Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Jasmine and Jesse, members of the Landry and Arroyo Families, other wedding guests, and Brothers and Sisters in Christ of Pilgrim Lutheran Church,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
As one of Pilgrim’s Elders pointed out to me not too long ago, this December here at Pilgrim has been full of the rites of the Church: God has baptized, confirmed, received by transfer, and committed remains to the earth, and all of that in addition to regular Advent Sunday Divine Services and Midweek Vespers services, and upcoming Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. And, today you and we are blessed with your wedding in this Matins service. All told it is not quite the equivalent of the 1994 movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, and we pray that this wedding service goes better than some of those!
From the Readings recommended for wedding services, the bride, groom, and I chose the three Readings you heard moments ago. The First Reading overlapped with the Old Testament Reading appointed for last Sunday, the Third Sunday in Advent, and so also for this week, and so it seemed especially appropriate to reflect primarily on that First Reading in this sermon. In the First Reading, the Divinely‑inspired Isaiah speaks as the Servant Messiah Who promises everlasting joy, he speaks as the Lord Himself Who makes an everlasting covenant, and he speaks as His faithful people who rejoice in the Lord like a bedecked bridegroom and an adorned bride. So, our theme is “The everlasting joy of the bridegroom and bride”.
Every time we read or hear the news, there seem to be either new allegations of sexual misconduct by public figures or developments related to allegations previously made. And, people of good conscience might disagree on what really constitutes such misconduct, and so they might also disagree as to which public figures are guilty and which are not guilty. To be sure, however, public figures are not the only ones potentially guilty of sexual misconduct. Girlfriends and boyfriends, young and old, might move in together. Men and women still married to others might have intimate relationships with someone else, or they might “remarry” after divorces. Men or women might “take advantage” of young boys or young girls. And the list goes on: same-sex couples, transgendered individuals, internet and old-school pornography, crude jokes, and “good old fashioned” lusting in the heart. Society, families, partners, and individuals may approve of such things, but God does not approve. Not only do husbands and wives often fail to love and honor each other, as God commands, but arguably each one of us fails in some way to lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do (Small Catechism, I:12). In fact, each one of us breaks all of God’s Commandments, because each one of us is sinful by nature.
In today’s First Reading, the people to whom the Servant Messiah spoke had received shame and dishonor because of their sins, but the Servant Messiah promised them the first-born’s double portion and everlasting joy as they turned away from their sin in sorrow, trusted God to forgive their sin, and wanted to do better than to keep on sinning. In turn, God’s people greatly rejoiced in the Lord and exulted in their God, because God forgave their sin and so clothed them with the garments of salvation and covered them with the robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom decks himself as a priest with a beautiful headdress and a bride adorns herself with her jewels (confer Zechariah 3:1‑5; Exodus 29:5-9). And, when we likewise so repent, we also are likewise so forgiven and so experience “The everlasting joy of the bridegroom and bride”.
Drawing on Old Testament passages, including some in Isaiah (for example, Isaiah 62:5), the Divinely‑inspired St. Paul writes to the Ephesians (Ephesians 5:22-33) that the marriage of a bridegroom and bride refers to the relationship between Christ and the Church. The God-man Jesus Christ loved the Church, and so He gave Himself up for her to death on the cross, that He might make Her holy and without blemish, so that He, the Bridegroom, might present the Church, His Bride, to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing (confer John 3:28-30). So Jesus loves you and me! Jesus perfectly kept God’s Commandments for us, and on the cross Jesus paid the price for our failure to keep God’s Commandments. When we trust God to forgive our sin for the sake of Jesus’s death for us, then God does just that: God forgives our sins—our sinful natures and our sexual sins—God forgives all our sins, whatever our sins may be.
People sometimes think that an essential part of a wedding is buying a super‑fancy, expensive dress for the bride and renting the latest, fashionable tuxedo for the groom. Not true! That you are here in your best-possible clothes is fine, and, after all the water‑well trouble, I expect there was rejoicing even at a hot shower! What cleanses the Church—and what makes a bride and groom a “helper fit” for the other (Genesis 2:18)—is the washing of water with the word, that is, Holy Baptism. At the Baptismal Font, God works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe (Small Catechism, IV:2). At the Baptismal Font, He clothes us in the garments of salvation and covers us with the robe of Christ’s righteousness. The Office Hymn (Lutheran Service Book 860) referred to the garments not only couples but all of us need to wear, and that Office Hymn also referred both to the Lord’s blessing the wedding feast at Cana, as we heard in the Third Reading (John 2:1-11) and to the Lord’s own wedding feast. Jasmine, I rejoice that prior private Confession and individual Holy Absolution and this wedding today clears your reception of the Sacrament of the Altar, as such Confession and Absolution also clears others’ reception of the Sacrament. For, here, with bread and wine, Christ’s Body and Blood are present, distributed, and received for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. And, Jesse, I look forward to your someday receiving the Sacrament together with your bride.
Speaker of the U-S House of Representatives Paul Ryan a couple of weeks ago made headlines for suggesting that the country needs higher birth‑rates in order to have more tax‑paying workers better fund the Medicare and Social Security programs for an increasing number of people who are retiring from work and drawing out instead of paying into those programs. Officials in our church body have similarly said the Church needs higher birth-rates, blaming recent declines in the church’s rolls at least in part on relatively‑recent permission to use birth control. Indeed, church leaders have not always in the past and do not always now condemn, as they should, sinful use of birth control. The Psalm we sang this morning refers to children as a heritage from the Lord, a reward, and it likens them to arrows in the hand of a warrior and calls blessed the man whose quiver is filled with them. Likewise, the First Reading, perhaps alluding to the Garden of Eden, speaks of blessed and righteous offspring seemingly springing up unstoppably, like plants sprouting from the earth and a garden (Lessing, 286). So, Jasmine and Jesse, you want to let the Lord control your procreation, blessing you with as many children as and when He wills, and bring those children up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4 ESV). Children are one purpose for marriage from before the Fall into sin, and others are mutual companionship and help, and ultimately glorifying God. After the Fall, marriage also serves as a remedy against sin and a way to avoid fornication. God is to be the center of your married life. This day—in connection both with your leaving your families and cleaving to one another and with your sincere and freely‑given mutual consent and commitment—God creates an indissoluble, one‑flesh union between you, that helps you be faithful to one another. The sacrificial love God showed in forgiving your sin leads you to love one another, as we heard in the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13), to honor and respect each other, and to forgive one another. Ultimately, your being forgiven by God, through regularly hearing His Word and receiving His Sacraments, and in turn your forgiving one another—in other words, your living together in the forgiveness of sins—ultimately is the real key to your marriage’s enduring forever and so being all that God wants it to be for you.
At the outset I mentioned the theatrical movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, but you may or may not be aware that a new made‑for‑TV movie takes a twist on the earlier story. In this month’s “Four Christmases and a Wedding”, the characters Chloe and Evan meet and cross paths at four consecutive Christmas festivals and presumably get married at the end of the movie. Just days before this Christmas, we rejoice with you at your wedding. We have considered “The everlasting joy of the bridegroom and bride”, the joy over the forgiveness of sins that God freely offers each one of us through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. We pray that you will share that joy with us and with one another, not only this Christmas and the next three, but for all eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +