LOVE FOSTERS MORE THAN LAW CAN COMPEL?
\nSome ten years ago, after we had first moved to Texas, I gave a speech in Dallas
\nin which I used the word \u201cniggardly.\u201d During the discussion which
\nfollowed, an elderly black woman rose to say that the time was long past when
\nwe should use such words in public. It was an easy mistake to make because
\nthe word she was worried about has a similar sound. However, the two words
\nhave completely different derivations. Her word is from the Romance languages
\nand means \u201cblack (negro from Spanish and Portuguese),\u201d while the
\nother word has a Scandinavian origin and means \u201cstingy,\u201d \u201cmiserly,\u201d or \u201cgrudgingly
\nmean.\u201d In reality, although the Romance language word came to imply a
\nracism and meanness of spirit on the part of users in America, the Scandinavian
\nlanguage word refers to something far more sinister and profound. Niggardly
\npeople are focused on themselves, on what\u2019s in it for them, on operating
\nwith the least possible standards. They are the centers of their own being.
\nBeing niggardly is WORSE than it sounds!<\/p>\n
Sometimes texts also carry a problem far worse than appears on the
\nsurface. Today\u2019s text is avoided by preachers and shunned by hearers
\nbecause it seems to contain a law-oriented message which holds up standards
\nhigher than those capable of being met. If all who divorce are committing
\nadultery, and adultery is a grave sin, one for which people are still
\nstoned to death in Islam, is there any hope for people like us when divorce
\nhas become so common? Perhaps this is one of those texts best taken out
\nof the preaching series so that we don\u2019t have to fumble and bumble
\naround with it. On the other hand, perhaps there is something going on
\nin this text which is far more complex than the disobedience to the Sixth
\nCommandment and a law-oriented reprimand for those who are disobeying
\nit. What do you think that might be? I would suggest that it is niggardly
\nbehavior on the part of the Pharisees who are testing Jesus with their
\nquestions. Let\u2019s listen to what they\u2019re saying and see if
\nwe can understand why niggardly behavior for them and for us is WORSE
\nthan it sounds.<\/p>\n
When New Attitudes Press Us Farther Than The Law Can Jesus\u2019 response to this attitude seems surprising, but he is Does this mean that this Jesus is harder and tougher than the Jesus When New Attitudes Affirm Surprising People Equally surprising, Mark and our pericopal series This last Sunday at a picnic I watched a five-year-old son of a friend Of course, a child-like attitude could grasp all of this if it could
\n<\/strong> On the surface, some Pharisees seem to be asking Jesus whether he considers
\nit religiously appropriate to divorce one\u2019s wife. In reality, however,
\nthey were asking a niggardly question more like \u201cwhat\u2019s the least
\npossible standard with respect to marital fidelity that we might be able
\nto get away with?\u201d To understand why their question was miserly and
\ngrudgingly mean, we have to understand their approach to religious law at
\nthat time, and specifically with respect to the matter of divorce. There
\nwere many layers of religious law (Torah) from written to oral (Mishnah)
\nto interpretive (Halakah and Gemara) all of which sought to apply God\u2019s
\nintent to minute practical situations. In reality, however, the various interpretations
\noften made it possible to avoid the original intent of the law. In the case
\nof divorce, for instance, Rabbi Hillel had provided so many causes for divorcing
\none\u2019s wife (including burning a husband\u2019s dinner) that divorce
\nwas an extremely common practice by Jesus\u2019 time. When some Pharisees
\nreminded Jesus that Moses had allowed them simply to dismiss their wives
\nwith a piece of paper, Jesus retorted, presumably in disgust, \u201cit was
\nbecause of your hardness of heart.\u201d Niggardly attitudes had allowed
\npeople to treat one another in ways that God\u2019s good law never intended.<\/p>\n
\ntaking his hearers into the heart of his message about the Kingdom\u2014and
\nwe shouldn\u2019t miss this. He overrides the Torah, the very Law of
\nMoses, in implying that while Moses may have been generous to self-centered
\nmen who are stingy with their love by divorcing their wives for any cause,
\nGod had greater plans for them when he made them spouses to each other
\nthrough his blessing. And, he might have continued, \u201cwhen you simply
\nhoard God\u2019s love in a covetous fashion and become grudgingly mean
\nin your attitudes to your spouses, this sin, this adulteration of God\u2019s
\nblessing of oneness, is without excuse.\u201d Of course, such words
\nare intended for people who consider themselves to be a part of God\u2019s
\npeople. Those who have not would not accept the thought that God had
\nmade them one. However, that is precisely Jesus\u2019 point. These were
\npeople who had accepted the Scripture that what God had joined together,
\nhumans should not separate. Why were they running from that blessing
\nand privilege?<\/p>\n
\nwho preached God\u2019s love and forgiveness to sinners? Not at all.
\nHe was asking disciples like you and me to replace a niggardly question
\nsuch as \u201chow little can we get away with in marriage relationships?\u201d with
\na bolder question such as \u201chow committed could a person who has
\naccepted God\u2019s love and blessing in a marriage like yours really
\nbe?\u201d In other words, who you are says a great deal about what you
\ncan do. If you accept your place in the dawning divine movement in which
\nextravagant kindness reigns, then one doesn\u2019t settle for the least
\nthat can be scrounged out of a stingy heart. One goes the extra mile,
\ngives the last coin, forgives seventy times seven, and thanks God an
\nequal number of times for his blessing of marriage before considering
\ndivorce. In a Kingdom where God\u2019s good news motivates and drives
\nus, parsimonious passes at legal hedges stand less of a chance.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong> There\u2019s another big question which this text is raising for some Pharisees
\nin Jesus\u2019 audience as well as for us. It is the question for spouses
\nabout how far a new ethic of love can really drive them? This question may
\nseem to have been answered in our own time, but it was very real in Jesus\u2019 day
\nand there are dimensions of the question we can press in the here and now.
\nThe question has a dual dimension and might read something like this: \u201cCan
\nyou legitimately relegate people to lesser roles with which your own need for
\nrecognition is comfortable?\u201d (the niggardly question), or \u201cWill
\nyou not rather offer women and children opportunities commensurate with your
\nown extravagant kindness and their talents and abilities?\u201d You see, in
\nJesus\u2019 time, even though it was permissible for a woman to divorce her
\nhusband on four stipulated grounds in a court of law, only men had the right
\nto dismiss their wives just by deciding to do so– on almost any ground they
\nchose. At the heart of Jesus argument against his accusers was also the concern
\nto have women play an equal role in the dawning reign of God. However, in a
\npatriarchal society such a role could only be given by those who knew their
\nhearts to have been enlarged enough to share the very love they had received.
\nAnd, for that matter, such a role can only be given to immigrants, the mentally
\nchallenged, street people, or HIV victims if new attitudes in New Kingdom people
\nin our own time affirm them.<\/p>\n
\nincludes the story of Jesus blessing of children, objected to this time not
\nby Pharisees but by niggardly
\ndisciples. After all, children had no rights and nothing to contribute in
\nthat era, so even though it was a custom for parents to bring children
\nto a rabbi
\nfor a blessing, this took time and blessings (remember how Jacob ran out
\nof blessings for Esau!) away from those who on this day coveted them
\nfor themselves.
\nYet in Jesus\u2019 alternative, topsy-turvy Kingdom where the least are often
\nthe most and the poor inevitably the rich, children can be models for us all.
\nIn fact, Jesus says, if you don\u2019t claim this Kingdom like a child, you
\nwill never really enter it. What could this possibly mean?<\/p>\n
\nof mine interact with my wife. He was filled with energy, enthusiasm,
\ncuriosity and caring. He wanted to try all the picnic foods, move from
\none activity to the next and help with setting everything up, as well
\nas clean up after. He was oblivious to the adult concerns for time, propriety,
\nand patience, but he trusted all of us totally, and wanted to experience
\nthe fullness of all that we seemed to consider meaningful. It\u2019s
\na charming model for those before whom Jesus lifts up his vision of a
\nKingdom or a world in which people enter with an eager and innocent spirit
\nbecause they trust that God has prepared something greater therein than
\nthey have concocted in this world for themselves. This is the child-like
\nattitude which Jesus holds up to us and the beautifully designed world
\nhe invites us to enter.<\/p>\n
\nget rid of the niggardly questions like \u201cwhat\u2019s the least
\nthat I have to do in order to perform acceptably in this world?\u201d This,
\nyou see, is a legalistic question which always ends with boredom, arbitrary
\nattitudes and unsatisfying answers. A childlike attitude could grasp
\nthe notion that even in a marriage on the rocks, there is more yet to
\nbe discovered if the same extravagant love with which God claimed me
\ncan express itself through me. It could seize the prospect that larger
\nthan my needs for hoarding my time and money are the opportunities to
\nmake changes and differences in people\u2019s lives which enrich all
\nof us. A child-like attitude can overwhelm the senses and sweep people
\noff their feet because of gratitude for an affirming love that lives
\nwherever Jesus\u2019 name is spoken. Do you understand that Jesus is
\nnot giving a moral code in these words, a code which seeks to challenge
\nand condemn us? He is much more providing examples of what can happen
\nwhen the reign of God enters our sphere of influence, when God\u2019s
\nextravagant kindness takes its rightful place in our lives. He is telling
\nus what can happen when we understand that niggardly behavior is far
\nworse as a practice than it sounds as a word. He is loving us to the
\nend because such love gives greater expression in our human relationships
\nthan any law could compel.<\/p>\n
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