One Plus One Equals One

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Yes, I suppose Pastor has a math problem. Math was never my best subject. But 1+1, according to God, equals 1, when He's speaking in terms of marraige.

Our faith requires us to trust God with what He discloses to us about Himself, and about His world, in His word, the Holy Scripture. It's by faith that we understand that even though there are three persons, there's only one God.

Now, my mind, no matter how hard I try, cannot figure that out. I simply have to accept it by faith. And I'm guessing that, like me, your mind has a hard time understanding how three can be one, and how one can be three. And yet, faith enables us to trust God at His word.

That same faith that was just made new to Abigail a few moments ago in baptism. In our own baptism, that same faith was created in us to trust God's promises. Now, if we're not going to trust God on the things that are difficult, how will we be able to trust Him in the things that are simple?

In our Gospel reading, Jesus is asked a question by the Pharisees. The Pharisees are always trying to test Jesus. And they asked Jesus: Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

Now, I was thinking about this and I was wondering what kind of questions might people today ask to test Jesus? That is, ask Jesus to test Him. More often than not, they are questions that they address to you and I as followers of Jesus. And, unfortunately, no matter how bright we think we are, we are not as adept at answering those questions as our Lord Jesus is.

We could ask questions about mask or no mask, vaccine or no vaccine. Would Jesus have something to say about that? I suppose, but I'm not going to put words in His mouth.

I imagine there are people just like those Pharisees, that would ask is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? Or maybe we might switch the wording around and ask is it okay for a woman to divorce her husband?

Or is it okay for a child to divorce themselves from their parents? And you might think well Pastor, or nobody asked that question. But yet, from time to time, we do see these occasional cases where some child wants to emancipate themselves from their parents.

We might raise the question. Or it might be raised to us: well, what does Jesus think about transgender issues? What does God have to say about these things?

And of course, God makes clear how He views those things in His word. The problem is that sometimes we don't like what He says to us.

Just like when I was growing up, there were a lot of times with my parents said things to me, especially my father, that I didn't really want to hear. And they usually were preceded, or somewhere in the conversation was the word no. No.

We don't like, "no," do we? It's the sin in us. If somebody says no, it's kind of like they're giving us an open invitation to disobey. Which, sometimes they did, only to be punished. Sent to the corner. Sent to my room. And if it was really, really, egregious, that is really, really bad, well, then there was usually some punitive measures beyond simply going to a corner or my bedroom. And if you grew up in my era, you probably know what some of those punitive measures were, and I think I came out okay and well-adjusted for it. Some may disagree, but I feel good about myself, you know, all that.

So, Jesus is really good at answering a question with a question. And we, as His people, we're kind of slow in that, because we'd really like to engage in that debate, wouldn't we? We'd really like to fall into that trap, and maybe fall on our face, make a fool of ourself, instead of following Jesus' example when those questions come to us. Well, what would your church, what do you believe? We should ask a question. Well, why don't you share where you're coming from?

Because chances are, even if they aren't remotely connected to church, Christianity, have any knowledge about it, they sort of probably know where we're coming from. And why else would they come with the questions like the Pharisees did?

"What did Moses command you?" Jesus asked. And their answer is, Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away. Moses allowed this, is their answer. So basically, "Moses allowed it, so what are you going to say about that, Jesus?"

You see that's the test. If Jesus says that's unlawful, then they can say, hey, but Moses says it's okay. And by this time, they kind of think more of Moses than they do God's word.

But if He says it's lawful, well, then they got them because the sixth commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

So, Jesus asked them what Moses has commanded them. And really, Moses commanded them first and foremost through God: Thou shall not commit adultery, but then He says, because of the hardness of your heart, Moses allowed you to write a certificate of divorce. It was because of man's sin. Because of man's sin that he allowed this. Because of the hardness of your hearts.

But Jesus goes on and says: but from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

So then, in the beginning, God made them male and female. But after He created them, what happens to God's good and beautiful creation of male and female? And of the two becoming one?

The old evil foe, the devil sneaks in, and it's like, hey, don't listen to what God says. You can know better. What did God tell Adam and Eve about a certain tree? He said no. Which the devil used as an invitation to say go forth and eat.

Which they did. Before that, they were perfectly content, happy. In fact, we're even told they were unclothed, they were naked, but they weren't ashamed. Wanna have a reason why we can be certain that there's sin in the world? Everybody's wearing clothes, aren't we? To cover ourselves. And not just to cover our bodies, but then we put on clothing, we put on masks, we put on disguises, to hid our sin from other people. Sometimes to fool ourselves into thinking we're really not that bad. We're not that terrible.

But you see, sinners are sinners. And it's that sin that destroys that gift. It was that sin that hardened the people's hearts that enabled Moses to write that they could write a certificate of divorce, but it wasn't what God's plan was, and it wasn't what God's desire was, and just because sin corrupts everything, doesn't mean that God still doesn't want things to be that way.

And even the disciples ask about it. Jesus makes it clear: whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery with her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. Whether we like it or not, most of us are adulterers, aren't we? Maybe we are divorced. But maybe we're not. Because we can have adulterous thoughts and still be married to our spouse.

But you see, Jesus is saying this isn't the way it's supposed to be. God intended for them to be one.

