Corpus Christi, Texas has the lumpiest roads I’ve ever seen.
The geology of the area, which is rich in petroleum, makes for a really unbalanced surface. This means that roads and sidewalks that looked perfectly smooth when they were installed almost immediately begin to undulate, crack, and buckle. Imagine building a road on a giant, slow-moving waterbed.
Of course, since people have to live there, roads, sidewalks, and buildings must be built. This means foundation cracks and broken roads are just a part of daily life.
So let’s talk about marriage and the Bible.
Much of the Bible assumes that a man may have several wives. He may take on concubines. If a wife fails to bear children, he may seek out another woman to do so.
Any number of the Bible’s heroes fall into this category, including Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon.
In the New Testament St. Paul, who said more about marriage than any other Bible writer, was really no big fan of matrimony. He thought it a distraction and a panacea for the weak, saying, ‘those who marry will experience distress in life and I would spare you that.’ (1 Cor. 7:26)
Adding to the conversation are Jesus’ harsh and difficult words in Matthew and Mark (whose version we will hear Sunday) ‘whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’ (Mark 10:11-12)
From the Biblical witness then, we, the faithful, try to figure out God’s wisdom about how men and women are to unite, and as they’ve been doing since the beginning, divide. In doing so I often feel like we’re trying to build a road in Corpus Christi.
Let’s face it, everyone we know has been touched by divorce - and passages like this often bring up feelings of failure, guilt, and unforgiveness. Did Jesus really intend to further injure the victims of divorce? Is the Bible given to us to afflict us or to heal us?
Or are these words of judgment best understood in a culture and context two thousand years removed - one that has seen a shift in the landscape of coupling more dramatically than ever now that greater liberation for women and same gender marriage are, thankfully, in the picture?
Last week we dealt with another difficult text, in which Jesus suggested that if hands, feet, and eyes kept us from following God’s path they should be severed and plucked out. Just as that text must be understood in its context and with the understanding that there is underlying truth to harvest - so must Jesus words on marriage and divorce.
Two thousand years ago the women of Ancient Judea were chattel. Divorce for most was social ostracism at best, a life of prostitution at worst. Telling men not to discard their wives was a way for Jesus to do what he always does: stick up for the vulnerable and marginalized.
Certainly there is wisdom in Jesus’ words for us today; marriage is serious, sobering, between two adults, and never to be taken lightly. It asks us to embrace maturity by leaving behind our parents and creating a new family. And he hints at the serious debilitation of adultery.
At issue here is the very real understanding of the fluidity of marriage relationships through time, the unchanging and underlying virtues meant to be upheld, and the self-forgiveness and grace we accept from God when we take the Bible less literally and more seriously. We do well to look for the light that comes through the cracks of broken marriages, knowing that God is not only with us, but working through every single thing that happens in our lives, both the wholeness and brokenness, as important aspects of life's journey which can hopefully be used to become even better followers of Our Risen Savior.
