Sunday, September 30, 2018

20th after pentecost year b - mark

Mark 10:2-16
2Some Pharisees came,
and to test Jesus they asked,
“Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?”
3Jesus answered them,
“What did Moses command you?”
4They said,
“Moses allowed a husband to write a certificate of dismissal
and to divorce her.”
5But Jesus said to them,
“Because of your hardness of heart
Moses wrote this commandment for you.
6But from the beginning of creation,
‘God made them male and female.’  
7’For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
8and the two shall become one flesh.’
So they are no longer two,
but one flesh.
9Therefore what God has joined together,
let no one separate.”
10Then in the house
the disciples asked Jesus again about this matter.
11Jesus said to them,
“Whatever man divorces his wife
and marries another
commits adultery against her;
12and if she divorces her husband
and marries another,
she commits adultery.”

13People were bringing little children to Jesus
in order that he might touch them;
and the disciples spoke sternly to them.
14But when Jesus saw this,
he was indignant and said to them,
“Let the little children come to me;
do not stop them;
for it is to such as these that the dominion of God belongs.  
15Truly I tell you,
whoever does not receive the dominion of God as a little child
will never enter it.”
16And Jesus took them up in his arms,
laid his hands on them,
and blessed them.

Queeries for the text:
What did the other Pharisees do while some tested Jesus?
Why do they ask a question they already know the answer to?
How have Genesis 1 and 2's merisms and creation accounts enforced a gender binary?  How could they challenge it?
What would be a contemporary equivalent to divorce in Jesus' time?
Could women divorce men in Jesus' time?
What do children have to do with divorce?
What does it mean to receive the dominion of God as a little child?
What blessing did Jesus give the children?

What are your queries?




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