The Two Will Become One

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

October 11, 2015

Mark 10:7-9 & Ephesians 5:32

The Two Will Become One

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Can someone get a divorce from the Church? No, because when someone deserts the Church, they are really walking out on Christ Jesus. Listen to how Paul laid it out:

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church―for we are members of His body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery―but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Ephesiasn 5:28-32)

The whole discussion in the Bible about marriage and divorce are extensions of a much deeper reality. The uniting of one man and one woman in marriage is a reflection of Christ's uniting with His Church.

The prophets repeatedly spoke of God's faithfully caring for His chosen nation, the Jewish people, like a devoted husband. And sadly the prophets rebuke God's people for their adultery and desertion from the one true God to chase after the more handsome idols created by men (Jeremiah 3).

“The house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 5:11)

This unfaithfulness is heard in the questions of Jesus' enemies. Since they were always looking for a way out of their marriage to one true God, their hard hearts had no problem carrying this lust for adultery into their own marriages to their wives.

Some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

"What did Moses command you?" He replied.

They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."

"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'

'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Mark 10:2-9)

Jesus rebuked their hard hearts and called them to see that marriage and really every good gift is a gift from our dear Lord. To seek ways to destroy what God creates is sin, plain and simple.

So Paul wrote words of encouragement to the Ephesians to treat marriage with holy joy and reverence. Marriage is to be a living parable of Christ's mercy and sacrifice for us. Not just love, but far more―works of mercy and sacrifice that deliver to us the opposite of what we deserve.

When someone deserts their spouse, this is a grievous sin. Not unforgivable, but a grievous sin that wounds the consciences of all involved: the other spouse, the parents, the children, the pastor, but above all, the unfaithful spouse. The Devil will use this awful decision and heinous deed to work on the minds of those involved:

they caused this,

they should have done that,

God is mad at me,

I'm mad at God,

and perhaps worst of all, I don't care what God says.

And so it goes. The Devil delights in divorce because so often the snake uses it to drag or lure the Bride―the Church―away from the Bridegroom―Jesus Christ.

But there is hope for those who have been deserted. And even hope for the villains who have deserted their families. Jeremiah passed along these stunning words from the Lord to His people:

“Return, faithless Israel, I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,' declares the Lord, 'I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt―you have rebelled against the Lord your God . . . Return, faithless people," declares the Lord, "for I am your husband. (Jeremiah 3:12-14)

Dear friends, the Devil is delighted to sponsor the ongoing assault on marriage. He's been doing it for centuries. And now he gains much from the current battle. Obviously he destroys many souls of those who advocate the un-marriage of the day, but he is also happy to use our frustration to keep us from seeing our own desertions and adulteries. We have looked at awful things, read awful things, and watched awful things. They used to come in VHS, now they stream online.

But maybe you've never looked at that smut since you don't know how to operate a VCR or turn on your email.

But you treated your spouse with anger. You've counted their faults and used them to wound when you needed to win. Or perhaps you've laughed at the shows that make husbands look like incompetent idiots and wives like shrill screamers or objects of lust.

But there is still hope for us, because of the words of Christ: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” He, the Bridegroom, faithfully chases us with these words, His wandering Bride. And He finds us, again and again.

Praise Him for true marriages, where husbands sacrifice for their brides and wives serve their husbands. For in their faithfulness, their repentance and forgiveness to each other, we see the deeper truth and joy. This is what Christ is for us. And instead of the wedding reception at the beginning of the marriage, He saves it for eternity.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention and went off―one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. (Matthew 22:2-10)

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners―of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!