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This week I saw an unexpected connection, between our Gospel reading on marriage, and stewardship. So my starting point today is the theme of stewardship, which is the Biblical word for the belief that God is the owner, and we are the caretakers, the managers, of that which belongs to God. But, what is it that belongs to God? It occured to me that in ancient Israel, the Jews believed that God was the owner of the land, but that fathers and husbands were the owners of children and women. Today, we believe just the opposite: that WE are the owners of the land, and God is the owner of the people, both men and women. I think I'll take the easier subject, of the land, first. The Jews believed that God owned the land, partly because they were originally nomads with flocks and herds,, moving around Syria, Canaan, and Egypt looking for good pasture. We know well the stories of Abraham and of Moses, representatives to whom God promised the land of Canaan--to give it, not as a possession, but to live on and to manage as stewards. We know also that this use of the land was conditional; it was dependant on their faithfulness to the covenant at Sinai. So the people took good care of the land for centuries, because they knew they were accountable as stewards. Today as 21st century Christians, we do not believe that the new covenant of Jesus has anything to do with land, whether it be the land of Israel or the land of California. We may be more intensely aware of the value of the land, than people who live in other places. We give a lot of attention to real estate, and we try hard to own a piece of it ourselves. All the legal documents from the county and the bank attest to our ownership. Yet we donÕt think we are accountable to God for the way we use our land. We treat the land, the way the ancients treated women, as possessions to be used and discarded. Two recent examples make this point: one is the contamination of spinach plants by the e coli bacteria in September. The other is this week's report that the chemical perchlorate has been linked to thyroid problems in women and abnormal brain development in their children. Perchlorate is used in the manufacture of rocket fuel and explosives, and it has gotten into the ground water in California. So it is not enough to do what is right only on our own land. We must be concerned about all uses of all the land, both private and commercial. Now let us turn to that other question of ownership and stewardship. We must address this in two steps: first asking what principle of interpretation we will use, and second asking what Jesus said about marriage and divorce. If the New Testament is regarded, on principle, as a set of laws, albeit new laws set forth by Jesus and his apostles, then this pronouncement by Jesus is a definitive statement, divorce is not lawful. If, on the other hand, the New Testament is regarded as the enactment of a new relationship with God, mediated by Christ, which is not based on laws, but on love and forgiveness, then the answer of Jesus must be studied in its historical context, and in relation to the rest of the New Testament. I believe in this second principle of interpretation, which I will now set out for you. In ancient Judaism, and in much of the ancient world in general, girls and women were considered the property of their fathers and husbands. Marriage was a family alliance created by the transfer of property from father to husband. This is the source of that traditional question, ÒWho presents this woman to be given in marriage?Ó which we have taken out of our wedding liturgy. (Here let me explain that in the place of that property-transfer question, I recommend a family-inclusion question: I ask, "John and Mary, will you accept Albert as the husband of your daughter and a member of your family?" and then, "Bob and Susan, will you accept Kathryn as the wife of your son . . ." I ask both parents of the bride and both parents of the groom these questions, to recognize the role of the mothers, and to avoid that implication of ownership by the fathers.) Back now to the Pharisees' question, "is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?Ó (Mk 10:2) Here we recognize that this question almost certainly arose because John the Baptist told Herod Antipas that he should not have divorced his first wife, and married Herodias, who was either his niece, or his mother-in-law!! (Mk 6:14-29) So this question of the Pharisees is a hostile question. It is asked in order to elicit a "wrong answer" from Jesus, thereby giving the Pharisees further cause to reject Jesus. Except for John's question to Herod, there was no controversy over divorce in the first century. There was some debate about whether a man could divorce his wife for ANY reason, such as burning his supper, or finding a more attractive woman, or whether he should only divorce her if she had done something scandalous. Because the wife was the property of the husband, she had no right to divorce him. What this meant in practice was that the husband could write on a piece of paper, "you are released from marriage to me, and dismissed; you are free to marry any man". He did not need to give a reason. He had no further responsibility to