I. Theme – Relationships
Cerezo Barredo – Mark 10:2-16
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
You may want to call this “relationship” Sunday- Man to Woman, God to Man Genesis is about the creation of women (“helper” who married and becomes “one flesh” and the Gospel when Jesus is questioned about divorce from the pharisees (yet another relationship). The Psalm is about the dominion of God but brings in Man. “God made humans “a little lower than God.” Well how much lower ? Sometimes we are really “low” but echoing Genesis we have dominion over the earth and there is assertion we are royal creatures. ” Hebrews considers a special Christian community and relationships to others. Christ is seen as the model who walked a difficult road with the realization of something greater lay ahead
II. Summary
Old Testament -Genesis
The book of Genesis begins with two different but complementary stories of God’s creation of the world
In Genesis 1, God is portrayed as speaking from afar, bringing order out of chaos in a well planned and carefully structured progression of six days of creation. God repeatedly pronounces the results of the six days of creation as “good” and the whole creation in the end as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). God creates humans as a simultaneous community, male and female, both fully in the image of God. Genesis 1 teaches us that God’s intentions for creation will come to fruition in accord with God’s will and desire
In the second creation story in Gen 2:4b-25, the portrait of God is somewhat different. God forms the human from the land or clay God breathes into the dirt- “the breath of life.” Later in verse 18 God surveys Eden and senses something is “not good.” God observes, “It’s not good that the man should be alone” (2:18). God’s discovery highlights what is fundamental to human nature and human flourishing: humans are social creatures who thrive in close and intimate relationships with others. Thus, God resolves to make for the single human “a helper A “helper” in the Old Testament is not a subordinate but one who may be an equal or sometimes even a superior to the one who is being helped. In fact, God is often called a “helper” to humans in need (Psalm 10:14; 54:4).
God’s first experimental attempt to resolve this deficit of community is to create an array of wild animals, birds, and domestic animals as possible soul mates for the human. God marches the colorful parade of diverse wild life before the human and invites him to give names to the various creatures (2:18-20).
In 18-20 the animals are named. . The act of naming in the ancient world was a means of defining and shaping the character and essence of the one named. By naming the animals, the human participates with God as a co-creation, but sadly this first experiment does not work. The animals are interesting, but none of the animals fully resolves the ache and void of human loneliness
God surgically removes a rib from the man’s side and lovingly shapes the rib into a second human being who is “like” the man but also “opposite” him, like two puzzle pieces that fit together. The imagery of being “bone of my bones” and “flesh of my flesh” speaks of a bond between the man and woman. It is the first example of love poetry in the Bible.
This marital bond is so intimate that the two “become one flesh”–naked, open to one another, vulnerable, trusting, passionate, loving, and “not ashamed” (2:24-25). This union of two lonely human beings yearning for community and finding it in one another is the great climax of the second creation story.
Unfortunately, the happy union is quickly strained and marred as the narrative suddenly and unexpectedly descends into the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience and expulsion from the garden of Eden in Genesis 3. Mutual trust, partnership, support, freedom from shame, and equality of relationship are all threatened by human disobedience in Genesis 3. The Gospel lesson for this Sunday in Mark 10:2-16 takes up the issue of divorce, the severing of this relationship of a man and a woman in the real world of human pain and pleasure, the knowledge of good and evil, faithfulness and sin.
The reality and the mystery of human love is that sometimes it endures and sometimes it does not. Genesis 2 reminds us of God’s original intention and desire for humans–to find in at least one other person a bond of love that runs so deeply and so intimately that we never feel alone
Psalm
The psalms that immediately precede it are prayers spoken by people who are suffering or who are persecuted (Psalms 3-7). Psalm 8 reveals that those suffering at the hands of evil forces are those made in the image of God and valued highly by their creator. Indeed, the psalm proclaims that humans are God’s agents on earth. Second, this psalm is the only hymn in the Psalter spoken entirely to God. It emphasizes God’s sovereignty (8:1, 9) and proclaims that humans exercise their legitimate authority within the rule of God.
The first half of verses 1 and 9 are identical. They give structure to the psalm and draw attention to the majesty and sovereignty of God. The opening of the psalm seems to express what was promised at the end of Psalm 7, “I will sing praise to the name of the Lord” (Psalm 7:17). “Name” refers to God’s essence and character. In this psalm, that character pertains primarily to the divine power over the created order. Psalm 8:1a and 9a declare that the whole created order gives evidence of God’s sovereignty. It is not that the psalmist admires elements of creation as though God is in them. Rather, the psalmist wonders at the natural world because of the majesty of God who stands over them and has put them in place.
