25 July 2013

Sharing the Glory of Christ the Crucified

Our dear Lord Jesus Christ has come to serve you (and all people) by giving His life as a Ransom for the many, and by sharing His life with you by the ways and the means of His Cross.  What is more, this self-sacrificing love and humble service of Jesus, the Christ, even unto death upon the Cross, is the true greatness of His divine glory.  For He chooses, in His grace and mercy, for the sake of His divine and holy love, to give Himself for you, to forgive you all your sins, and to give you life and salvation with Himself forever.

In turn, for you to receive all of this great divine service of His — by His grace alone, through faith in His Word — that is your true greatness and your glory as a Christian disciple of Christ Jesus; which is, for now, paradoxically hidden under the Cross and suffering in this poor life of labor.

To be sure, none of this makes any sense to the world, which measures everything by its standards of power and might, of popularity, position, and prestige, and by the criteria of wealth and fame.  The world, therefore, simply cannot understand this Lord Jesus and His glory: It does not think as He thinks, nor does it perceive or know what is the divine truth of the matter.  And, that is likewise your predicament, as well; for your thoughts are not His thoughts, nor are your ways His ways.

Ask yourself: What is it that you want from Jesus?  What do you want Him to do for you?  What sort of Savior are you looking for?  One who forgives your sins and gives you life, by and with the Cross?  Or one who makes your life on earth happier, easier, and more carefree and comfortable?

In your heart of hearts, what is it that you’re really after?  And what do you presume to deserve?

If you are not bold enough to ask for it straight up, then think about how jealous and resentful you become of  your neighbor and of the gifts that he or she has received (but which you have not).

How often are you driven by pride, by selfishness and greed, by envy and jealousy, by covetous lust for what you have not been given (though such coveting is really nothing less than idolatry)?

How quickly do you put yourself forward and reach out your hand to take this or that for yourself?  Or do you, instead, harbor bitterness against those others, those neighbors of yours who do take that sort of initiative, for fear that someone else is getting something that you’re missing out on?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it should not be so among you.  Such desires and such impulses in you, are not the fruits of faith and love, but of sin.  Indeed, they are destructive of faith and love.

Do not suppose yourself to be cheated or ill-treated, and do not listen to the lies of the devil, who would have you despair of God’s love and favor toward you.  Nor regard God’s love so lightly.  For His great heart of Love is fully opened to you in the Cross of Christ, the incarnate Son.  That is where you find and know the greatness and glory of God, which He shares with you by grace.

Consider, then, the example of St. James, the son of Zebedee, even though you do not find him at his best in this particular Holy Gospel: From a human point of view, you can surely understand his (and his brother’s) request.  Depending on your own personality and sinful tendencies, you may be tempted either to sympathize with him, or to be indignant toward him (like the other disciples).

But, for all his faults and flaws and weaknesses, and even in the face of his martyrdom — indeed, precisely there, in his suffering and death for the sake of the Gospel — St. James has been glorified by and with His Crucified and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

He was cut down in the prime of life, not only the first of the Twelve to be martyred, but the only one of the Apostles to be martyred within the record of the New Testament; yet, this was his glory, and part of his own particular calling as an Apostle, that is, to serve in the Name of Christ Jesus, and finally to suffer and die for Him Who died for us all and was raised again for our justification.

Not every Christian is called to such a martyrdom; it belongs only to those for whom it has been prepared.  Take comfort in this, that not one of His dear children suffers and dies, nor even a single hair falls to the ground, without your Father’s knowledge, perfect wisdom, and gracious care.

Whether you will finally be put to the sword, or crucified, or burned at the stake, or shot to death for the Name of Christ that you bear — or if you live a hundred years on earth before you depart — you are given the vocation of discipleship, that is, to carry the Cross of Christ in your own place and position (whether you be great or small in the eyes of the world, or in your own eyes).

