WEBVTT 00:00:09.899 --> 00:00:12.740 Hey, welcome back here to The Semi Seminarian. 00:00:12.859 --> 00:00:15.199 I'm your old brother, your old buddy, Pastor 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:17.879 Jim, coming to you through the late night static 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.039 with a word for the ones who've run out of easy 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:24.079 answers. Most preachers swerve around this passage 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:27.219 like it is a pothole, but not tonight. We're 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:29.160 heading straight through it. This episode's called 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:33.799 Love May Quit, But God Won't, Jesus and Divorce. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.740 It's not about finger pointing or moral score 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:39.390 keeping. It's about what happens when forever 00:00:39.390 --> 00:00:42.109 falls apart and grace still shows up anyway. 00:00:43.070 --> 00:00:44.950 When the paperwork's done but the ache won't 00:00:44.950 --> 00:00:48.929 quit. When a love you promised walked away but 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:52.630 the love that made you doesn't. So lean in close 00:00:52.630 --> 00:00:55.469 let's go find Jesus on that dusty road where 00:00:55.469 --> 00:00:59.229 the Pharisees came to trap him but he came to 00:00:59.229 --> 00:01:02.329 tell the truth about mercy. I'll see you on the 00:01:02.329 --> 00:01:11.590 other side. Like I had mentioned 12 years, lots 00:01:11.590 --> 00:01:16.469 of sermons, lots of gimmicks, lots of bad jokes, 00:01:17.890 --> 00:01:22.530 and lots of something else too. Running from 00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:28.129 the hard parts of the Bible. Because preaching 00:01:28.129 --> 00:01:34.469 on those hard parts requires trust on both of 00:01:34.469 --> 00:01:40.760 our parts. Trust in you that you'll hear what 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:48.299 I say and what I don't say. I trust that you'll 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:53.840 trust me to challenge. Maybe, maybe something 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.040 that you believed about the Bible and you've 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:01.019 believed it that way for your whole life. But 00:02:01.019 --> 00:02:04.180 I trust that you'll trust me to maybe give you 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:07.340 something to think about. when you think about 00:02:07.340 --> 00:02:10.039 what you think about that part of the Bible. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:15.939 And that type of trust between us takes time. 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:22.740 It requires relationship. And I think that's 00:02:22.740 --> 00:02:27.379 why most preachers don't preach on the hard parts 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:31.520 of the Bible. Because they don't trust themselves 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:36.159 to do it. They don't trust themselves to be able 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.180 to form that relationship between you and I. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:45.819 And so, they just avoid the hard parts of the 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:51.180 Bible. Well, on this Pastor Appreciation Sunday, 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.159 I want to demonstrate to you how much I trust 00:02:54.159 --> 00:03:01.259 you. Because today's topic is on D -I -V -O -R 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:07.270 -C -E. The morning sun is just beginning to rise 00:03:07.270 --> 00:03:11.629 on the ridges of Judea. The air carries a faint 00:03:11.629 --> 00:03:14.389 chill that lingers before the desert begins to 00:03:14.389 --> 00:03:19.009 warm. Jesus and his disciples are walking south, 00:03:19.030 --> 00:03:21.969 down through the dusty roads between Capernaum 00:03:21.969 --> 00:03:25.930 and the Jordan. The crowd trails behind them, 00:03:25.990 --> 00:03:28.090 farmers with dirt under their nails, mothers 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:31.629 clutching the hands of sleepy children. Men who 00:03:31.629 --> 00:03:33.969 left their nets just long enough to see what 00:03:33.969 --> 00:03:38.530 he might say today. There's a stillness in the 00:03:38.530 --> 00:03:43.050 air that's not quite peace. It's anticipation. 00:03:45.169 --> 00:03:48.210 Up ahead, beneath a fig tree heavy with green 00:03:48.210 --> 00:03:52.729 fruit, a cluster of Pharisees waits. They've 00:03:52.729 --> 00:03:56.129 been watching him waiting for a moment just like 00:03:56.129 --> 00:03:59.210 this when the teacher is surrounded by people 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:02.590 too poor, too hopeful to know that their hearts 00:04:02.590 --> 00:04:05.870 are about to become someone else's argument. 00:04:08.270 --> 00:04:11.150 The dust hangs low and the wind curls around 00:04:11.150 --> 00:04:14.150 them carrying the murmurs of the crowd and the 00:04:14.150 --> 00:04:16.629 smell of the Jordan just beyond the next hill. 