The Second Sunday After Epiphany

Text: John 2:1-11 & Ephesians 5:22-33

The entirety of Scripture is one big wedding. It began in the Garden of Eden as God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

And so, God did; He formed Eve from the side of Adam

Then [Adam] said,
             “This at last is bone of my bones
                        and flesh of my flesh;
             she shall be called Woman,
                        because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23)

Scripture goes on to say,

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

These profound words of God reveal that husband and wife are no longer autonomous beings dwelling near one another but have their lives intimately interwoven.

For this reason, marriage is to be seen as a gift, just as Eve was to be a blessing unto Adam; every husband and wife is a gift unto one another.

However, marriage also gives many the gift of a community. God said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” (Genesis 1:28a) In other words, have babies as God wills it.

Community comes from this relationship between a man and a woman instituted and established by God, their children, and their children’s children. For this reason, the wedding of a man and woman is seen throughout the Scriptures as a family and community event. It was and still is an image of God’s love for His people.

Marriage celebrates God’s love and faithfulness to man, even as man does not honor marriage.

And if you were to examine the Old Testament, you’d see how Israel is often depicted as a faithless bride who departs from the commands and will of God. Still, as a husband, God did not forsake them; instead, as the Epistle says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

God the Father sends His only begotten Son to redeem His bride, the Church, by dying on the cross. For this reason, He says that all husbands today should demonstrate the same sacrificial love for their brides as Paul wrote,

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. (Ephesians 5:28-30)

So, again, marriage is an image and icon of the Church and God’s sacrificial love for her.

But we don’t like to sacrifice in this life, partly out of fear. For this reason, the percentage of adults of any age getting married continues to decrease over time.

A statistical and researched reason for this decrease in marriage is the number of couples cohabiting and living together before or in place of marriage. In many ways, this places man’s objectives above God and rejects not only the gift of marriage as it was established in the Garden of Eden but also the Giver of the gift.

Naturally, many see cohabitation as a good test run, have financial interests at stake, fear commitment, or are concerned about other worldly matters. Yet, again, our Epistle says, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

To understand marriage is to look to the cross.

Marriage was never meant to be easy (or convenient). Instead, it’s a proving ground for a man and a woman, who sacrifice themselves in every worldly and spiritual way for one another and for their family—the community God has placed them into.

Now, sadly, this community is shattered all too often. The research conducted year after year reveals that cohabitation actually increases the rate of divorce over time. I believe there is something to this, and we can look to the marriage rite to understand it.

Near the end of the rite, the pastor says, “What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.” In other words, what God joins together, let man not separate. Or remember that passage from Genesis, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

The community and fellowship of marriage always begin with God. Apart from Him, it’s not only our relationships but our faith that is in danger. Because when we sin, when we put our own desires before God’s will, we are separated from God and the community of believers He has placed us into.

For this reason, we as a community must also hold marriage as the great blessing it is with our words, our actions, and our faith so that those in our midst, especially the young, will desire it.

Because it is, after all, an image of God’s love for you, His bride, the Church.

As I said at the beginning of today’s sermon, Scripture is one big wedding: from the creation of Adam and Eve to their fall into sin, Israel’s rebellious nature, and the coming of Jesus.

It was and is always about Jesus, after all, the Bridegroom, coming to redeem His bride.

And this is where our Gospel points us today.

As Jesus attends the wedding at Cana, that festive family event, they run out of wine: an earthly problem, no doubt. But Mary knows who her Son is and that He can help with the situation; however, Jesus responds to her petition, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Jesus looked past the benefit of that moment and cast our gaze to another moment in time: the “hour” of His sacrificial death upon the cross, the consummation of the heavenly wedding banquet that unites heaven and earth in the forgiveness of sin.

A forgiveness that remains present for you today as we continue to participate in this ongoing wedding feast of the Lamb and His Kingdom.

For this reason, we need to examine ourselves and our lives to ensure we have not begun to cohabitate in the house of the Lord. Meaning that we have not started to come to the Lord’s house out of habit, for worldly gain, or an outward appearance of community and fellowship – a relationship with God.

Instead, we are to come here as a bride who draws near to receive her bridegroom who sacrificed even His life for her. We come to receive the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation won for us upon the cross that He gives, because this act of grace is now interwoven and flows into our lives, relationships, and homes – the community in which God has placed each of us.

In fact, this icon of grace is now the image of our marriages and relationships with one another.

It’s a sacrificial gift anchored in the love and cross of Jesus Christ.

So let us see the great blessing of marriage and look forward to the day the Bridegroom gathers us for the eternal wedding feast of His heavenly banquet. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI