God's Yes

Parents hope and pray that the stage doesn't last too long, because it certainly is tiresome for the parent, and I don't think really all that much fun for the child either.

Looking at us, God must wonder if we have ever really grown out of that stage of living, because it seems that we spend lots of time saying NO to God's good gifts and misusing the ones that we do hold.

Should we start down a list?

Our First Lesson this morning was God's YES in creation; that it is good, and that we belong together as male and female.

But the very next chapter in Genesis is already the story of NO, how we think that we should have knowledge better than God, and how our deceitfulness leads to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden.

There are consequences of petulantly saying NO to God.

The Second Lesson this morning reminded us that God has continued to bless us in so many ways.

He made us ...a little lower than the angels and crowned us with glory and honor, subjecting all things under our feet.

What tremendous responsibility God has given to us!

What a great YES all of this is!

And as the ultimate affirmation, Jesus came in the flesh as God's biggest YES.

So what do we do with all of these gifts of God's YES?

In a hundred different ways we say NO.

For example, we have the complicated job of discerning the difference between making a good use of the creation around us and misusing it.

A misuse, a wasteful use, is a NO.

We also have the great treasure of the promise made to us in Holy Baptism by our Lord Jesus., a powerful YES.

He says that he chooses us in unmerited love, just because, … and lots of empty seats in this and in lots of churches attest that we're saying NO in return.

NO, I really don't care; NO it really doesn't matter; NO, I'm making my own way.

And there are consequences to those decisions also.

Jesus endured suffering and death in our rejection, our NO, in order to show us that our rejection is not the final word in the matter.

His resurrection is is sign of God's brand new YES that overcomes our NO.

That is a consequence that we could never expect on our own.

And then there are the ways in which we say NO to each other.

This brings us to the Gospel lesson for today, one which we may prefer to pass over quietly.

It is uncomfortable.

There is nothing fun about divorce.

The Pharisees come with a question to try to trap Jesus, and in typical fashion he demands a question in return: What does Moses say?

Moses permits divorce...because men and women are knuckleheads.

But then Jesus challenges everyone to a deeper standard of behavior.

Marriage of man and woman is intended to be a blessing for the entire world.

But we are hard to teach.

Sin, that age-old adversary, can rob marriage of its joy and intended purpose.

Our sin conspires against the will of God.

Marriage can become a nightmare of anger and recrimination, of emptiness and despair.

Next to the death of a spouse, divorce from a spouse is likely the most painful event a person could experience.

It is not what God intends, but, against God's will, it may be the least bad among terrible choices.

We make mistakes, we cause hurt, we are hard to teach, we are sinners.

Yes, it is sin.

It may be legal, but it is still sin.

Often we have talked about the essence of sin as being turned in upon oneself, and picturing that as an arrow that turns around in a circle to its own tail.

Here is another way to think of it:

An archer lets an arrow fly toward the target, an easy shot, but it goes wide!

How could I miss the mark; it was such an easy shot!...that is being tripped up by sin.

A failed marriage is missing the mark, and that is sin...but Jesus does not stop there, with a great big NO.

When there is acknowledgment of sin,

then there can also be forgiveness of sin and opportunities for amendment of life.

Lives can be changed by the fresh gift of Jesus, by his YES given in spite of all of the NOs that we have said and acted out in the past.

For those listening today who at this point are not married because of age or choice or circumstances, we could rewind things a few paragraphs and replay them with the words Christian friendship in place of the word marriage and the result would be parallel.

The relationships of friendship are God's good gifts, too.

When they are broken, it involves sin,

a missing of the mark; not as profound as in marriage because there is not a covenant involved as there is in marriage, but there is a missing of the mark nonetheless.

With confession of brokenness comes the possibility of a new start.

We need Christ to mend the rips in our soul.

We need God to come near to us.

We can only approach Jesus with empty hands, as empty as little children,

only like children trusting God's goodness,

hearing his YES that we don't deserve to hear.

If we were to be keeping score,

it would be clear now that there is one more YES than all of the NOs that we throw out at God.

And that is the Good News for the day.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.