to suffer and to give His life as an all-sufficient sacrifice of love, atoning for the sins of the whole world… so that we all could be made holy, forgiven, and be reconciled to God and to one another forever.
 
The Good News of Jesus is not about fighting over the right way to organize our human families… it’s about all that the Living God has done in Jesus Christ to reunite us… to make us one in His family.
 
As we heard in our second reading from Hebrews 2:10-12,
“It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”
 
Because of Jesus Christ, all of us are able to share in God’s fellowship and love. He is our Saviour, our ezer, and in Him we all are made one again. Married or divorced, or widowed, or single… all of us have a place at His table. All of us are embraced by His welcoming arms, as beloved members of Christ’s family… reflecting God’s own character and goodness into the world through our lives together.
 
Some relationships aren’t within our power to resurrect. And full reconciliation in our world won’t come to pass until all things are made new when Christ returns. But as Christians living today in an ever increasingly divided and fractured world, our lives are meant to be characterized by reflecting Christ’s great reconciling love in all we do.
 
So with the help of the Holy Spirit at work in us, may we help one another to find new strength, and hope, and courage together as we seek to walk in the ways of God our Father, and our great Saviour Jesus Christ. May we share with one another the grace and compassion and forgiveness that He has offered to us all, and may we find new ways to share this Good News with everyone else in our lives. Amen.  
 

​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here: