Dunbar United Church of Christ - October 4, 2009

At first reading, the Gospel passage seems like it’s about marriage. But marriage isn’t the main point. There’s a theme in here that Jesus comes back to many times. It’s the human heart.
We have our laws, but Jesus said that just because something is legal doesn’t mean it reflects God’s will. According to the laws of Moses, it was legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason. All he had to do was write on a piece of paper “I divorce you.” Then he handed his wife the paper and they were divorced. There was no alimony or child support, no costly legal fees. And in a culture where the woman had no income, and often non-virgins were not wanted as wives -- you can imagine the trouble a divorced woman had surviving.
Why do people divorce? For a lot of reasons. But Jesus always said that all our actions begin in the heart, the center of our emotions. It’s the place where, each day, good and evil fight each other. And often the evil wins. The poetic term that Jesus and the writers of the Bible used when evil got the upper hand in our lives was “hardness of heart.” A “hard heart” is a heart where there isn’t love. It’s a heart where people don’t care for the wellbeing of others.
Countries whose leaders’ hearts are hardened start wars with other countries. They exploit the poor, they don’t guarantee health care to every citizen. They torture their enemies. All of our problems, on a personal or national level, begin when our hearts become “hard.”
Last Tuesday I did a worship service for a group of about 7 women (between the ages of 70 and 95) at the Davenport Dunbar residence. We used this Gospel reading. After I read it, I said, “Any of you been divorced?” They all just looked at me. Dead quiet. I raised my hand and said, “I’ve been divorced.” Then, four of them raised their hands. One said, “It was my husband’s fault -- I would have stayed with him. He went and married three more times after he divorced me. He’s dead now -- and when I die, I know I won’t find him in heaven.”
Jesus said that everything we do, good and bad, begins in our heart. And this is where we need to keep our attention from the time we wake up till we go to sleep -- following the good, and not listening to the evil.