Whatever your stats may be, your real greatness and true glory are not to be found in yourself, in what you acquire, accomplish, or achieve in this world.  No, your greatness and your glory are Christ Jesus, the Crucified One, who gives Himself to you in love, by His grace alone.  It is in Him, therefore, by faith in His Word, by the wisdom and the working of His Holy Spirit, that you walk in the way that is set before you; whether for life or death, come hell or high water against you.

If you are not called to the martyrdom of bodily suffering and death for the Name of Jesus Christ, be sure of this, that you are in fact called to the daily martyrdom of repentance — whereby you are returned to your Holy Baptism into the one Lord, Jesus Christ: into His Cross and Resurrection.

It is by your Baptism that you are His, and that you live with Him in His Kingdom; even now by grace through faith in Him, and hereafter in the resurrection of your body to the life everlasting.

Likewise, in the new and better Passover of the Holy Communion, you are given to eat the Body of Christ Jesus, which He sacrificed for you upon the Cross; and you do drink His Cup:

For Him, it was the Cup of God’s wrath, the bearing of God’s holy anger and righteous judgment against the sins of the whole world, and the suffering of the due punishment for all of your sins.

But, as He has drained that Cup to the dregs in His Passion, He has filled it for you with His holy and precious Blood; which He now pours out for you (and for the many), for the forgiveness of all your sins, and for life and salvation with Him in the glory of His Kingdom forever and ever.

It is the administration of this Divine Service, the Ministry of the Gospel-Word and Sacraments, that St. James was privileged to serve in the Name and stead of Christ Jesus for a little while — until his faithful service was filled up and completed in the witness of his death and bloodshed.

The same Divine Service of the same Lord Jesus Christ still continues: as it did back then, by and for the Twelve Apostles, so also here and now for you.  Because the Son of Man, who lived and died and rose again, continues to come, not to be served but to serve, to give Himself, to give life, for you and for the many.  To Him be all the glory, honor and praise, both now and forevermore.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

14 July 2013

The One Who Shows Mercy Is Your Neighbor

Eternal Life is not a destination, but a journey.  It is not something to accomplish or achieve, but a gift that is given by God, received by His grace, and lived by faith in His Word.  It is not a place to arrive at, but a path to follow, as the Lord lays it before you and provides all that is required.

If the prospect of such an ongoing, neverending journey seems daunting or exhausting to you, then you, like the lawyer who put Jesus to the test, are thinking of eternal life in the wrong way and approaching it in sin instead of faith.

That’s the fatal flaw in your desire and all of your attempts to justify yourself.  Not only can you not do it, but you’ll wear yourself out and kill yourself trying.  You cannot give yourself life; nor can you make life for yourself, nor keep it forever by any power, reason, wisdom, or strength of your own.  You did not decide to be conceived and born, and you would not have survived beyond your birth without others to feed and clothe and care for you.  It never ceases to be the case that your daily bread, and all that you need for this body and life, is provided by the Holy Triune God.  Every breath, and every bite, is from His fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.

That much is true, even for temporal life in this fallen and perishing world, in which the Lord still causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the evil and the good.  He gives seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, by His grace, whether with or without man’s petition and praise.  But He has taught you to pray, to look to Him, as a child to your dear Father, that you would realize and rely upon His grace and goodness toward you, and so live by faith in Him, and learn to love Him above all other gods.  It is not a matter of somehow getting life for yourself, but of learning to live the life that He is giving you.

So much more is it the case, that eternal life derives entirely and only from the Holy Triune God.  For He alone is the Author and Giver of Life, because He alone is the Living God, who not only has but is Life in Himself.  There is no eternal Life at all, except that of the Lord: the divine Life of the true and only God.  All attempts to manufacture or manipulate that Life for yourself are nothing else but futile forms of self-idolatry.  Your efforts to justify and save yourself, therefore, are not only selfish, but utterly sinful and self-defeating.

