That bwessed arwangement. That drweam within a drweam!! Haha!!
I love that movie!!
I have been dealing with a lot of marriage things lately. Our friends Sarah and Jaymin are getting married. I am helping out with the wedding of our friends Mike and Sarah. So marriage has been on my mind as of late.
This morning I had a conversation with my wife about marriage...our marriage. We kept several relics from our wedding ceremony and have tried to keep them nice over the years. Unfortunately, life happens and some of those relics have been ruined or destroyed.
Let me give you some examples.
We kept the candle with 1 Corinthians 13 4-8 written on it that we used in the ceremony. We kept it, in the attic where it melted because of the heat and the words got all messed up, so we had to throw it out because it was ugly. We kept our toasting glasses. But the great and mighty Zion broke one when he shook the wine glass rack that they were on, so now we only have one.
We were pretty bummed about these relics biting the dust but you know, as I think more and more about it, in the grand scheme of things they really don't matter. Our marriage is not based on the relics we used in our ceremony. In fact the ceremony was really nothing in comparison to the rest of our lives. The relics do not make or break our marriage, our vows to each other and to God is what really counts.
I think sometimes we forget that marriage is a picture of something greater. Take for example the story of Jesus being cornered by the teachers of the law. They thought they would trick him by asking him a trick question. See this sect of the Religious teachers did not believe in the resurrection, so they asked him a resurrection question hoping to trick him and make him look stupid. They asked, what would happen if a man marries a women but he dies with no children, so she marries his six brothers (one at a time) and (one at a time) they all die without giving her any children to carrying on the first brother's name or take care of her. Who will she be married to at the resurrection?
Now it was Jewish custom that if a man marries a woman and dies before having children that the man's closest brother would have to marry the widow and try and give her a son to carry on the name and line of the first brother. This son would be considered the child of the first man. Kind of strange to us but the way they did things back then it makes total sense.
So Jesus has this question before him and tells the teachers that they are idiots and don't know the scriptures at all (which was their job by the way). Jesus says that marriage in this life does not carry over into the next but is a picture of something so much greater. Marriage is a picture of the relationship that we the church have with God. A picture of absolute commitment and love, to the point of giving your life fully to your spouse. A promise that forsakes everyone else, for the sake of the one you married.
That is the kind of relationship that Christ has with us is it not? Husbands are to love your wives as Christ loves the church AND gave Himself up for her. That is why divorce is so wrong to God, because it takes this idea of a relationship where the people are so committed to each other and turns it into a relationship that can stop at the precise moment when things get too difficult. That is not the relationship that Christ has with us. The cross was pretty difficult for him but he stuck with it so that we could be made righteous and holy and he is holy.
Marriage is a picture of that. A committed relationship that endures hardship and see it through to the other side.
I encourage you if you are married or thinking about getting married make sure you are certain it is for life!! May your marriage be a reflection to others of the relationship between Jesus and his Bride.
May our LORD be with you
Josh
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