All for One
Our lesson today from Genesis is chosen because of the Gospel text. (Have you noticed that during Pentecost we have been reading the Gospel of Mark consecutively?) You are quite familiar with both of these texts because they seem to deal with marriage. Actually, if you listened carefully neither is about marriage. The Genesis text is about creation and the gospel text is Jesus’ answer to a question on divorce. Something that many couples seem to miss when they choose these texts for their wedding. These texts also have been used in the cultural war about same sex marriage. Which, again, they are not about. In fact Jesus seems to interpret the text from Genesis differently than what it meant when it was written. For the Israelites this was not an important text and is not mentioned again in the Old Testament. It is part of the second creation narrative in the Bible and is probably talking about having children. That is the “one” of “two shall become one” is a child. That is the command of God in other creation passages – to be fruitful and multiply. This is also how the Talmud* seems to interpret it. Jesus understood this text to mean that, somehow, in marriage, both man and woman are joined and made one. An idea that is closer to how it is understood by many today. Although Jesus is using it here to prohibit divorce. In the Old Testament divorce was only allowed for the husband if his wife displeased him. There was no divorce for a wife even if she was mistreated by her husband.
So how do we view these two texts? Some Christian churches take them to the fullest possible understanding in the modern sense – birth control is wrong as well as divorce and, in divorce, leads to excommunication. This use is the opposite of what the texts really mean. The Genesis text is about a gift. God’s gift of life, the world, and human community. The word “rib” when used elsewhere in the Old Testament usually means “side.” Some scholars suggest that God took one side of Adam to make Eve since no other creature was adequate to be a helper. Note, not servant or slave but one equally involved. Jesus uses this text to rail against the abuse of the divorce law. He was challenging the societal view that women were second-class citizens by leveling the playing field and not allowing men to misuse the divorce laws in order to “improve” their possession.
God created us male and female, coequal partners in the care and redemption of the world. But we do not do that alone. God also gave us human community. We are called into our community by God, equipped by God’s love, and strengthened by the work of Jesus. We often lose this perspective egged on by a false claim that we should be able to do whatever we want. We cannot and should not. Instead we are to shape our lives in the mold of Jesus. Lives given to living in the community God has given us, lifting it up, and sharing all our gifts so that everyone in our community is able to join us as equal partners in God’s community.
*The Talmud (Hebrew for “study”) is a collection of Jewish rabbinic writings on the meaning of the Torah assembled about 500 CE. The writings span the second through sixth century and are read by Jews today as a study guide on how to live their lives within the Law.