you look like a perfect fit

for someone in need of a tourniquet 

The Gospel this Sunday is certainly a difficult one.
Sort of.
Really it depends upon your context. For instance, I have never married and right now that isn't a priority in my life, so it is hard to get all the fuss. Admittedly, that is a minority perspective.
There are folks who are divorced who will hear these words of Jesus. There are people who are holding out for an ideal relationship so they won't have to encounter these tough words of Jesus. There will be people sticking-out a miserable marriage because of these words. There will be that are happily married, and that have experienced struggles and joys together hearing these words.

For the preacher then, there are a certain number of sensitivities. The most obvious land-mine is offending people who are divorced (presumably divorced for a good reason).

That doesn't exhaust the list of land-mines, though.
There are those who engage in a more subtle form of adultery with internet pornography, or turning those we know or see into sex-objects, or simply desiring someone else's spouse.

That is the thing, the preacher is also called to proclaim that all have sinned and fallen short, and therefore stand in need of mercy. While the obvious land-mine in this Gospel is offending those who have lived through the trauma of divorce, Jesus' words describing our fallen nature have the ability to tempt us all to offense (even those hypocrites who put on the charade that they are sinless).

There, finally, is problem with getting queasy about these words of Jesus. Ultimately what the discomfort conveys is a perennial distrust, and a desire to (try to) justify ourselves.

When Jesus goes on to talk about divorce in a private setting with the disciples, Jesus presumes the reality of divorce. Why is it that Jesus can hold the tension of an ideal and the broken reality together?

Here is a clue; it has to do with justification.


Note: This blogpost is thoroughly a Northern European neo-orthodox reflection. There are a number of other dynamics occurring in the Gospel reading: concern for the marginalized (i.e. women and children), political intrigue, just to name a couple.