It’s customary in Haiti for people to get married at the end of the calendar year. This being the case, we usually have our share of weddings to attend right around Christmas time. Sure enough, last week one of our best friends here in Haiti got married.
It was a beautiful wedding. Our friend and and his fiancé have been best friends for years and working hard to save up enough money to pay for the wedding and to start their new life together. When it was all said and done, everyone was in tears (yes, including me).
Every time I go to a wedding, I can’t help but think of the time that Jesus attended a wedding (John 2). The story is recorded only in John’s gospel (and not in Matthew, Mark, or Luke). This isn’t the only wedding in the New Testament, however. There’s another wedding recorded in Revelation 19 (also written by John). In Revelation, the story of God’s redemption of the world comes to a climax with a great wedding of the Lamb of God (Jesus) and his Bride (the Church). Normally when we think of salvation, we think of forgiveness of sins (which it certainly is), not getting married to Jesus! At the same time, John is telling us that marriage is an appropriate metaphor for salvation.
So in what way is salvation like a wedding, or marriage? First, salvation, like a married couple, is about intimacy and love. Yes, God is the great merciful Judge who forgives our sins, and yes, he is the great Father who adopts us into his family, and yes, he is the great King who accepts us as citizens into his Kingdom. Each of these metaphors describes a unique feature of salvation (with some overlap between them). Likewise, the nuptial metaphor for salvation reminds us that God is also deeply in love with his creation and wants to know everything there is to know about us. Just as spouses (are intended to) live to serve one another, so does Jesus live to serve the Church and the Church Jesus. It’s not a service compelled by fear, but by love, admiration, and affection.
Second, the nuptial metaphor reminds us that salvation is about faithfulness. Really, that’s what a wedding is all about, isn’t it? What happens at a wedding is that two people create a life-long covenant, or a bond between them. God, who never dies, loves us so much that he’s ready to not only die for us, but also to commit himself to us forever. He is faithful. He doesn’t abandon us or forsake us, even when we merit abandonment. He is a faithful spouse. We must remember that we too are the spouse of Jesus which means that he expects our faithfulness as well.
Third, the nuptial metaphor reminds us that Christians are supposed to share the same moral (holy) character as the Lamb of God. When two people get married, they become one. Yes, both certainly maintain their unique identities, but they are bound together “as one flesh”. They don’t share the same blood, but from the time of marriage onward, they are a family. In a sense, then, marriage is a fictive kinship. Two people who enter into an agreement that makes them family. Family members share the same genes, the same nature, like a father and son. Salvation is the same way. When we enter into a relationship with Jesus, we are to become like him.
Have you ever met a couple who are so much alike that they share each other’s interests and mannerisms? Sometimes, I think couples can even start to look like one another! In much the same way, we’re supposed to look like Jesus, share his mannerisms, care what he cares about, and share his burdens with him.
Are you ready for a wedding?