If you would have eternal life, and live it, then let God be God, and learn to know and love Him above all else with every part and aspect of yourself: with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Whatever part of you is not fully invested in Him, and found in Him, will not live forever, but will perish.  For you cannot live a life that you don’t have, and you have no life at all — not really, not now nor ever — except from God.

The good news is that He freely and richly gives you His own Life by grace, by His Word and Spirit, in and with and through the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  So, the question at hand, or, at least, the question Jesus actually answers, is not of how you get life or come to have it, but of how you now live it.  He does not give you directions to some far off, distant destination, but He defines and describes the journey, that is, the path of life, which is lived by faith in the grace of God.

To live the divine, eternal Life, which is from God, is to live with God and for God, and to live as God lives: It is to love Him as the Living and Life-giving One, and to love your neighbor, as the Lord your God loves both you and your neighbor, with divine grace.

To ask about limits, parameters, or boundaries on such love, is already to be off track and on a different path.  It is already to have turned your heart and mind away from God to yourself, and at the same time, in the same way and to the same extent, to withhold yourself from your neighbor: to love yourself instead of your neighbor.  It is to see him, and then to look away from him, to pass him by on the other side of the road, and to carry on with “your own life” and your own pursuits.

That’s what happens when you perceive eternal life as a destination you’re trying to reach, rather than a journey you’re already on by God’s grace.  Then everything has to be calculated, measured, weighed, and evaluated, as to whether it will help or hinder your progress, and whether or not you can “afford” the time, energy, or money it takes.

How, then, do you look at your neighbor and think about him and his need?  Is he a distraction, a nuisance, or a burden?  Or perhaps a means to some end?  A rung on the ladder, or a stepping stone, by which you will earn brownie points and justify yourself?  Or is he an object of mercy and compassion?  Do you perceive that your neighbor’s pain, his hurt, his poverty and hunger, are a blessed Cross for you to bear, which belongs to your living the divine, eternal life along the way?

The trouble is, that you’ve already set your goals and made your plans, right?  You’ve plotted out your day, scheduled your week, and figured out the month with its bills and appointments, its obligations and its fun times.  You’ve got your “New Year’s resolutions,” which, by now, you’ve forgotten, given up, reaffirmed, or revised.  But, the point is, you’re mapping out your path: both your short-term and long-term goals, your five-year plan, your bucket list.  And, you’ve set your sight on some destination.  So, you get up, and you set off down the road to make your way.

Except that, not even your own life is in your own hands, much less the whole wide world and all your neighbors in it.  “As God so wills,” you’ll do this or that, as St. James teaches you to think and say and pray.  Deo volente.  What, then, do you actually encounter on the way?

The bandits and robbers who beset you are numerous and varied.  They are legion, we might say.  Not only coming at you from all around, but also within, as your own addictions, bad habits, frailties, fears, and weaknesses trip you up and bring you down.

Or else, maybe you’re not attacked or hindered like that, but you happen upon someone else who has been.  Then what?  What do you do, or not do?  And what of the consequences, either way?  What will it mean for you, for your plans, for your life and your destination, if you stop and stay and stick around to help?  Or if you keep on going?

Over the centuries, all kinds of explanations and excuses have been offered, as to why the priest and Levite chose not to help the man who fell into the robbers’ hands.  But, make no mistake, they should have helped him.  What the Samaritan then did, with compassion for the man, was the good and right thing to do; the godly thing to do.  It wasn’t too much.  It wasn’t over the top, above and beyond the call of duty.  It was what duty called for.  It was to live the divine, eternal life, as it was laid out before him.  And so should you “go and do the same,” as you are met with the needs of others.

But in this way, you are set upon, as much by the burden and the cross of your neighbor and his needs, as you are by the burden and the cross of your own sin and death.  In helping your neighbor, your time, energy, and resources are spent and used up, as surely as the robbers would have taken them from you.  Or, if you decide not to help, your conscience besets you with guilt and shame for having turned away from your neighbor.  Then you are attacked and accused, not only by the devil and the world, but by the Law of God: For you are to love and serve Him, who is your Lord, with all that you are and have; and, because of who He is, because He is the Lord, you are to love and serve your neighbor in the same way that you cherish and care for yourself.

So, then, think of what that means: When you are the man who has fallen among robbers, and you’ve been stripped and beaten, and you are left behind, dying in the ditch by the side of the road, you do whatever you can, whatever is in your power, to save yourself.  So, too, for your neighbor, whether he be friend or foe, or a total stranger: You are to do whatever you can to save him.

And when you are finally forced to realize that you can’t: that you can't save your neighbor or yourself; that the need is too great, the hurt is too big, the situation too desperate and beyond your ability to rectify, then you must die altogether: die to yourself, to your sin, to your strength, to everything.

You cannot justify yourself.  Your inability is no excuse, but confirmation of the fact.  You cannot do anything to capture life and keep it for yourself.  You are half dead already, and the only reason — the only reason — that you are not all the way dead, is that God has given and preserved your life thus far.  There is no “destination” of your own devising, but only the path on which the Lord has put you, and the point to which He has brought you.  Each moment is your “Ebenezer,” in which you are given to live or die; not by your own reason or strength, but by the grace of God.

Stop thinking of your neighbor as a nuisance and a bother.  He is not an interruption on your way to finding life, but caring for his need is exactly the life that God has given you to live right now.  “Justify God,” therefore, by acknowledging His Wisdom and His Righteousness; and so receive eternal Life from His hand, and learn from Him how to live it.

From the beginning, Christians have recognized Christ Jesus in the Good Samaritan, and that is most certainly true.  For here is the New Man who has come down from heaven from God, the almighty and eternal Son of the Father, conceived and born of His Virgin Mother.  Here is the Love of God, Who is the Life and Light of all men.  He has seen you, in love, from before the foundation of the world, and has been moved in the depths of His being by compassion for you, to come and help you, to act heroically on your behalf, and to save you from sin, death, and hell.

He is the Man who has lived the divine, eternal Life in the flesh, for you and for all people, while one and all of you were still at enmity with Him.  He has given Himself for you, and poured Himself out in order to fill you up with His own Life and health and strength and every good thing.  In order to do so, He has taken your place under the Cross, under your burden of sin and death.  He has borne your grief and carried your sorrows.  He has been wounded by and with and for your transgressions, so that, by His stripes and scars, you are healed and made whole.

He comes, not only as the Good Samaritan, but to become the beaten, bruised, and bloodied Man, who has suffered the fullness of death at the hands of sinners.  For He has thus borne your sins in His own Body, even as He now bears you up in His arms, upon His back, and across His shoulders, in order to bring you home rejoicing to His God and Father in heaven.

The Lord is your divine, eternal “destination,” who has come to be with you, to abide with you in your misery and hurt, and so also to journey with you on the path of life laid out before you.

He has brought you here, to this Inn, where He cares for you and provides for all your needs; where He raises you from the dead and strengthens you in body and soul, unto the life everlasting.  He spares no expense in serving you.  Not with silver and gold, but with His holy and precious blood He has redeemed you, ransomed and won you for life with Himself in His Kingdom; and even now to minister the balm of His Gospel, in order to cleanse and heal you.

By all these ways and means, the Lord your God, your Savior Jesus Christ, has befriended you and has become your Neighbor.  That is the answer to the lawyer’s question, though he knew not what he was asking: “Who, then, is your neighbor?”  Jesus is: the One who has shown mercy to you.

As God has thus become your Neighbor in Christ Jesus, so are you now able to love God by loving your neighbor: Because God loves you with all His heart, soul, mind and strength; the Lord your God loves you, and He has rescued you and set you free; He has become true Man, and has bound Himself to your neighbor and his need, as also to you and yours.  It is one Lord Jesus Christ who has become all in all, who is at hand in your neighbor to help you in your hurt, and so also in your neighbor who needs help, so that you now love and serve the Lord in him.

