October 4 Proper 22
I’ll never forget my first St. Francis Day as a newly ordained priest. I did my homework so I would be prepared. I Googled pet blessings and memorized a few in advance. I rented a video about St. Francis Day at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, hands down the most elaborate celebration in the country, if not the world. The stars of the show are the local residents of the zoo who come into the cathedral for the famous Procession of the Animals. Llamas, monkeys, parrots, even elephants, make their way up to the altar to receive a blessing. It’s an inspiring site, a fitting tribute to the saint known as a great animal lover. After watching that, I felt ready to do some serious animal blessing.
Well, that first St. Francis Day didn’t go quite as I had expected. I blessed a dog and a couple of cats, and a parakeet. So far so good, I thought. Then a woman came forward with a shoebox and said, “His name is Fluffy.” Hamster, I thought, no problem. She lifted the lid and I lifted my hand in blessing, only to discover that Fluffy was a great big tarantula. I have to say, at that moment some of the St. Francis Day magic wore off. I did the quickest blessing I could and waited anxiously for the woman to replace the lid.
This is the kind of story that priests like to tell one another – war stories if you will. We commiserate about the strangest creatures we’ve gotten to bless, and we reminisce about the most endearing. St. Francis Day lends itself to these kinds of stories. It’s a bit of a warm and fuzzy feast day. There are wonderful stories of Francis of Assisi preaching to birds and talking to wolves. He gave up all of the comforts of his wealth, took a vow of poverty, and slept outdoors communing with God’s creation. He is one of the most beloved Christian saints, often pictured with animals on refrigerator magnets and key chains, but perhaps best known as the little bearded man on top of birdbaths all over the world.
You might think that on the day we honor St. Francis and bless animals in his name, the Gospel lesson would be something like, “Consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air,” or the one about Christ as a mother hen, or maybe a nice nature image like the parable of the mustard seed. Instead we have a difficult lesson that seems to come out of left field. On St. Francis Day, of all days, we have a lesson in which Jesus comes down pretty hard on divorce.
As usual the Pharisees are out to trap Jesus. They ask him about divorce, a controversial issue, knowing that however he answers, he’s bound to offend someone. Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife, they ask? Moses had given permission, what would Jesus say? Jesus didn’t mince words. “Because of your hardness of heart Moses wrote this commandment for you,” he answered. “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female…the two shall become one flesh…’ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” He even said that remarriage after divorce is adultery.
His words are hard to hear. Most of us here have been affected by divorce, either personally or by divorce in our families or among our close friends. I don’t know very many people who would say that divorce is always wrong. Most churches today have concluded that this isn’t a clear-cut issue. Out of respect for the institution of marriage, and out of concern for the safety and emotional and spiritual well being of those in marriages that have failed, divorce is sometimes necessary. So what do we do with Jesus’ words?
Jesus is making a rather clever move in his argument. He takes the question about divorce and changes the question. The issue is not whether divorce is okay, the question is really about marriage and whether it lives up to what God intended. Jesus goes back to Genesis and talks about two people becoming absolutely connected as one, joined together by God. This is the high standard of love intended by God, a far more important issue than legalities.
If you think about it, Jesus’ words about marriage and divorce have implications that go far beyond marital status. We need to consider God’s higher standards in all of our relationships. What expectation does God have for how we treat one another? Instead of giving us a rule about divorce, Jesus presents us with the radical demand that we strive for the highest standards in all our relationships. He asks us to consider how God would have us love one another. To consider how God would have us live our lives.
Perhaps this is an impossible ideal. But this is precisely where St. Francis can help us. If you look beyond the cats and dogs and birdbaths on this day, Francis offers us a glimpse of this kind of radical living by God’s standards. One day he was walking by the church of San Damiano, which was old and abandoned, and the Spirit led him inside to pray. He sat gazing at a crucifix inside, when the image of the crucified Christ spoke to him. Christ told him to go rebuild the church, for it was being destroyed. At first, Francis interpreted the message literally, and did all he could to rebuild the physical structure of San Damiano. Francis came to understand that the spirit’s request of him to rebuild the church was, in fact, a larger request for him to rebuild God’s church in the world. He gradually understood that this required him to begin with the rebuilding of his own heart. He got to work on examining his life. He left no stone unturned, asking the hard question of what it means to follow Christ in each and every part of his life. He asked how he was to love others. He strove to meet God’s standards. This path led him to a new life. He founded a religious order, fought for the poor and the marginalized, and loved all of God’s creation, especially the least of these. That was how Francis would follow Christ, sometimes falling short but always listening for God. That is how he strove to live as God would have him live.
We, too, must leave no stone unturned in our lives. Like Jesus, St. Francis encourages us to live an examined life. We need to look for the places that we fall short of God’s standards and listen for Christ there. Sometimes we may need to rebuild our hearts. But Christ will always be in the midst of those places in our lives that need work. Christ will be in the blessing of cats and dogs and tarantulas and all of creation. Christ will be in the poor and the marginalized, in the ruins of churches and in the ruins of a marriage. In all of these places, God will be there to draw us into new life, prompting us with a higher standard of love. Amen.