Feb 23, 2010
From Controlling Scripture to Controlling Jesus (Mark 10, Part One)
Continuing my series of meditations on the Gospel of Mark…
The Pharisees showed up once again to discredit Jesus and his ministry by laying a theological trap concerning the sensitive topic of divorce. They presumably wanted his popularity to take a hit should he respond with too many restrictions or with too few. Asking whether a man could divorce his wife, they had the Old Testament law handed down from Moses to back them up.
Jesus cut through their arguments by pointing them to God’s ideal for marriage as laid out in Genesis where a man and woman become one. The Pharisees had more than an interpretation problem, they had a heart problem that completely missed God’s intentions laid out in scripture. Rather than offering a new spin on the law of Moses, Jesus completely upended it by stating that neither men nor women could divorce one another.
This reading of scripture gave women equal rights with men, while also exposing the hard-hearted reading of scripture championed by the Pharisees. They clung to the regulations but missed the goals of God for marriage. They read scripture to find out the rules of life rather than seeking the heart of God and asking God to shape their lives. Scripture isn’t something to be figured out and then obeyed but rather something to be studied, understood, and then unleashed in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
After this tense confrontation, Jesus surely must have welcomed a chance to be with children who weren’t trying to trap him with theological questions. However, his disciples tried to stop the children. Once again the disciples didn’t want others crossing onto their turf and taking away from their time with the master. While they could tolerate malicious religion scholars, they failed to honor the very people to whom the Kingdom of God belonged.
Jesus rebuked them because they not only kept these children away but also because they had failed to understand his previous teaching about welcoming little children. He once again taught them the importance of children by using them as models for the kind of people who own the Kingdom of God. In fact, unless his disciples gave up their power trip and became like little children they were in danger of missing the Kingdom that they longed for so badly.
This powerful statement of ownership made it clear that those like children belonged in the Kingdom of God. In fact, only those who received the Kingdom in such a way could enter it. Children weren’t trying to take over, to gain control, or to profit from the Kingdom, which stands in contrast to the struggles of the disciples at this point in Mark.
By using the scriptures as a collection of regulations to be employed as a theological trap, the Pharisees were unable to accept the teachings of Jesus. The disciples of Jesus had their own difficulties with control and power when relating to others. Whether guarding theology or a perceived position with Jesus, both groups put themselves at odds with Jesus in this passage.