The next section of the psalm (verses 3-8) focuses on human beings and their place within the created order. But as it does, the psalmist presents the high place of humans in creation as a marvel in the face of the magnificence of the rest of God’s work. The question, “What are humans?” has two important features that are keys to the meaning of the psalm.
First, the word “human” translates to the word for earth or soil. “Son of man” therefore connotes humanity’s finitude and fallibility. The human is from the earth, not from the heavens.
Second, it is important to note that the question (“What are humans?”) is not an abstract query about the nature and identity of humankind. Rather, the question puts the human in relation to God’s greatness: “What are humans . . . that you would pay attention to them?” Hence, although the answer to the question is quite positive in Psalm 8, the same question appears in Psalm 144:3-4 and Job 7:17; 15:14 in a way that casts negative light on humanity (see also Psalm 144:2).
What is man that you should be mindful of him? * The human is from the earth, not from the heaven the question puts the human in relation to God’s greatness:
Despite the lowliness of humans before God, verse 5 declares God made humans “a little lower than God.”
The portrait of humans in this section is much like the one in Genesis 1:1-2:4a and 2:4b-25. The image of God bestowed on humans in Genesis 1:26-28 is defined by human dominion. In Genesis 2:15 God makes the human the caretaker of the earth. So also Psalm 8 describes the unique place of humans in terms of the human place over other creatures.
The language of Psalm 8:5-8 suggests humans are royal creatures.
Psalm 8, like Genesis 1:1-2:4a, seems to present all humans in the royal office. This may be due in part to the fact that kingship came to an end in Israel in 587 BCE. When the monarchy ended the royal office once reserved for the king was transferred to humankind as a whole. Glory and honor are words used to describe monarchs, but here they describe all human beings.
By repeating the words at the end the whole psalm is given a structure that calls attention to God’s sovereignty. Just as God’s majesty begins and ends the psalm, so also it creates the context for human glory.
Epistle -Hebrews
The general range within which Hebrews was written runs from ca. A.D. 60 to ca. 95. The earlier date is suggested by the author’s reference to himself and his community as second generation Christians (2:3-4).
They had been Christians for some time (5:12) and, because of that commitment, had experienced persecution (10:32-34), which is expected to continue (12:3-13; 13:3). Part of Hebrews’ function is to inspire the faithful endurance necessary to meet such threats. Of equal importance, the community seems to be undergoing a crisis of confidence. Some have been neglecting the community assembly (10:25). Such behavior may be a reaction to outside threats or even to the attractions of traditional Judaism, but it could equally well derive from a waning enthusiasm with complex causes
Hebrews begins with eloquent and intricately woven lines that are designed to capture the imagination of the hearers
The opening lines focus instead on how God has spoken in the past through the prophets and again in a singular way through the Son. The group had a successful mission start Their worship and life together was full of vitality (Hebrews 2:3-4). Problems arose when that led to friction with people outside the community, who apparently found this enthusiastic group of worshipers too peculiar to fit into the conventional social order.
There were threats against the Christian group and some of them were arrested, but the others remained supportive. So n the face of hardship the congregation rallied — at least for a while (Hebrews 10:32-34).
So how does Hebrews go about revitalization? The opening lines take listeners back to where it all began: to God’s message
In terms of content, the opening lines follow the kind of sweep that we find in the prologue to John’s gospel (John 1:1-18) or the Christ hymn in Philippians (Philippians 2:6-11). It identifies Christ as the one who bears the stamp of God’s very being, who is God’s agent of creation, who made purification for sins by his death, and is the one through whom God’s lordship is exercised. The language of the Nicene Creed continues to give these ideas expression in worship, and that too is helpful in understanding the function of Hebrews’ introduction. Like a hymn and like the creed, it brings to expression the faith of the community.
When the writer comes to Hebrews 2, he links this inspiring confession of faith to the rather uninspiring situation of the community. He does so on the basis of Psalm 8 (Hebrews 2:6-8a).
Psalm 8:4-6
4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *
the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
5 What is man that you should be mindful of him? *
the son of man that you should seek him out?