Everything is provided for you.  The Lord Jesus has it covered.  Nothing is lacking for the journey.  Nothing can hurt you anymore forever; nor can anyone rob you of the life that is given to you freely by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

See, here are the two denarii that He has placed into my hands, to care for you as your pastor: His Body given, and His Blood poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  Where there is forgiveness of sins, there also is eternal life for you.  Whatever may yet seem to be lacking, He will fully restore and openly reveal when He returns in Glory at the last.  He is the Lord, and He is faithful: He will do it.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

06 July 2013

This Great Mystery Is of Christ

Lots of questions in the air and on the news these days, concerning marriage, what it is, what it means, and what it’s for.  So, what is it all about?  What is the reason for which God gives this woman to this man?  For, make no mistake, it is the Lord who has created Anna and brought her to this point, who now gives her to Ben.  But, why, and what for?  Why does this son now become a husband?  For what reason and what purpose does this daughter become a wife?

If you polled the room, and if you got the honest answers from each person’s own heart and mind, you’d span the entire gamut with a tangled mess of mixed feelings, conflicted emotions, and competing opinions.  Everything from fairy tale romance and schmalzy nostalgia, to bitterness, resentment, and cynical despair.  As they say, “it’s complicated,” and all so confusing.

Except that none of that chaos defines or determines what marriage really is.  You need a better GPS than that to know where you’re going and how to get there.  And I don’t just mean for these two young people who are getting married, but for each and all of you, whether you are already married, were married, want to get married, or would live a chaste and celibate life, unmarried.

It is not good for the man to be alone; but God is good, and He is with you with His grace and goodness in whatever place He has called you to be.  Not least of all in this good gift of marriage, of the woman for the man, the man for his wife: So, too, with Anna for Ben, and Ben for Anna.

Marriage is not merely a legal formality, nor simply a human custom and tradition.  It is not a man-made thing.  The rites and ceremonies of holy matrimony are, in fact, the Word and work of God, which actually make this man and woman to be, henceforth, husband and wife.  Here the Lord Himself joins them together as one, and sanctifies them, by His Word and Holy Spirit.

He does this in His love, and for their good, for their mutual joy and blessing, to the glory of His holy Name.  The marriage rite has already declared, on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, the several purposes of this blessed estate, which collectively belong to the Image and Likeness of God in the union of the man and his wife: To be comrades, first of all, that is, partners in life, friends together on a common road.  And then, in that companionship, not only to be alongside each other on the same journey, but also to be face to face and heart to heart, united in the intimacy of spirit, soul, and body, to find comfort, compassion, and passion uniquely in one another.  Out of which, as the Lord so wills and graciously provides, their love for each other bears fruit after its own kind and is multiplied in the bearing of children, and in caring for them as the dear Lord cares for us all.

Sounds pretty sweet, doesn’t it?  And, truly, it is.  But we are not naive, nor ignorant of the hurts and fears, the burdens, challenges, and difficulties of marriage in this fallen world.  This ain’t no Disney princess movie, Cinderella!  Adam & Eve didn’t go riding off into the sunset, but were driven out of Paradise on account of their sin.  The curse lay heavy upon them, and upon their children’s children to the present generation.  The marriage rite, therefore, realistically expresses, not only the godly purposes of marriage, but also its inevitable termination: “Til death parts us,” that is the limit of what you can promise to each other.  Ben, you and your family have already known that, painfully.  Fathers and mothers do not always live to see their children get married and have families of their own.  To paraphrase the Prophet:  The food spoils, and the wine runs out.

Even before death comes, mortal life in this perishing world is always dying; and that means more than sickness and infirmity.  Even the best of human efforts will still fail, fall short, and fall apart.  Some marriages do not end with death, but in divorce.  Other marriages persist, but are unhappy.  You already know this, I’m sure.  It’s no surprise, really, that so many are so jaded about marriage.

