1.
In
the name of Jesus. Amen. Dear Jacob and Samantha. Well, this is it! You’re getting married. You’ve
gathered together your family and friends for this special occasion. You’ve
asked them to join you as you make these solemn vows of marriage with one with
another. As you’re probably aware, there
are some here this day, probably your grandparents and maybe your baptismal
godparents, in addition to your own parents, who are seeing this as an answer
to their prayers. They may have prayed on the day of your birth and at your baptism
that someday, someplace, you would stand before the altar of the Lord and
pledge your love to another and receive the public commitment of another
without doubt. This is that day. Their prayers are being answered. But, this isn’t the end of their prayers for
you, of course. This day their prayer becomes that in this marriage you may
each always be a source for each other of God’s blessings, and that through the
two of you, God may bless many. In just a couple of minutes you’ll be making
such a public promise, and for such purpose we’ll be making prayer. In this
wedding ceremony we remember that is our Lord Jesus Christ who binds you
together as husband and wife.
2.
Did
you notice how Genesis 2 reveals to us that God the Father is very sensitive to
us humans and personally involved with his creation. It portrays a God who not
only gives us the world, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the
creatures in the water, but who gives us one another as well. If you asked me to summarize in one word the
purpose for which God gives a woman to a man and a man to a woman, the word I
would choose is the word LOVE. God
gives people to people in order that they may love one another. Colossians 3:14 reminds us, “14And above all these put on
love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” But, there’s
another word that, for all practical purposes, means the same as love. That is
the word serve. God gives people to people so that they may serve one another.
3.
On
a day such as today, I doubt that the word I chose to describe God’s intention
for you surprises you. Love is in the air in this building. The two of you look
at each other lovingly. The music is lovely, the flowers are beautiful, your
families are supportive, and your friends don’t look bad either. The setting is
almost like being in the Garden of Eden. You are surrounded by symbols and
feelings of love. It’s enough to make you think that loving each other for the rest
of your lives will be very easy.
4.
But,
the Scriptures, don’t speak of sentimental love or emotional love but of a love
that’s intentional and self-giving. In 1 Cor. 13, Paul admonished the
Corinthians to practice self-sacrificing love. He wrote of a love that’s
patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude. “[Love] does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices
with the truth” (1 Cor 13:5–6). Paul urges us to love one another with a
strong love that “bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (v 7).
5.
But,
Jacob and Samantha as you begin to live together with one another as husband
and wife you must remember that you are a sinner living with another sinner. In
spite of all your efforts, there will be lapses in your Christian living and in
your duties to one another as husband and wife. Failures and faults will show. Jacob, one morning you’re going to roll over
in bed and remember the disagreement you had with Samantha the day before.
You’ll risk opening just one eye as you look at your wife lying next to you, and
you’ll ask, “Lord, is this the woman you
gave to me on the day of my marriage? Is this the woman you want me to spend
the rest of my life with? Do I really have to love her as Christ loved me and
his Bride, the Church, and gave himself up for her on the cross? Do I really
have to sacrifice myself for her?” It’s not going to be as easy to love her
that morning as it is this afternoon. And
Samantha, Jacob also isn’t going to be as easy to love each day of your
marriage as he is today. One morning you’re going to wake up and see the pile
of laundry Jacob has left lying on the floor instead of in the hamper, you’re
going to see the cap to the toothpaste left off of the tube, and you’re going
to say, “Lord, in all of your mixing and
matching of husbands and wives, are you certain this is not more of a mix than
a match? Are you certain that this is the man that you want me to spend the
rest of my life with? Do I really have to follow those words of St. Paul
from Colossians 3:14,“14And
above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony?” In your marriage Jacob and
Samantha I pray that you will remember that it’s our Lord Jesus who binds you
together as husband and wife with the love that he gives to you.
6.
Remember that there will be occasions when
you’ll hurt one another and complaints against one another will arise. But,
with the help of our Lord Jesus the two of you will learn to “bear with each other” and help one
another, lovingly overlooking slights and injuries. You will help one another
grow, and you’ll strengthen one another rather than tearing one another down.
And you will cheerfully “forgive whatever
grievances … against one another,” just as Jesus has forgiven you through
his death on the cross. It’s the love of Jesus that binds you
together as husband and wife, for when your love fails, his unconditional love
will endure for the both of you.
7.
Jacob
and Samantha, Your marriage makes you one flesh with each other; Jesus became
flesh not only to dwell among us, but also to give his flesh for our lives, and
to live in us in such fashion that we’re never alone. As husband and wife, you
are not in your marriage relationship alone. You are one, not only with each
other, but with your Savior Jesus. When
emotional love fails you and sentimental love isn’t enough to sustain you, then
cling to your Baptism, through which you’ve put on Jesus and have received the blessings
of his life, death, and resurrection. Because of your Baptism, sin is not your
master; Jesus is. You can affirm in words and actions the love of Christ, which
is the will of God for your life together as husband and wife.
8.
If
you live together in Christ’s love and stay connected to him, his promise to
you is that your marriage will bear fruit. You
will continue to be bound together as husband and wife in Christ’s love. Jesus is the most important guest
attending your wedding today. And, I’m
confident that Jesus will remain a welcomed person in your marriage. Together
as you remain connected to Jesus, you will not only be one forever, you will
also be one for good. Amen.
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