TURNING OUT THE WEAK (39 OF 49)
Scripture: Mark 10:2-16
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Turning Out the Weak (39 of 49)
Lectionary, Year B, Proper 22
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 10:2-16
Often as not, we learn through repetition. We may like to think that we can absorb what someone tells us the first time through, but most of our learning is incremental. We need to hear the same message over and over in various contexts before it clicks into place. A supervisor once told me, ''It is not important unless you say it at least three times.'' Perhaps that is because there are many traditions, norms, and habits we may need to overcome. On the other hand, it seems like there are some lessons we refuse to learn. Why is it so difficult for us to embrace Jesus' teaching about loving, welcoming, and accepting the most vulnerable and weak as one of our greatest tasks?
You may recall that only a chapter ago in Mark's gospel, Jesus had been talking to his disciples about accepting the ''least of these'' as central to the message and application of the Messianic Reign of God. In today's passage, we read of Jesus having to repeat his teaching about welcoming children into his presence. Perhaps you would want to join me in berating these disciples as being hard-headed about accepting the importance of Jesus' words. Then again, how many times does it take us to hear Jesus' words before we take them to heart, allowing them to transform our lives, attitudes, and habits?
Some Pharisees came to Jesus with a specific purpose in mind. They had a question about divorce, but that was just a pretext. They really were looking for any excuse to push Jesus into a corner as a way to address and reverse his growing popularity and influence. They picked up divorce as one of the polemic issues of the day, hoping to drive a divide between two prevailing schools of thought. One group said that a man could turn out his wife for any reason, while the other maintained a much narrower range of bases for turning her out.
It's a little hard for us to grasp what is being said in ...
Lectionary, Year B, Proper 22
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 10:2-16
Often as not, we learn through repetition. We may like to think that we can absorb what someone tells us the first time through, but most of our learning is incremental. We need to hear the same message over and over in various contexts before it clicks into place. A supervisor once told me, ''It is not important unless you say it at least three times.'' Perhaps that is because there are many traditions, norms, and habits we may need to overcome. On the other hand, it seems like there are some lessons we refuse to learn. Why is it so difficult for us to embrace Jesus' teaching about loving, welcoming, and accepting the most vulnerable and weak as one of our greatest tasks?
You may recall that only a chapter ago in Mark's gospel, Jesus had been talking to his disciples about accepting the ''least of these'' as central to the message and application of the Messianic Reign of God. In today's passage, we read of Jesus having to repeat his teaching about welcoming children into his presence. Perhaps you would want to join me in berating these disciples as being hard-headed about accepting the importance of Jesus' words. Then again, how many times does it take us to hear Jesus' words before we take them to heart, allowing them to transform our lives, attitudes, and habits?
Some Pharisees came to Jesus with a specific purpose in mind. They had a question about divorce, but that was just a pretext. They really were looking for any excuse to push Jesus into a corner as a way to address and reverse his growing popularity and influence. They picked up divorce as one of the polemic issues of the day, hoping to drive a divide between two prevailing schools of thought. One group said that a man could turn out his wife for any reason, while the other maintained a much narrower range of bases for turning her out.
It's a little hard for us to grasp what is being said in ...
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