Now, I think it will become rarer to see in the newspaper, even if they put it in the newspaper, of a couple celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary. When I was growing up, it wasn't uncommon to see there was a 50th and a 60th and a 75th wedding anniversary. I think I even remember on an occasion there was even an 80th or 90th anniversary. It's like boy, they got married really, really young. Which they did, because they were married, like in the 1800s, many of them.

But you see, God tells us how He wants it, how He intends it.

Some of you have been divorced. Are divorced. Sad to say, some of you will be divorced. And there's no such thing as a clean divorce. Or a no-fault divorce. Or a painless divorce. And if somebody fools you into thinking that there are, I can tell you, there aren't.

Those of you who've been married many, many years and you've lost a spouse, you feel like you've lost part of yourself, don't you? That part of yourself died with them.

If you're divorced, you feel like part of you's been ripped from you. Because in a miraculous, unique way, God does make the two one. Just as God uses marriage as an image of the relationship between His Son the groom and the Church, His bride. And we are one. So, too, as God says, the two become one.

Sometimes, when you're married a long time, you know that thing that your spouse really likes, what they don't like, and you can probably even complete their sentence before they even think of saying it, maybe.

And like we asked the kids, no, parents don't become perfect after marriage. That's probably one of the first things you realize after the honeymoon's over. There are the dirty socks and underwear laying around. I don't think many people come out with curlers in their hair and fuzzy slippers, but after the, "I do's," we put away our courting behavior and we become ourselves.

And in this union, God brings forth children. I love children. I like it when they're curious at the font. I don't mind if they're fussing, cuz I figure well, that's the devil's last chance to fuss before they get baptized. I have to say, I was chuckling behind the pulpit here as I saw the young girl pick up her little brother who really wasn't much bigger, then she was. I hope they made it back to their seat without any incident.

And it's through parents that God gives children. In the marriage order, one of the things we say is one of the reasons for marriage is for the procreation of children. That's how God wants it to be. Now, certainly, there are lots of children marriage. But that's not the way God intends it.

How often don't we hear on the news that part of the problem that we have in our inner cities is that young men don't have fathers to look up to. That's not the way God intended it.

And in God's word, we probably don't like the fact that He wants one and one to be one. That he wants us to stick it out together. And that He wants us to care for our children. Male and female. But sin kind of messes up everything. It messes up marraiges, it messes up relationships, it messes with our bodies, it messes with our minds.

And the devil is at work in the world, in the people around us, in the media that we see, and he's at work in ourselves to make us unsure and uncertain about God's love for us.

Yes, we are sinners. But God sent His Son to take upon Himself our punishment.

In a letter to the Hebrews, the author says that by His death, the children of God might also die. In Abigail's baptism, we said she was joined to Christ's death. And that a new being came forth. Now, she hasn't changed too much that we can see, but inside, God's Spirit is there. And there's faith. And as she grows up, as with all children, there will be tension between Mom and Dad and child. Just as there is tension in this world between God and His children, as there was in my family growing up. And she will hear the word no, and she will fuss. And then she'll become a parent. And she'll say no, and her children will fuss, and Mom and Dad will just be like "I'm glad you're getting a taste of what we had."

But just like my father, so too, our Heavenly Father. When we argue and we ask why not?

After I or my brother said, yes indeed, we would jump off the bridge with our friends if they did. Lots of people jump off bridges because their friends are. My dad would finally say no, and we would finally say why? And he'd simply say, "Because I'm your father and I say so." And that was the end of it.

And in the Holy Scriptures, God makes clear to us what His will is. He makes clear how we fall short of that, how He brings salvation through His Son. And even the author of the Hebrew said we need to pay more attention now, because what should be our fate if we ignore such a great salvation as this?

And our Father in Heaven says, "No because I said so. And I said so because I love you."

The Gospel reading ends with the people bringing children to Jesus that He might touch them.

Those disciples, they didn't care for that. Hey, Jesus is all about the big people. Then Jesus said, "Don't hinder them. For such belongs the kingdom of God." And He welcomed them. He received them. He blessed them and laid His hands on them. And He lays His hands upon us, blesses us. Gives us faith to trust His word and His promise, even when we live in a world that doesn't want to believe, doesn't want to trust, wants to take the no as a means to go forth and sin boldly.

And so, in these latter days, we do need to pay greater attention to what God's word says on how He wants us to live our lives. Just as growing up, it was important for us to listen to our parents. They taught us. They told us. Not because they were perfect, but because they loved us. Because they had experienced the same temptations, trials, curiosity that we had experienced, wanted to experience. And out of their life, they shared with us what they had learned, often times, the hard way.

God. 1+1=1 in God's eyes.

And as we seek to follow His ways, may He enable us to trust that. And when, as is want to happen in our lives as sinners, we fail, and we sin, and we subtract, we have a loving God who forgives us. There's no sin, no matter how great we or others may think it be, that our Lord's, Jesus' blood cannot cover and forgive, save that of unbelief.

And so, what a blessing today for us to be reminded not only through God's word, but through the water of baptism, and in a few moments, the very Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, of His great and lavish love for us, His children, no matter how young or old we may be. For He delights in calling us His children, and our Lord delights in calling us His brothers and sisters. Amen. Now may the peace of God, which surpasses our understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in faith in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.