My apologies, YouTube has changed everything about streaming and I cannot get it to work, today. Here are the readings and what WAS to be my sermon. Reading: Genesis 2:18-24 A reading from Genesis 18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” 24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. The Word of the Lord Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 A reading from the letter to the Hebrews 1Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? 7You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, 8subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10It 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. 11For 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, 12saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” The Word of the Lord. Gospel Reading: Mark 10:2-16 A reading from the Gospel of Mark 2Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 10Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 13People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14But 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. 15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. This is the Gospel of the Lord. “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” · What we hear today are some of the hard words of the Gospel. What is said might not be what we want to hear. Some commentators say that these words are some of the “Terror passages” of the Gospel. Yet there is still hope and grace contained and carried in these words. · The focus is what is called “righteousness.” The Pharisees that question Jesus about divorce felt that they were righteous and they thought they’d trip up Jesus somehow or other. Jesus turned the tables on them and made the issue marriage rather than divorce. Later he did the same with his own disciples who were chasing parents and children away. We don’t know exactly why but we can make a good guess. · The Pharisees wished to keep to the letter of the Law, especially when it came – in this case – to women who were powerless in this equation. They spoke of the rights of the men… and Jesus turned it around. No matter what we may think or say about divorce in our present day, Jesus here emphasizes the inner reality of marriage rather than the legality of divorce. He is confronting his questioners with regard to power and possibly convenience and assumed righteousness. To use an old phrase, Jesus has bigger fish to fry and wants to move on. So let’s move on to another situation of righteousness and power. (Before we go, I have to admit that this is troubling passage for me as a preacher.) · Now in any discussion of power, children come out on the down side. Here the disciples were “guarding” Jesus from the annoyance of being asked to bless young children by parents. Maybe they thought the children were not worth the trouble or that Jesus had better things to do. Mark says Jesus became “indignant” when he saw this. Other translations say Jesus was “angry” or “displeased” while the original language says something like “resented.” No matter how it’s said Jesus was having none of it. He tells them that the Kingdom of God belongs to those little ones and to those who receive the Kingdom like such little children. · What did they do to earn it? How did they come to deserve it? What great deeds did they do to reveal that Kingdom to all the world? · They didn’t earn it. They didn’t work to deserve it. They do not reveal the Kingdom through deeds of power or miracle. The children are what they are - powerless… and the Kingdom of God belongs to them, just as they are. · Maybe it’s all a surprise and a gift. After all, people were bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing. It wasn’t about achievement or power or deserving. It was all about grace and gift and it still is. Even all the teaching about marriage is about grace and gift. Sometimes grace and gift are hard to receive, yet they mean freedom and salvation for all. After all, righteousness is God’s, not our’s. · The Kingdom of God has been given to us… and we often find it harder to receive a gift than to earn something. The focus is best put on God and God’s grace and mercy in all these situations rather than any sort of pretended righteousness of our own. “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”
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