St. Mark 10:2-16
Dearly beloved,
We hear words of Jesus that normally are reserved for
Wedding services. But, it is the appointed Gospel for today in the church
year. It is fitting and necessary, though, that we take this occasion to
hear the word of God concerning marriage and divorce.
I could cite you the latest averages from the internet on
divorce, and it is staggering, but it’s irrelevant. We know the world and
its ways. But we are of Jesus, the Lord. We have been taught a new way, a
way of confessing and living that is not like the world. I would,
therefore, like us to meditate upon the blessing of holy marriage in the
church.
Jesus talks the way He does in St. Mark because of the
heavenly Father’s order of creation. God made man in the image of the Lord.
God and man were in fellowship and Adam was in the Garden of Eden, free to
eat of the tree of life. It is a beautiful picture of fellowship and
holiness unto the Lord. God loves His creation and wanted to interact with
it. This is why we see the Lord walking through the garden in the cool of
the day.
The Lord, however, saw that the man, Adam, was lonely. He
had no companion. So, God puts Adam into a deep sleep and takes a rib and
makes Eve. Now we see the beauty of God’s blessing enlarge. There is Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in the image of God, in fellowship with God,
and they were free to eat from the tree of life. We know the account and
how it goes. Adam and Eve are tricked by the serpent, Satan. Sin enters
the world because Adam and Eve ate of a forbidden tree, the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Once this happens Adam and Eve were forbidden from eating of
the Tree of Life. There is good reason for this. If they had eaten of the
Tree of Life after they had sinned, then they would have been bound in sin
forever living out there existence in this sin-filled world. So, God did
the loving thing. He removed Adam and Eve from amidst the Garden of
Eden. This
meant that, being away from the Tree of Life, they would eventually die and
bodily death, which would grant them release from this sinful world.
The fellowship between God and man continued through the
promise of the seed of the woman—Jesus Christ coming in the flesh from a
virgin. Through this promise man continued to have fellowship with God. Man
and woman also continued to be united in this world in order to be mutual
companions. In the gospel, Jesus says that a man shall leave his father and
mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This
is a deep theological statement.
Jesus uses a Greek word, which implies that the two shall be
joined inseparably, as if they were glued together. One flesh, one life,
one common existence shared between the two. This doesn’t leave much room
for divorce, and Jesus brings this forth from the gospel. In fact, St. Paul
adds theological commentary to this in his letter to the Ephesians, another
well-known wedding epistle. In terms of the marriage between husband and
wife, the man is likened to Jesus and the woman is compared to the church.
The Holy Spirit does all things well. This is a perfect
example. The man loves his wife and gives all of Himself to his bride. This
is, after all, what Jesus has done for the church. Jesus stepped down from
glory, humbled Himself to be born of a virgin by taking on flesh, and then
died on the cross for the life of the world….in this case, for the good of
the church. Likewise, the bride responds by giving her undying devotion to
the husband. There are at least two dimensions to this.
If you are married, this is showing you how husband and wife
function together. The husband gives all of himself to his bride, and his
bride gives her undying devotion to her husband. After all, you are one
with your spouse as if the two of you are glued together. You are one flesh
in the eyes of God. What God has joined together, let no one put
asunder….those are Christ’s words, not mine.
The other dimension to this relationship is spiritual. In
fact, when St. Paul finishes his theological commentary on marriage, he
concludes by saying, “The two shall become one flesh. This is a great
mystery, and I speak concerning the church.” You are the bride of Christ,
the holy apostolic church. The church exists to basically do this: receive
the attention and love from Jesus, which comes to the bride in the Divine
Service. Listen to the holy gospel proclaimed in your midst and then gather
at the altar to receive Christ in the sacrament.
It is not that reading the gospel at home isn’t good,
too. Indeed,
it is edifying, as well. But when we gather together as the bride of
Christ, we are not individuals. We are one body. We are spoken of in the
singular. Entering the bride, we give up our individuality, in order to
singularly receive the gifts of Jesus and confess His holy name. It is an
elaborate and very meaningful part of the bride’s existence to have the
gospel proclaimed aloud in her midst.
This is Jesus, the groom, coming and bestowing His love upon
His bride. For our part, and because of our sinful flesh, we hear the
marriage text and, if taken to heart, are convicted of our sin on many
levels. As spouses we have failed at one time or another, to one degree or
another. For those who have gone through divorces, there is an additional
aspect of hurt, remorse, and anguish. There is also the spiritual end of
this, too. We have not been as faithful as Christ’s bride, either. He
comes to give us His gifts and His love, but we are often out and away,
seeking other things more enticing.
For all of this we need to repent. Jesus is such a faithful
and loving Lord and groom that where there is repentance, Jesus is found to
be taking us in with His arms open wide. The beauty of salvation history of
the Lord and creation is that Jesus is referred to in the New Testament as
the new tree of life. It completes a striking picture. Adam and Eve were
forced to roam the earth, forbidden to partake of the Tree of Life. In
Jesus the picture of the Garden of Eden is completed.
God unites husband and wife and makes them one flesh. God
unites them to Himself through Holy Baptism, and then He offers us the
Lord’s Supper, which is the new Tree of Life for Christians to eat and drink
unto salvation. The Divine Service, then, is the new Garden of Eden for us
until we depart this life where we enter the true and everlasting paradise,
which has no end. Rejoice, dear Christians one and all. You are loved by
the groom, Jesus. His love is without end, as He continues to bid you come
to His, as He opens His arms to you in the proclamation of the Gospel and in
the Lord’s Supper, proclaiming the forgiveness of your sins. Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