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:23.759 Jesus slows his pace, looks at their faces. You 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:26.500 can almost see the question forming before it 00:04:26.500 --> 00:04:33.220 is ever spoken. Before we lean in to listen, 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:36.379 let us quiet the noise that followed us in here. 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:41.480 Let the dust settle in your souls. The question 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:45.399 that waits beneath this story isn't about rules, 00:04:45.540 --> 00:04:49.939 it's about hearts that break. And a God who refuses 00:04:49.939 --> 00:04:54.620 to walk away even when we do. So, friends, breathe 00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:58.339 deep. Let your spirit listen, not for defense, 00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:02.339 but for invitation. Hear the ancient air move 00:05:02.339 --> 00:05:06.339 again through this holy conversation. The Word 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:10.660 waits for us along the road. The reading this 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:14.879 morning Mark chapter 10 beginning with one He 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:17.319 left that place and he went to the region of 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:21.420 Judea and beyond the Jordan and crowds Gathering 00:05:21.420 --> 00:05:24.480 around him and as was his custom. He again taught 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.300 them Some Pharisees came to test him and they 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:30.860 asked him. Is it lawful for a man to divorce 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:36.860 his wife? He answered them What did Moses command 00:05:36.860 --> 00:05:40.829 you? It said Moses allowed a man to write a certificate 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:45.410 of dismissal and to divorce her. But Jesus said 00:05:45.410 --> 00:05:48.610 to them, because of your hardness of heart, he 00:05:48.610 --> 00:05:53.029 wrote that commandment for you. But from the 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:56.290 beginning of creation, God made them male and 00:05:56.290 --> 00:06:00.029 female. For this reason, a man shall leave his 00:06:00.029 --> 00:06:02.550 father and mother and be joined to his wife. 00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:06.439 The two shall become one flesh. So they are no 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:10.959 longer two but one flesh Therefore what God has 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:16.259 joined together let no one separate Then in the 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:18.759 house the disciples asked him again about this 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:22.860 matter. He said to them Whoever divorces his 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:25.480 wife and marries another commits adultery against 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:28.399 her and if she divorces her husband and marries 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:33.850 another she commits adultery Friends, the word 00:06:33.850 --> 00:06:38.329 is spoken not to bind us, but to beckon us, not 00:06:38.329 --> 00:06:41.730 to build a wall, but to uncover what still aches 00:06:41.730 --> 00:06:45.670 for healing. These words are as ancient as the 00:06:45.670 --> 00:06:49.449 dust, as an alive as your next breath. So may 00:06:49.449 --> 00:06:53.430 we hear them not as verdict, but as a vow that 00:06:53.430 --> 00:06:58.949 even in our breaking God remains. The ground 00:06:58.949 --> 00:07:02.329 beneath us is holy, still warm from his footsteps. 00:07:03.649 --> 00:07:07.170 Thus begins the story that waits for us on the 00:07:07.170 --> 00:07:12.089 road. It's early morning on that road south to 00:07:12.089 --> 00:07:15.230 Capernaum. The air is still cool enough to smell 00:07:15.230 --> 00:07:19.250 the sea. The fishermen are mending nets and the 00:07:19.250 --> 00:07:22.930 sound of them working, the pull and knot. The 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:27.069 pull and knot keeps time with the breeze off 00:07:27.069 --> 00:07:31.370 of Galilee. You can see Jesus a few steps ahead 00:07:31.370 --> 00:07:33.750 of the crowd, walking slow, letting them catch 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:37.529 up. A group of Pharisees waits near the shade 00:07:37.529 --> 00:07:40.509 of a fig tree and you can feel the air change 00:07:40.509 --> 00:07:44.629 before they even speak. Every question they ask 00:07:44.629 --> 00:07:48.110 him has a hook hidden somewhere in it and he 00:07:48.110 --> 00:07:54.110 knows it. They ask about divorce this time. Not 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:56.810 because they care about marriage, but because 00:07:56.810 --> 00:08:00.990 they are looking for leverage. You know the tone? 00:08:01.709 --> 00:08:04.569 They're not asking to learn, they're asking to 00:08:04.569 --> 00:08:09.689 trap. Maybe you've been on the receiving end 00:08:09.689 --> 00:08:14.069 of a question like that. The kind that's already 00:08:14.069 --> 00:08:16.689 decided what it thinks about you before you ever 