Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: On Compassion

by Fr. Bill Garrison


Mark 10:2-16

Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he 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.”

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

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, “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.


This morning Jesus is talking about a couple of things in the gospel we just read. The first and perhaps most important is compassion, and the second is the gift of the Kingdom of God.

To get things started about compassion here is a little funny.

There were three guys talking one morning in a coffee shop. Two of them were talking about the amount of control they have over their wives, while the third remained quiet. After a while one of the first two turned to the third and said, "Well, you haven’t said a word. What about you, what sort of control do you have over your wife?" The third fellow said, puffing up a little, "I'll tell you. Just the other night my wife came to me on her hands and knees." The first two guys were amazed. "What happened then?" they asked. "She said, 'get out from under the bed and fight like a man'."

If you will recall, today’s gospel started off with Jesus being tested by some Pharisees in public. By definition, in those days, asking a question in public was always treated as hostile. The normal thing to do was to answer a question with a question and we will see that Jesus does that.

They were testing Jesus’ knowledge of scripture. So, they asked Jesus this question. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Now under Roman law divorce being brought by a woman was a possibility, but under Jewish law and custom only a man could seek a divorce. And the truth of it was that it wasn’t really a divorce as we would experience it. If you check the Greek, it was actually called a dismissal, a rejection, an expulsion. These are ugly words for an ugly reality.

Here is an example of the difference between a divorce and a dismissal. Think about the Blessing of the Animals. You bring an animal to be blessed. They had no say in the decision. They even have no say if you decide you don’t want them around anymore and decide to take them to the pound or give them away. They are property, just like a chair, or anything else you might own. Now you aren’t supposed to mistreat them, but other than that you can do as you please. This is pretty much the relationship between men and women in the first century. Women in the Holy Land had no right to seek a divorce. Men could dismiss a woman whenever they chose, for any reason, and I mean any reason. Women could not. They were a possession.

And so, what would happen if a woman was dismissed? She couldn’t return to her family. They would be ashamed of her. Her options for survival were pretty limited. Being dismissed could literally wind up being a death sentence for a woman if she was unable to accept a life of begging or prostitution. If she was lucky she might find a man that would accept her.

Jesus answered the question he was asked with a question of his own. “What does the law of Moses say?”

“Well”, said the Pharisees, “a man may present her with a scroll of dismissal.”

The compassion of Jesus comes through clearly in his reply to their answer. He told them that Moses only said that was ok because he knew how hard hearted the men were that sent their wives away. Jesus was very aware of the fate awaiting a rejected woman and simply states to these Pharisees that Moses was wrong and the system was unfair.

Male and female were created in God’s image. What God had joined together let no one pull apart.  The Greek says yoked together, not joined.

Later when Jesus and his disciples were alone, they asked him to explain further what he had just said. They were probably a little surprised by what they have just heard him say. So, Jesus nailed it down for them. He gave equal rights to both the man and the woman in a divorce saying that if either married another they were committing adultery. What God had yoked together was not to be torn apart.

Now let’s not get all caught up in whether divorce is ever appropriate. That’s each of our decisions to make and every situation is different. I firmly believe there are times that divorce is the only option.

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What I really want us to think about are a couple of things. First of all, what Jesus has said is about compassion as much as anything else. It is not ok to hurt another human being as women were being hurt when a man dismissed her. Second, Jesus was raising the status of women toward the level of men. Again and again, we see Jesus standing with the oppressed in scripture

And now we get to the rest of today’s gospel. It says that people were bringing children to Jesus for his blessing and the disciples were trying to stop them from doing so. If we remember from a couple of weeks ago people did not see children in the same way we do today. Jesus said to bring them to him because he had a point to make.

 Jesus said something in the context of children that looms large. He said that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it. I don’t know about you but every time I think about this sentence, I concentrate on what it means to be child-like. And then I think about the word receive. Receive is a gift word. Receive means we somehow acquire or become the receptacle of something.

In this case Jesus is telling us that we receive the Kingdom of God. We can’t earn it because we are told we must be child-like to receive it. We can’t control it for the same reason. So, by definition the Kingdom of God is something freely given to those who cannot possibly earn it, qualify for it, or control it.

You know when I speak with others about God, I am amazed how we never cease attempting to be in control of our relationship with God just like we try to control everything else in our lives. We are constantly attempting to earn our way to God’s love and salvation. The idea that God’s grace is freely given is almost impossible for us to get our minds around. Yet Jesus could not be stating that case more clearly than he is in this gospel. We receive the Kingdom of God. We don’t earn it. We can’t earn it. It is freely given and we are the receptacles.

Is it any wonder that Jesus took the attitude he did when asked about a man dismissing a woman?  In the Kingdom of God people are not treated like possessions. In the Kingdom of God, the love of God and God’s grace abounds. How can we, who receive the Kingdom of God at no charge, who in fact receive the Kingdom of God as little children, freely given to us in the most delightful ways, possibly justify domination or abuse of others? 

This is Jesus’ point. This is where it all ties together. We are not in control. We will never be in control. This is God’s world. The Kingdom of God cannot be earned, and is freely given to God’s children. All we are ever asked to do is to love God, and to do the loving thing with others. This includes our spouses, our families, our friends, our associates, and everyone else we may run across. Hmmm.