No, we’re not naive, nor ignorant.  But, of course, you know that I’m not saying all of this out loud to discourage you or put a damper on this day.  On the contrary, we stand here today, before God and the whole world, to rejoice and give thanks for the goodness of marriage, and to face down sin, death, the devil, and hell with the Word and promises of the Lord.  For while it is true that all the sons and daughters of Adam die, it is also true that Christ has died, and He has risen from the dead.

So, then, approach and address the hardships that you’ll face, and every aspect of your marriage, with all its ups and downs and highs and lows, with all its joys and sorrows, with the Word of the Gospel of Christ, and by faith in that Holy Gospel.  That means listening, to start with, to His Word and the preaching of it; and, then, as you have heard, so also speak and sing, pray and confess the Word of Christ, to and for and with each other.  And, whatever He says to you, do it.

Ben, love Anna, even when she’s not so lovely and loveable as she is today.  Make her beautiful with your loving devotion to her, and with your faithful delight in her.  Forgive her sins, overlook her faults, and bear with her in love, as you bear her burdens in patience and peace.  Set aside your own desires, in order to comfort and take care of her.  When Satan would beguile her with his sly temptations and his brutal accusations, take up the Sword of the Spirit to defend and protect her.  Do not stand by silently while she is slain, but breathe Life into her by the Word of the Gospel.

Anna, entrust yourself to Ben, and learn to follow his lead and rely upon him.  I don’t mean that you should not think for yourself or speak your own mind, but let Ben be your husband and your head, as Christ is the Head of His Church.  When the devil would show you his weaknesses, his faults and failings, remember that Ben is clothed and covered with the majesty of Christ’s Word.  He is the one man to whom the Lord Himself now gives you, to protect you and provide for you.

No Christian would deny that Christ, the Son of God, has become true Man, and that He has died for us, to forgive our sins, and has risen again for our justification.  You know and believe, and you confess, that He is your Savior, who saves you by His grace alone, through faith in His Gospel.

But the question is, what does any of that have to do with your marriage?  How does it help?  What is there between the two of you and Christ Jesus?  I mean, aside from the fact that both of you are Christians, baptized into the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ: That’s already been the case for many years now, but what difference is that going to make in your life together as husband and wife?  What does your marriage and its daily wants and needs have to do with Him?

It is a great Mystery, as St. Paul has said, but from the beginning — from before the foundation of the world; from before either one of you were even a twinkle in your Daddy’s eyes or a baby in your Mother’s womb — it has been about Christ and His Bride, the Church.  Not only marriage in general, but your marriage, in particular, as it begins today, and as you move forward in faith.

Christ is not simply a guest, with His disciples, at this wedding, but at the heart of the matter, He is the Bridegroom.  It if for His sake that each and every one of you are here; not only that you are in attendance, but that you exist and are alive to this day.  It is for the sake of Christ that Anna and Ben have been created, and for His sake that they are bound together as one flesh by His Word.

Behind the father of the bride stands the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who brings the Woman to the Man and gives her to him.  Behind the Groom stands Christ Jesus Himself.  And behind Anna stands the Holy Christian Church.  That is the reality at work behind the scenes.  Not as a metaphor or a mere analogy.  It’s not that Christ and His Church are like a husband and wife, but that marriage has been made by God to be like Him, to live and to abide by faith in His Love.

Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, begotten of the Father from eternity, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in time, is the Image and Likeness of God in Man.  In His own Person, forevermore, is the perfect Union — the perfect “Wedding,” if you will — of the one true God and true Man: without any confusion, but also without any division or separation.  And so it is in Him that the whole Christian Church in heaven and on earth is called and gathered together, and united or “married” to God, by the Holy Spirit, through the Gospel.