00:08:16.689 --> 00:08:20.610 even open your mouth. Maybe you can still remember 00:08:20.610 --> 00:08:24.189 how it felt to be turned into somebody else's 00:08:24.189 --> 00:08:29.629 object lesson. Jesus doesn't argue. He doesn't 00:08:29.629 --> 00:08:33.110 bristle or perform. He does something quieter, 00:08:33.990 --> 00:08:36.990 something truer. He crouches down and he draws 00:08:36.990 --> 00:08:41.450 a line in the dust between them. Like he's saying, 00:08:41.769 --> 00:08:44.789 you can ask me about the law, but I'm going to 00:08:44.789 --> 00:08:49.429 talk about the heart. When he finally looks up, 00:08:49.470 --> 00:08:52.070 it's the same expression you've seen before in 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:56.149 his stories, the one that sees through the pretense 00:08:56.149 --> 00:09:02.129 and the pain. And he says, because of the hardness 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:06.330 of your hearts, Moses wrote you this commandment. 00:09:07.169 --> 00:09:09.710 But from the beginning of creation, God made 00:09:09.710 --> 00:09:13.330 them male and female. Therefore, a man shall 00:09:13.330 --> 00:09:15.669 leave his father and mother and be joined to 00:09:15.669 --> 00:09:19.330 his wife. Two shall become one flesh so they 00:09:19.330 --> 00:09:23.710 are no longer two but one flesh therefore What 00:09:23.710 --> 00:09:27.669 God is joined together let no one separate and 00:09:27.669 --> 00:09:32.110 the crowd shifts Some look down some nod some 00:09:32.110 --> 00:09:36.190 whisper But he didn't just answer the question 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:40.470 they had asked He answered the one they didn't 00:09:40.470 --> 00:09:45.360 dare say out loud What do we do? with what's 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:53.919 already broken. You don't need me to tell you 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:59.000 this. There are some verses of the Bible carry 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:04.440 the weight of real lives behind them. This is 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:10.019 one of them. If you have ever sat in a lawyer's 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.700 office staring at a stack of papers that used 00:10:12.700 --> 00:10:17.539 to be your vows, Or if you have ever lain awake 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:20.779 at night replaying all the things you had said 00:10:20.779 --> 00:10:23.840 wrong or the things you couldn't say at all, 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.940 you already know this isn't theory. This is heartbreak 00:10:28.940 --> 00:10:33.179 with a legal name. And maybe you've heard this 00:10:33.179 --> 00:10:39.159 passage used as a gavel and not a gospel. Maybe 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:42.220 someone stood behind a pulpit and said, God hates 00:10:42.220 --> 00:10:48.039 divorce. as if that settled everything. They 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:50.379 probably forgot to mention that Malachi says 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:54.860 God hates the violence that leads to divorce, 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:00.139 not the person surviving it. They forgot that 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:04.059 the same God who hates sin also kneels beside 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:10.960 sinners, scribbling mercy into the dust. You 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.110 know the ache. But that kind of preaching leaves 00:11:14.110 --> 00:11:18.809 behind. It's the ache of the person who stayed 00:11:18.809 --> 00:11:23.330 too long or the one who left too soon. It's the 00:11:23.330 --> 00:11:25.509 ache of the one who kept trying and the one who 00:11:25.509 --> 00:11:30.870 couldn't try anymore. It's the ache of the child 00:11:30.870 --> 00:11:33.610 who watched two worlds split and had to learn 00:11:33.610 --> 00:11:39.279 to carry both names in the same heart. Maybe 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:42.120 you've wondered, if marriage was meant to be 00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:44.480 forever, what happens when forever walks out 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:49.899 the door? What happens when love breaks but grace 00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:54.779 doesn't? What happens when the covenant feels 00:11:54.779 --> 00:11:59.220 one -sided and heaven seems quiet? You start 00:11:59.220 --> 00:12:04.340 to wonder if you're even whole, or if the fracture 00:12:04.340 --> 00:12:07.360 in your life somehow disqualifies you from the 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:13.919 kingdom. Jesus knew that ache. He wasn't giving 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:17.600 the Pharisees a rule book, he was revealing their 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:24.700 blindness. Because of the hardness of your hearts, 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:30.899 he said. And that phrase doesn't mean moral failure, 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:37.600 it means spiritual scar tissue. It's what happens 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:41.740 when love becomes