Thorns and thistles.

It was time to eat; I was starving. The aroma of perfectly seasoned and grilled hamburgers filled the room. All the fixings were on the table and I just needed tomatoes sliced. I reached for a ripe tomato that had been sitting on the counter. The resistance I expected to feel when I wrapped my fingers around the tomato was met by a disgusting limp “squish”. The tomato was rotten but I couldn’t tell until my fingers glommed onto it. It was half mush and none of it was worthy of sitting atop a cheeseburger.

The tomato was rotten; its potential worth was corrupted. You and I run into this every day in different forms and scenarios. What we are hoping for or envisioning with a tomato, the turn of the key in our automobile, the inflation of our tires, the health of our bodies, the clarity of our mind, etc. is replaced by a disappointing corruption. The car won’t start. My tires are deflated and undrivable. I can’t think as clearly this morning. My cat hissed at me.

The grueling irk of our quotidian routines is detected in one continual list of challenges; they all have their splintered foundation in a passage from Genesis 3.

17 ”cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:17-19).”

My flattened day has its origins in this reality which God is sharing with Adam and Eve: your life is broken and corrupt. It narrates the reason for dandelions displacing the grass on the lawn. The Genesis 3 curse divulges insight on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and carcinogens blocking out a normal function of the liver. Genesis 3 reveals that various forms of “thorns and thistles” will appear, not just in the garden or the field, but in the buildings we inhabit; these are issues like mold and cracks in the foundation, water leaks, varmint infestation, chipping paint, blinking lights, and squeaky doors. But the curse also throws “thorns and thistles” into business plans, into the work that I hope to accomplish today, and “thorns and thistles” appear in our most treasured relationships as well.

This weekend’s main text is from Mark 10:2-16 and it has to do with relationships. Jesus is about to display his wisdom in dealing with a group of men (Pharisees) whose intention is to lay a trap for him. Of course Jesus knows this; he apprehends the exact and necessary approach. This is true God in human form. The Holy God is here, not just to set them straight, but to set their “thorns and thistles” on display so that each of them will have a chance to gulp down their pride and humbly stare at what the corrosive curse has done to them.

Let’s take a quick glimpse into this confrontation with Jesus. And let’s recall the truth of John 3:17 as we do this. Jesus’ intention is not to humble them for the sake of their humility. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). Jesus is doing this out of love because their hearts are corrupt, broken, and in great need of Jesus’ healing. Here is what Mark shares with us: “And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment” (Mark 10:2-5).

These Pharisees wanted to test Jesus. This was a type of trap that these intelligent spiritual leaders had devised. Imagine these elders of the people sitting in their chambers and honing out a plan that could make Jesus look bad. They would need to craft their words in such a way where any normal answer would lessen Jesus’ opinion polls.

An example of this is a childhood question cleverly given on the playground to trap the recipient and make them look dumb: “Does your mother know that you are stupid?” With such a question, there is no seemingly correct way to answer. If you say, “no” you are confessing your stupidity but admitting that your mother does not know. If you say “yes” then you are still confessing your stupidity but sharing with the prankster that she does know about it. This is a diabolical trap.

If Jesus responds with “yes, it is lawful,” then he gives every wayward man a way out of marriage and his moral respect declines. If Jesus responds with “no, it is not lawful,” then he finds himself in opposition to Moses. That would not win points with the pollsters. There is no seemingly right response. And that is the danger of working with malcontents and skeptics. That is the danger when faced with questions that do not have a “safe” answer. Any answer only plummets the responder into a category reflective of “gullible” or “ignorant.”

So Jesus chooses the path of asking his own question. Now they are in a defensive posture. They offer a repartee and Jesus zeroes in with a serious connection between divorce and their own heart: “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment” (Mark 10:5). Now, instead of Jesus going down in the polls, the Pharisees are brought face to face with a very serious condition in their own heart. Their hearts are hard and stiff and uncaring. Their hearts are not giving and selfless. Each of them cares directly about himself and historically we see that many men at this time simply scattered away brides that they considered undesirable to them - whatever the reason.

And Jesus goes back to God’s foundational and necessary relationship: marriage and its natural result of family.

“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 the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mark 10:6-9).

The foundation of the Pharisees was based on their personal desires which had been shredded and torn, corrupt from conception. Such desires do not build relationships but build devastation. Who knows how many of them had wives and children tossed aside. How many contentious evenings were growing from the thorns and thistles of their own hearts.

Jesus’ words are a challenge for every human being who has ever lived. Those same thorns and thistle inhabit our hearts as well. Those same thorns and thistles make reconvening a troubled dialogue with a friend or spouse, something “not fun” to do. In fact, wouldn’t we rather toss out that challenging individual? Wouldn’t we rather find someone else who is less troubling and less thorny? But that is not Jesus’ approach.

Jesus gives our thorny hearts and peace centered end in verse 16: “And he took [little children] in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.” God looks at the Pharisees, at the thorny people we encounter, at troubled mouths and souls filled with thorns in the same way today. They are his children and he desires to bless them.

Jesus gives them a picture of his faithfulness. Jesus gives them a flesh and blood description of how he operates. His blessing is poured out on little children. If his blessing is given to little children so willingly, it can also be given to any of us who have grown up with thorny, thistly hearts.

Marriage and family are one of the foundational institutions in our world today - even with all the thorns and thistles they harbor. Jesus directs us back to his blessing so that we are able to bless others in those relationships today. Go see his knees bounce with such cute little sinners upon them. Go see God’s hands stretch out in love to each toddler and adolescent. Go see that his hands are also perched in blessing for you. Look at how his hands on the cross are stretched out in pain so that you can be blessed. It’s no mistake that these Pharisees got to see this noble blessing. How many of their hearts were changed in that instance?

Blessings are available from this same Jesus for you . . . Today!