This Lord Jesus Christ, this Bridegroom from heaven, has come to you in His Incarnation, that is, in His becoming flesh, and in His Resurrection from the dead, and in His Ministry of the Gospel.  He seeks you out and calls you to Himself; He woos you, as the perfect Lover that He is, by His Word and Spirit of forgiveness.  In His great Love, He delights in you.  He joins you to Himself, and He to you, in body and soul: In your Holy Baptism, He has grafted you into Himself, into His riven side, from which the blood and water of His Passion have been poured out for you; and in the Holy Communion, the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom, which has no end, He feeds you with Himself, putting His own Body and His Blood into your mortal body, to raise you up by the power of His Resurrection, and to abide in you with His own indestructible Life.  As He thus gives you Himself and His Life, He is fruitful in you, and He brings forth good fruits of life and love for others.  For the Tree of His Cross surely bears such fruits after its own kind.

This is what the Lord Jesus does for His whole Church, and for each and all of her members; and this is what He does for you, dear Anna and Ben, within the Communion of His Church on earth.  Do not doubt that, by these ways and means of His grace, within the sacred fellowship of His own Holy Bride, He bestows these very gifts and benefits upon your marriage in His Name.

“Take time to learn your marriage benefits.”  That’s what the front page of the business section of today’s South Bend Tribune advises.  The paper is talking about money, but I’m talking about a richer and more lasting treasure than that.  The goodness and benefits of your marriage, above all else, are those of the Gospel.  Which means that your marriage points beyond itself to that which is divine and eternal; to that which is freely given to all who are wed to Christ Jesus by His Word and faith: to your family and friends who are not married, and who may never be; to those whose marriages are difficult and disappointing; and to those whose marriages have ended altogether.

“The food spoils, and the wine runs out.”  But Christ and His Word of the Gospel abide forever, and He gives life, even in the midst of sin and death, under the weight and promise of His Cross.

Your “happily-ever-after” isn’t in your marriage to each other, but in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, for whom the Father has fashioned you, and to whom He has brought you and given you by His gracious Word and Holy Spirit.  That is the very thing which gives joy and gladness, and grace and every blessing to your marriage, “happily-right-now,” and even til death parts you from this life.

This Gospel of Christ Jesus is the confidence in which you begin your life together, and in which you live in the New Creation: “Naked and not ashamed,” with each other, like the first man Adam and his wife Eve, and like the New Man with His Bride.  Not only on your honeymoon and in your marriage bed, which is to be kept undefiled; but in bearing each other’s burdens and sharing each other’s weaknesses; in the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual intimacy of life together; in the cut and thrust, and bump and grind, of life under the Cross; in bearing the Cross for each other in faith.

Live together in mutual repentance and forgiveness; for Christ is with you, with His Love and His forgiveness of all your sins.  He is with you in your vocations for each other as husband and wife, to strengthen and support you in your callings, to sanctify and save you by the grace of His Gospel.

Take heart, and do not be afraid of anything.  Your heavenly Bridegroom is faithful, and He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He has joined the two of you to Him, as members of His Body and His Bride, and so He cleaves to you forever; He shall not allow your sin, nor Satan, nor even death, to separate you from Him.  He has pledged Himself to you, and has vowed to have you and to hold you as His own; He has sworn an oath by His own honor, and His Word cannot be broken.

That is what He does for His whole Church, and in the two of you today we see that pictured in a wonderful way.  Today, Ben, you and Anna are the icons set before us: of Christ and His Church.  We love you both, but you do us the service of pointing beyond yourselves to Him who loves us.  As beautiful as Anna here appears, so much more beautifully does Christ adorn the two of you, and all of us, with the brilliant and stunning white wedding gown of His own perfect righteousness.

Not only that, but His good wine is not restricted or reserved to this happy day of celebration; it is no less poured out for you in the crosses you will bear together in days ahead.  From His side you have been taken, and to His own side you are returned, even as the two of you now make that journey side-by-side together.  For He who is your Savior, by His Word, turns “ordinary water,” and, yes, even the bitters waters of affliction, into the sweetest of wine; not for drunkenness and debauchery, but for joy and gladness and delight through all your days, unto the life everlasting.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.