God Made Them

Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16

When Jesus taught his disciples and anyone who would listen to him, he sometimes said some things that upset the very religious persons who heard him. In the gospel lesson we heard that the Pharisees wanted to test Jesus to see if they could get him to say anything for which they might discredit him. And their question was, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

Apparently, they expected Jesus to answer with a "yes" or a "no," thinking that either answer would be unsatisfactory to the people around him. But, Jesus didn't do that. Instead, he asked the Pharisees to answer the question for him. He asked, "What did Moses command you?" And they responded by saying, "Moses permitted a man to write her a certificate of divorce and send her away." Indeed, that was the answer that was written in the Old Testament. That was the Biblical answer, the answer from God's Holy Word, as far as these very righteous, religious Pharisees were concerned.

But, Jesus wasn't satisfied with their answer, because he knew how many families, including women and children, were being broken and destroyed simply because men who felt that they had the biblical, God-given right to end their marriage were writing their wives a certificate of divorce, and sending them away without a place to live. Jesus saw marriage as much more than a quasi-permanent living arrangement between a man and a woman. Rather, he saw marriage as something that had its theological roots in creation, itself. Jesus saw a stable marriage and the resulting institution of family as being important to what we are as human beings: important to the physical, spiritual, and psychological health of persons of all ages.

As far as Jesus was concerned, the breakdown of marriage and family was due to the sinful nature of humanity. And, so, Jesus told the Pharisees that the only reason Moses had offered a law concerning divorce certificates was in order to at least bring a little order to an already chaotic situation, wherein persons were getting married and divorced without any accountability, whatsoever. But, in the midst of a society wherein divorce was rampant, Jesus encouraged those who followed him to make stability in marriage and in family a serious goal, indeed. Looking at it from the perspective of creation, itself, human society, in its healthiest state, is dependent upon stability in marriage and family. Thus, the overall health of a nation may be judged by how seriously its citizens consider the institution of marriage and family, and all that goes into making it and preserving it.

As far as Jesus was concerned, because God made man and woman, God also created the institution of marriage and family. And it is no coincidence that no sooner had Jesus said what he did about the importance of preserving the quality of marriage and family than he said, "Let the little children come unto me, for unto such belong the kingdom of heaven."

When God made man and woman, God had children in mind. This is something our society seems to forget with its Playboy and Penthouse mentality. Our general attitude towards sex has become so casual that the majority of today's American teens have had sexual intercourse by the age of 16, the typical date for unmarrieds out of high school has a 60% chance of ending in bed, making sexual intercourse the norm for a dating couple, rather than the exception. This casual attitude towards sex has more than tripled the rate of children born to unwed parents since 1960. And, in general, this has created a society full of families that are much less stable, much less secure, more prone to failure and much more susceptible to needing intervention from social services agencies. Members of such families, and this certainly includes the children, are also much more likely to have physical and psychological problems than are persons from stable environments. But, Jesus held children in high regard. For Jesus, protecting children, nurturing children, considering the needs of children, was one of the most important things a society can do.

But, in Jesus' day children weren't considered to be very important, especially those under the age of 12 years. It was believed that persons younger than this were unable to think religiously; that their thoughts were too simple; that their accomplishments too few to be considered important to God.

And this is why the disciples discouraged people from bringing their children to Jesus to meet him. The disciples thought that these children were just too young to appreciate or even comprehend who it was they were meeting. And, so, the disciples turned away those parents who brought their little children to meet the Lord.

But, Jesus became indignant with his disciples when he saw them do this. And he said, "Let the little children come to me, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

And, so, we ought to spend a few moments today considering how well we nurture the children around us as well as within us.

Yesterday and today our church has been the site of a meeting of the Michigan Youth Temperance Council. This is an organization that has its roots in the Women's Christian Temperance Union. It firmly believes and teaches that the best route for a young person to take in regards to the use of alcohol is to avoid it, altogether. Most of us who really care about our youth and who are all too familiar with the trouble that alcohol causes would agree that total abstenance is the best policy. So, indeed, caring about our children, nurturing our children, may be reflected in our own behavior and attitudes about drugs and alcohol.

But, of course, there are other ways by which we may care for for and nurture the children around us. Our attitudes concerning pornography need to be tightened. Our support of the public schools as tax payers and as parents needs to be greater. We should see a greater interest for supporting programs such as the Family Development Center with our talents and our gifts. More of us would do well to see that our Church School is second to none.

God created man and woman. God created marriage and family. And as God did these things he had children in mind. Socrates said, "Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim -- fellow citizens, why do ye turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children, to whom one day you must relinquish it all? Amen.