Sermon for 1/15/23: Second Sunday After Trinity

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Christ and His Bride

Ephesians 5:22-33

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 

 

St. John calls the miracle Jesus performed at the Wedding at Cana the “first” of His miracles. But it’s important to know that the Greek word translated “first” or “beginning,” the word “arche,” means far more than just the first in a series. While this was, indeed, the first of our Lord’s miracles, this word also carries with it the sense of something that is “first in importance.” In other words, it contained within it the origin and source of any number of Biblical truths. No doubt there is something important to the Sacrament of the Altar in this miracle. Perhaps there is also something about the puzzling way Jesus dealt with His mother. But clearly the significance of marriage is evident here as Jesus grants His blessing to marriage not only by His presence but also by His willingness to accommodate it with a miracle.

In our Epistle, St. Paul speaks of the union of husband and wife as a mystery that puts into human terms the relationship between Christ and His Bride, the Church. But we must also consider what Biblical mysteries are. They are not things that we are to figure out. What the Bible calls mysteries are things to be believed for what they are, whether or not they can ever be fully understood, because they have been revealed by God.

Marriage itself is a gift from God, given even before the fall into sin. It is the first and most important of all human relationships. But that fact hasn’t kept it from being abused. You know without me saying so that marriage according to God’s institution is under attack from all sides. There are many who think they know better than the Creator of marriage, who believe they have better ideas than God about what is right and proper in such relationships. But can we who claim to honor God’s gift of marriage escape the mirror of God’s Law in how we have treated this gift? And that is especially the case when we consider the order God has established within marriage.

Ever since conflict and selfishness entered into the very first marriage, husbands and wives have been vying for control and rebelling against how God has made us. I am referring to St. Paul’s instructions to husbands and wives and how they are to relate to each other. “Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.” “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.” We don’t want to hear such things. Which is harder: for the wife to willingly submit to her husband’s headship? Or for the husband to love his wife wholly and willingly lay down his life for her? The answer is that both are equally unappealing to our sinful nature; both are impossible to do apart from Christ.

But notice that Paul is writing here to Christians, and he puts these individual roles into the context of their connection to Christ: “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church.” And that is what makes these instructions for marriage doable: our connection to Christ and the new spirit we have as His people. Does the Church submit to Christ? Yes, gladly and willingly. We know that our Lord will never abuse us or mistreat us. In the same way, Christian wives are called to submit to their husbands—not as slaves, but viewing husbands as their loving, God-ordained head. Did Christ love the Church and give Himself up for her? Yes, and there was nothing lacking in our Lord’s love for us. In the same way, Christian husbands are to love and give themselves up for their wives. When both are doing what they are called to do, then marriage is what it is meant to be: a most beautiful gift of God and a picture—in our own homes!—of the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Why do we resist this? Why do we think we know better than the God who created us? Thank God, for this same God is the One who saved us from all our foolishness and selfishness and self-chosen ways. “Christ is the Head of the Church, His body, and is Himself its Savior.” He saves us from our sins. He makes us His body, spotless in the waters of Holy Baptism, to keep us intimately connected to Him. His love for us was so great that He willingly laid down His life for us, going to the cross to pay the price that sets us free. All our disregard for God’s good order, all our disobedience and disorder, Christ took on Himself and bore in deep humility when He suffered and died for you. Here is your salvation! Here is your Savior! He has cleansed you “by the washing of water with the Word” in Holy Baptism, washing over you with His Word and His name. Whenever your sins accuse you, return to your Baptism and find there full and free forgiveness.

And here is hope for your future, as well. Christ is going to present His Church to Himself in splendor on the Last Day. Like a radiant, beautiful bride, so the Church will be—so will we be as we enter, body and soul, into the joys of everlasting life. We will be with our Savior in joy forever, like a wedding feast that never ends. All of this, Paul says, is a profound mystery. And so we ask for God’s help, which we know He will give us, in preserving, defending, and living the mystery of marriage. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.