provide food, or clothing or shelter. He kept the children because they were his property, and the divorced wife was out on the street. Not many women were able to find new husbands after divorce; and they were entirely dependent on their father or their brothers to take them in. Jesus was telling them to take as good care of their wives, as they did of their land. His awareness that the wives were vulnerable, was expressed by his observation that Moses allowed divorce because of "hardness of heart". What he meant was the the people with all the power, namely the husbands, had closed their minds against the people with no power, namely the wives. He seems to have considered both men and women worthy to hear his message, and worthy to be healed, and worthy of care. But his disciples were puzzled, and when they got back to the house, they asked for a fuller explanation. Jesus must have astounded them with his answer. In the Jewish understanding, adultery was an offense that could only be committed by a wife, because it was a kind of stealing of the husband's property and a violation of his honor. Yet here Jesus said that if the divorced husband remarried, he would be committing adultery against his first wife!! In effect, this meant that the marriage commitment was the same for both husbands and wives, and neither was the property of the other. The big picture in the New Testament is that Jesus clearly did not intend to replace the old laws with new laws. The only other thing Jesus said about marriage, was that it will not exist in the resurrection (Matt 22:30). Rather, he offered a new covenant and a new, great, commandment, which forgiveness, faith, love and servanthood are the guiding principles for the Christian life. Both Jesus and St. Paul said it was better to remain single and celibate, than to marry, if one was capable of such restraint . More importantly, St. Paul developed the implications of what Jesus said about husbands and wives having equal rights, and equal respect for one another, in his first letter to the Corinthians (chapter 7). St. Paul also recognized divorce in the case of a Christian married to an unbeliever (I Cor 7:15). What is just as important as these particular verses on marriage and divorce, is the change in attitudes toward women. Becaue Jesus treated women with respect, and not as property, the early church invited women to be baptized, making them full and equal members of the church. Women along with men were apostles, teachers, prophets and evangelists. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul states the principle clearly: "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for all of you are one in Christ" (3:28). That shift in attitude can be seen in the letter to the Ephesians, which was probably not written by St. Paul. In chapter 5, the author wrote about Christian marriage, and his guiding principle is stated in verse 21: "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ". Verse 22 is often taken out of context, however it is a development of the guiding principle. The author says, "wives be subject to your husbands", and a few verses later, "husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". These are specifically instructions based on Jesus' teaching "to love your neighbor as yourself". They mean that each spouse has a responsibility to Christ, for their care of the other spouse, because they both belong to God in Christ. Now we have returned to the theme of stewardship: the stewardship of people and of relationships. From the interpretation I have made of New Testament texts, I believe we find an ethic of care to be exercised in marriage. That ethic includes equal rights and responsibilities of spouses to faithfulness, to love and respect, and to the building of a common life. Six years ago this ethic was eloquently expressed in a resolution passed by General Convention, which said that all intimate relationships should be "characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful honest communication, and the holy love which enables each to see in the other the image of God". That is our Christian ideal. Sometimes a marriage falls so far short of this ideal that it becomes not only hurtful, but destructive of one or both spouses. I have experienced this in my own life, and so have some of you. When that happens, I believe a Christian is obliged to make every effort in their power to heal and restore the relationship. If that effort fails, we in the Episcopal Church say, divorce is lawful. At the same time, we believe that during and after a divorce, each husband and wife still has a duty of stewardship, of continuing concern for the well-being of the other. When a divorced person asks to be remarried in the church, by canon law the priest must inquire whether he or she is exercising an appropriate continuing care for the former spouse. Underlying everything I have said, is the claim Jesus makes that each one of us is precious in God's sight: "all the hairs of your head are numbered" he said (Matt 10:30). We are made in God's image, we belong to God, and we are called to be good stewards of the land, and of God's beloved people with whom we are in relationship. Footnotes:
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