6 You have made him but little lower than the angels; *
you adorn him with glory and honor;
The Psalm declares that God created people for glory and honor, making them little lower than the angels and entrusting them with responsibility for the world. But then the author acknowledges that at present we do not “see” things that way. God may intend people to have glory and honor, but you certainly wouldn’t know that by looking at the dispiriting situation of the Christian community. Their experiences of conflict and marginalization, along with the current malaise, seemed anything but glorious
But then the author returns to the gospel message. The listeners have already heard the hymn about the lordship of Christ, but at the center of that is the fact that Christ’s pathway was one of dishonor and suffering (Hebrews 2:8b-12). It was not a triumphant move from glory to glory. The writer has people recall that Christ did not escape suffering but entered fully into the situation of those who suffer. And the goal was to make a way forward through suffering in the confidence that God’s will for them was ultimately life.
Hebrews pictures Christ as a pioneer, as one who charts the course through the difficult landscape in order that others may follow. The pioneer endures hardship for the sake of something far greater. Hebrews will repeatedly declare that God’s purposes remain clear and firm. God has created people for glory, not dishonor, for life and not suffering. And in Christ the listeners “see” how God continues to be at work bringing his purposes to fulfillment. Jesus is the forerunner for all of us in being with God forever.
Gospel -Mark
“Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife’?”
Jesus is now in Judea (or east of the Jordan, in Perea.) Mosaic law permitted a man to divorce his wife (but not a woman her husband) for cause, but the grounds were unclear. The Pharisees were divided re the legality of divorce as well as the grounds for it, so their question is a trap.
Divorce in the first century was a generally accepted part of life, both among Jews and perhaps more so within wider Greco-Roman culture. As for the Pharisees’ intentions, they might hope their question will expose Jesus as dangerous to families.
Jesus turns the conversation with the Pharisees away from the legal foundation for divorce to God’s design for marriage. That is, he dismisses the law (Deuteronomy 24:1-4) as a concession to human weakness and offers a different perspective rooted in creation (quoting Genesis 1:27; 2:24). His brief argument describes marriage as a strong and (literally) unifying bond between two people. It is because he sees marriage in such a way that he speaks against divorce as he does.
Technically speaking, Jesus implies that he disapproves of divorce. More plainly, he says that divorce contravenes God’s design as expressed in Genesis 1-2. Later, with his disciples, he reveals more specifics, saying that a person who initiates a divorce to marry another person commits adultery. In all this, Jesus radicalizes the demands of scripture to a point perhaps far beyond where any Pharisee would have taken it..
In 10:4, the Pharisees paraphrase Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which permits a man to divorce his wife if he “finds something objectionable about her.” It says he may simply“write a certificate of dismissal” without legal proceedings First, this reminds us that this portion of the law, like the “official” legal debates among Jesus’ contemporaries (see 10:2), presupposes a man’s point of view.
The Pharisees neglect to mention a key piece of Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which requires a husband to give the certificate of divorce to his ex-wife. Such a document might provide a divorced woman with a defense against rumor and slander. For a majority of women in that culture, survival depended upon being a member of a household. A woman, perhaps with children, without a husband and without a means of explaining why she was unmarried, could be exposed to great risk. The law’s provision about the certificate seeks to mitigate that risk, but apparently the Pharisees find that detail not worth noting.
When Jesus talks with his disciples in 10:10-12, he says nothing about the rejected partner in a divorce and his or her remarriage. He seems to be speaking specifically against those who leave their partners for others. His point is that divorce does not offer a legal loophole to justify adultery. That is, his strongest words are against those who initiate divorce as a means to get something else, sacrificing a spouse to satisfy one’s desires or ambitions.
In 10:10-12, Jesus gives women a place of greater equality in the marriage relationship, hardly seeing them as passive objects. For one thing, the prohibition of 10:12, concerning women who divorce their husbands, parallels 10:11. (Second, by speaking of a man committing adultery against a woman (and not against her father or her past or present husband), Jesus implies that adultery involves more than violating the property rights of another man. It concerns accountability to a partner, just as marriage does.
It is no coincidence that Mark next tells a story about Jesus blessing children (10:13-15). Children in the ancient world had few rights and essentially no social status. Therefore the disciples obstruct people who bring children to Jesus. Jesus blesses them because he has concern for the vulnerable and scorned, for those ripe for exploitation.