Ordinary 27 – B
Mk 10:2-16
Fr. Carl McCarthy
October 8, 2006 

They had just returned home from celebrating their 40^th wedding anniversary with their children and family. They were happy and tired, but before collapsing into bed, he offered to fix her a late-night snack.

While she sat on the stool at the kitchen counter, he went to the fridge and got out the ham, cheese and mustard. Then reached into the breadbox, and pulled out the last 4 pieces of bread. He carefully made 2 sandwiches and cut them into bite-sized quarters, just the way she liked, and placed them on a plate to serve her. “Why do you always give me the sandwich with the heel of the bread?’ she said. “For 40 years, we have been married, and you always have given me the heel of the bread loaf. I know that I’ve never said anything before, but I really don’t like the heel.”  He was terribly embarrassed, lowered his head and said, “I give you the heel because it is my favorite piece from the loaf.”

This Scripture could easily cause a preacher to fall into the trap of preaching about marriage.  If a preacher did this, he would only be preaching, without arriving at the truth of the Scripture. To preach in this manner could also further isolate those who know the pain of divorce - a pain that extends deep into the fabric of the human family. This Sunday’s Scripture challenges the preacher to get to heart of the Scripture, where the truth and love of Jesus lie -- a truth and love in which Jesus encourages his followers to uphold the model Christian life, while living the reality of the human life.

We hear again in this scripture how the Pharisees despise Jesus, and they want to trip him up. To do this, they pull out a teaching about a relationship as sacred as marriage - thinking that the new law and commandments Jesus teaches indicate lowered his expectations for married life. But on the contrary, he raised his expectations as to how we should love one another.

 Throughout his ministry, Jesus never lowered the stakes; instead, he always raised them for his followers, so that they could lead an ideal Christian life. To embrace the model Christian life is to embrace the new order that arrived when Jesus became one of us. In this way of life, Jesus called his followers to uphold the law of love and be people of forgiveness, justice, love, and above all, to be people who have a deep connection with God.

So how are we doing with upholding living the model of the Christian life? Are we people of forgiveness…or are we holding on to grudges? Are we living lives of justice…or are our hearts closed to peace?  Do we live as people who are in love with God and wish to share that love with all people …or do we pick and choose who we will love; I’ll love you and you and you, but not you?  Are we developing a deeper connection with God through daily prayer and quiet contemplation…or do we pray only when we are disturbed and are looking for God to do something for us?

 Living a Christian life calls us to be willing to work at raising the stakes. The call of a Christian is to help humanity see the potential we each have within us. If we allow him, Jesus will pull that potential from us. We should never settle for less than what God will give, and the most powerful gift that God gave us was love, and, with love, all things are possible.

 Back to the story of the couple celebrating their 40^th wedding anniversary. You would think that sometime during 40 years of marriage, one partner would have shared with the other that she did not like the heel from the loaf of bread. I think it is alright if one did not know that the other did not like the heel from the loaf of bread. It just goes to show that there is always more to learn about another, and in our openness to learn about each other, we raise the stakes, and we learn more about God.

sdrose@bellsouth.net
                10-17-2006