RENEWsletter for October 4, 2009 - 27th Ordinary

Dear Renewers--
This Sunday's readings make me think of the spiritual importance of family. The idea that "it's not good for a person to be alone" has been a "given" since the foundation of the world. Yet today many people are alone. More than ever, even at work, there is little personal interaction. There's email and cell phones, and Facebook and Twitter, and they wouldn't be as popular as they are if it weren't for humans' desire, and need, to connect.

So let's connect by taking a look together at the readings for this coming 27th of the "numbered Sundays". They are found on the web at: http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/100409.shtml, and in your Bible at:

Genesis 2.18-24
Psalm 128.1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Hebrews 2.9-11
Mark 10.2-16

Some people think the story in the First Reading is literally factual... Some think it's allegorical... Some don't think about it at all. There's an email joke floating around that humorously re-writes this story. Eve is lonely and God offers to create a companion for her. Says God, "He'll be proud, arrogant, and self-admiring, so as a condition of creating him for you, you'll have to let him believe that I made him first. And it will be our little secret... you know, woman to woman." :-)

Regardless of your take on the creation story in Genesis, you have to concede that it's not good to be alone (Gen 2.18). We need the animals, and all other life too (v. 19). We give names to our pets, we catalog and record the statistics of all the life we can find (v. 20). We even look for life on other planets! But nothing matches the companionship of our own kind (vs. 23, 24). Humans were made for community. We need each other.

In fact, in the Responsorial Psalm one of the blessings the psalmist is thanking the Lord for is his family (Ps. 128.3). It is in this way that we receive our greatest blessings (v. 4). Living to see our children's children, this is the greatest blessing of all (v. 6). May the LORD bless us all the days of our lives (v. 5)!

The Second Reading points out that "he who consecrates [Jesus] and those who are being consecrated [us] all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them [us] brothers [and sisters]" (Heb. 2.11). The Family of God is a happy family! Even when there's suffering (v. 9). God thought it fitting that his son should suffer in order to perfect our salvation, our adoption into the Family of God (v. 10). If we suffer in this life, we can know that our "big brother" Jesus suffered too, that we are saved by his suffering, and will spend eternity with him and the rest of God's family.

The Gospel Reading carries forth with the importance of family. Jesus deals with those pesky Pharisees, the "fundamentalists" of his day, when they come to him with a trick question. "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" (Mark 10.2). Well, the answer was Yes, it's lawful (vs. 3, 4). But Jesus explained that God allowed it because of the "hardness of your hearts" (v. 5). Jesus then repeated the creation story for them (vs. 6-9). They knew the story, but did the significance soak into their hearts? God makes the husband and wife one body; Moses allowed that body to be separated. The fact is, God hates divorce (Malachi 2.16). He hates it because of what it does to us, his children. Divorce is lawful, but it's awful.

I can imagine the disciples sitting through this is stunned silence, wide-eyed, perhaps for the first time considering the creation story and the law about divorce in the same sentence. They came to him later, after the Pharisees had gone, to ask him about it (v. 10). He put it another way: If a husband and wife get divorced and marry another, it's the same as adultery (v. 11, 12).

Yes, and if you're angry with your brother, it's the same as murder (Matthew 5.21, 22).

See, we all sin. But God made a way to reunite us with himself. Look at the Second reading again: "...that by the grace of God he [Jesus] might taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2.9). How many times will God forgive his children? "Seventy times seven" (Matt. 18.22).

So let us soften our hearts... let God take away our stony hearts and give us warm hearts (Ezekiel 11.19 and 36.26). We need each other. We can't hurt another without hurting ourselves.

Have a good week, folks, and keep in touch!

Randy Jones
"Those who cannot love say 'I am a rock... I am an island'!"