Stumbling blocks

7 October 2018
Twentieth Sunday after Epiphany
Proper 22B (RCL)
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16

This will be a short entry, much going on this week.

The passage from Mark’s Gospel follows on from the reading about setting stumbling blocks before these little ones. Our reading today ends with Jesus embracing another child, which bookends the previous episode, in which the disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest, and Jesus took a child in his arms.

I believe Mark sets the saying about divorce in this context to make the point that the kind of law (which Moses allowed for our hardness of heart) is the kind of stumbling block Jesus was talking about just above. Divorce, whether permitted or not, causes these little ones to stumble. We get caught up in what is permissible, and Jesus reminds to look at the issue from the perspective of those who have no voice in the matter.

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