bruised too many times to stay 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:46.559 tender And maybe that's what he's naming that 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:51.460 day The way that we harden to protect ourselves 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:56.120 and in the process Lose the softness that made 00:12:56.120 --> 00:13:02.120 us human in the first place It helps to understand 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:08.570 what that question meant in his time. Because 00:13:08.570 --> 00:13:12.789 in first century Judea, only men could initiate 00:13:12.789 --> 00:13:17.769 divorce. All it took was a written notice, a 00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:23.149 certificate of dismissal. And the woman was out. 00:13:24.649 --> 00:13:31.129 No property, no income, no protection. She might 00:13:31.129 --> 00:13:34.230 return to her father's house if he would take 00:13:34.230 --> 00:13:40.289 her. Otherwise, she'd beg or have to remarry 00:13:40.289 --> 00:13:45.490 for survival. Divorce wasn't mutual heartbreak. 00:13:46.470 --> 00:13:52.289 It was social exile. So when Jesus says whoever 00:13:52.289 --> 00:13:54.610 divorces his wife and marries another commits 00:13:54.610 --> 00:13:58.149 adultery against her, he isn't tightening the 00:13:58.149 --> 00:14:03.779 law. He's flipping the script. in a culture where 00:14:03.779 --> 00:14:07.179 men couldn't technically commit adultery against 00:14:07.179 --> 00:14:12.840 their wives. He names it plainly. If you abandon 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:17.679 her, if you discard her, you sin against her, 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:23.399 not just before God. In other words, the law 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:27.000 might let you walk away clean, but grace won't 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:33.840 allow you to walk away cruel. And you don't need 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:39.299 me to tell you this. But Jesus wasn't out to 00:14:39.299 --> 00:14:43.480 shame the divorced. He was out to protect the 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:48.379 discarded. He was standing between power and 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:52.480 pain, saying to every woman who had been written 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:56.919 off, you are not disposable. You are not property. 00:14:57.860 --> 00:15:03.320 You're mine. The Pharisees heard that and they 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:08.299 thought he was raising the moral bar. The brokenhearted 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:11.879 heard it and realized he was lowering a wall 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:16.440 that kept them out. And that's how the gospel 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:22.340 works. It sounds hard to the proud and healing 00:15:22.340 --> 00:15:26.299 to the humble. And maybe you've noticed that 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:32.159 in your own lives. Grace will wreck your categories 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:36.559 before it restores your heart. It'll make you 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:39.740 see that sin isn't always rebellion, sometimes 00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:45.340 it's just despair. And the cure for despair isn't 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:50.519 condemnation, it's compassion. And that's what 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:55.440 Jesus is doing here. He's rewriting this law 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:02.600 in the language of love. And when he says what 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:05.419 God has joined together, let no one separate. 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:14.299 He's not scolding. He's grieving. Because he 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:20.480 is remembering the original dream of Eden. When 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.740 two people could stand naked and unashamed before 00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:28.740 each other. No prenup. No backup plan, no record 00:16:28.740 --> 00:16:35.899 of wrongs, just belonging. He's mourning what 00:16:35.899 --> 00:16:40.200 we've lost. Kind of trust that could hold us 00:16:40.200 --> 00:16:42.200 through the night without fear of being sent 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:47.740 away in the morning. Maybe you've been here long 00:16:47.740 --> 00:16:49.940 enough to know that love can break your heart 00:16:49.940 --> 00:16:54.889 even when you're doing it right. Maybe you've 00:16:54.889 --> 00:16:58.870 prayed until your knees ached. Still that silence 00:16:58.870 --> 00:17:03.830 came back louder than the amen. Maybe you stayed 00:17:03.830 --> 00:17:07.829 longer than anyone expected and still found yourself 00:17:07.829 --> 00:17:15.089 standing alone. And you wonder, if marriage is 00:17:15.089 --> 00:17:21.329 sacred, what does that make me now? Am I the 00:17:21.329 --> 00:17:27.279 unholy one? Am I the exception God tolerates 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:32.619 but doesn't bless? The one sitting at the back 00:17:32.619 --> 00:17:34.980 of the church hoping no one will preach this 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:39.500 message this morning? I think you already know 00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:44.279 the truth. Even if it's hard for us to say out 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:49.240 loud, you are not unloved. You are not half saved. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:54.220 You are not outside the circle of grace. because 00:17:54.220 --> 00:17:57.779 the cross has already handled the paperwork. 00:18:00.579 --> 00:18:04.420 Jesus doesn't divorce his people. He keeps showing 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:08.279 up even when we have run out of reasons for him 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:11.779 to. And that's the whole gospel right there. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.759 It's not God hates divorce, it's God refuses 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.700 to divorce you. And maybe you're right now, maybe 00:18:19.700 --> 00:18:22.700 you're noticing the story isn't necessarily about 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:29.279 who left whom. It's about who stayed. The Holy 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:34.660 Spirit stayed. Spirit stays when everybody else 00:18:34.660 --> 00:18:38.279 walks out. Spirit stays when you can't even pray 00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:42.759 anymore. Spirit stays, hums that same song she's 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:45.680 been humming since Genesis. It's not good for 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.670 you to be alone. That's why the church needs 00:18:49.670 --> 00:18:52.910 to sound more like the Spirit. Not judgment, 00:18:53.230 --> 00:18:58.210 not suspicion, not labeling people failed marriage. 00:18:59.490 --> 00:19:05.410 Staying power, companioning power. Because every 00:19:05.410 --> 00:19:07.990 person that's lived through that fracture knows 00:19:07.990 --> 00:19:13.569 it's not about finding new love. It's rediscovering 00:19:13.569 --> 00:19:19.140 that you are still beloved. The longer I live, 00:19:20.299 --> 00:19:22.619 the more I believe that Jesus teaching on divorce 00:19:22.619 --> 00:19:25.559 isn't about the rules, it is about revelation. 00:19:27.299 --> 00:19:30.079 He wasn't defining who was in and who was out. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.700 He was describing what love looks like when it 00:19:34.700 --> 00:19:39.220 refuses to quit. It's a picture of covenant, 00:19:40.339 --> 00:19:45.319 not contract. A covenant says, I'm not here because 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:50.799 it's easy, I'm here because it's holy. But even 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:55.240 covenants need grace when they break. Some of 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:57.559 you have spent years trying to rebuild from that 00:19:57.559 --> 00:20:01.700 break. You've had to learn how to be mother and 00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:06.200 father. You've had to learn how to split holidays, 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:09.960 how to smile when it still stings, how to sit 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:15.029 through sermons that don't quite see you. I want 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:17.450 you to know something, friend. The kingdom sees 00:20:17.450 --> 00:20:22.849 you. King sees you. And he isn't keeping score. 00:20:22.890 --> 00:20:28.329 He's keeping watch. And maybe, just maybe, what 00:20:28.329 --> 00:20:31.930 Jesus really is teaching here is not about keeping 00:20:31.930 --> 00:20:35.369 marriages together. It's about keeping hearts 00:20:35.369 --> 00:20:41.170 soft. Because once the heart goes hard, everything 00:20:41.170 --> 00:20:48.009 else follows. Forgiveness gets brittle. Compassion 00:20:48.009 --> 00:20:51.950 turns into compliance. Mercy becomes a memory. 00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:56.710 But if you can keep your heart soft, even after 00:20:56.710 --> 00:21:01.170 betrayal, even after endings, then the kingdom 00:21:01.170 --> 00:21:06.349 is still growing in you. The truth is some covenants 00:21:06.349 --> 00:21:13.799 die. But resurrection is still the story. You 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:16.720 might not get the same marriage back, you can 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:20.960 get your soul back. You can still walk in grace 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:24.019 and you can still live in peace with your past. 00:21:25.420 --> 00:21:27.799 That's the miracle that doesn't make the headlines. 00:21:29.660 --> 00:21:32.200 The person who refuses to let bitterness have 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:36.180 the last word. The one who says I won't call 00:21:36.180 --> 00:21:40.980 this failure. I'll call it formation The one 00:21:40.980 --> 00:21:43.680 who learns to bless what broke them not because 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:49.779 it was good, but because God wasn't done Maybe 00:21:49.779 --> 00:21:54.160 you don't need a theology of divorce today. Maybe 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:58.099 you just need permission to heal Maybe you just 00:21:58.099 --> 00:22:00.480 need to know that holiness isn't the absence 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.900 of scars It's the presence of mercy in the middle 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:09.079 of them. I think that's why Jesus keeps bringing 00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:11.619 the conversation back to the beginning, back 00:22:11.619 --> 00:22:16.200 to Genesis, back to Eden. Not because he's nostalgic, 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:20.920 but because he's restorative. He's not saying 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:24.279 go back and fix it. He's saying let me plant 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:27.420 something new in that soil. And that's what he 00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:31.390 does. He takes the ground we thought was barren, 00:22:31.549 --> 00:22:36.170 and He turns it into mercy again. So if you're 00:22:36.170 --> 00:22:38.150 sitting here wondering whether God can still 00:22:38.150 --> 00:22:41.650 use you, the answer is yes. If you're asking 00:22:41.650 --> 00:22:44.329 whether you're still whole, the answer is yes. 00:22:45.410 --> 00:22:47.769 If you're hoping that someday love won't hurt 00:22:47.769 --> 00:22:52.450 this much, also yes, but maybe not the way you 00:22:52.450 --> 00:22:57.170 expect. Because the next love He might give you 00:22:57.170 --> 00:23:01.930 may not be a person. It may be peace. It might 00:23:01.930 --> 00:23:06.069 be purpose. It might be a quiet morning where 00:23:06.069 --> 00:23:09.750 you realize the shame's finally gone. Spirit 00:23:09.750 --> 00:23:12.670 is humming over the waters, saying let there 00:23:12.670 --> 00:23:16.710 be light. You don't need me to tell you, but 00:23:16.710 --> 00:23:21.190 that's what grace does. Doesn't erase what happens, 00:23:21.369 --> 00:23:25.230 it redeems it. Doesn't make you forget, it teaches 00:23:25.230 --> 00:23:28.619 you to remember differently. And when you do, 00:23:28.779 --> 00:23:32.180 you'll realize that even here, in the dust of 00:23:32.180 --> 00:23:37.660 your own undoing, you've never been alone. So 00:23:37.660 --> 00:23:40.720 maybe the gospel word today isn't stay married 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:47.059 at all cost. Maybe it's stay merciful, whatever 00:23:47.059 --> 00:23:53.059 it costs. Stay soft enough to forgive. Stay honest 00:23:53.059 --> 00:23:56.619 enough to heal. Stay close enough to the spirit 00:23:56.619 --> 00:23:59.240 to know it's still singing your name through 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:03.119 the static. Because love can fail, but grace 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:08.200 won't. The one who joined himself to you in baptism 00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:12.700 still means what he says. I will never leave 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:24.960 you, nor forsake you. Amen? Amen. If this one 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:27.519 hit the tender places, that's alright. It was 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:30.779 meant to. Because the gospel isn't afraid of 00:24:30.779 --> 00:24:34.759 the ruins. It moves in and makes them home. It's 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:37.519 what this episode, Love May Quit, But God Won't, 00:24:37.579 --> 00:24:41.000 is really about. Faithfulness of God when everything 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.460 else folds. Maybe tonight you just needed to 00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:47.680 be reminded that the covenant still stands. Not 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:50.759 the one on paper. The one sealed in baptism. 00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:54.039 Jesus hasn't left you. The Holy Spirit hasn't 00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:57.920 gone quiet. She's still humming that same creation 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:03.759 tune. It's not good for you to be alone. So wherever 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:06.940 you are, divorced, remarried, heartbroken, healing, 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:11.140 know this. Grace didn't give up when love did. 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:15.660 It's kind of mercy worth sharing. If this word 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:17.839 steadied your soul, go ahead and pass it along. 00:25:17.900 --> 00:25:21.019 Like it, share it. Leave a comment about what 00:25:21.019 --> 00:25:24.519 stirred your heart. It's how these porch -front 00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:27.460 gospels keep walking the earth, one story, one 00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:31.279 share, one whisper of hope at a time. Keep your 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:33.920 heart soft, your hope stubborn, your dial right 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:39.400 here. Because love may quit, but God won't. I'll 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:40.200 see you next time.