The Rite of Holy Matrimony - Jason and Kimberly Hines

The Church Season of Easter
The Rite of Holy Matrimony
Jason Hines – Kimberly Kraus
St. John Lutheran Church-Amelith,  Bay City, MI (May 15, 2010)

“The Mystery of God”

Readings:   
    Psalm 127
    Genesis 2:18-25
    1 Corinthians 13

Sermon Form    Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 1st Corinthians, the 13th chapter.

1 Corinthians 13 (ESV)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and His Church to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy marriage. 

Jason, and Kimberly, dear family and friends,

This is a wonderful day in which Our Lord Jesus Christ offers His blessings to you both.  Up until this day you two were a couple.  But now, here in the sight of God, as we heard in our reading from Genesis, the two of you shall become one flesh.  And of this two becoming one flesh, St. Paul further tells us that, “This is a profound mystery.”(Eph 5:32)  And St. Paul also writes in 1st Corinthians, if we, “understood this mystery, and even have faith to move mountains, but still didn’t have love, then you would be nothing.”(1  Cor 13:2)

Well, in the world in which we live, it is indeed challenging to have faith to move mountains, or to try to understand the mysteries of God.  For it would seem that both faith in moving mountains and the mysteries of God are like intangible and abstract theorems.  But, the solving of abstract theorems might be a worthy challenge for those who are of the engineering or mathematical types.  The challenge of the two becoming one flesh, it’s quite a mystery, together yet apart, and so how does 1 + 1 = 1?

That equation set before us, the two becoming one, is indeed a profound mystery.  But even as I speak, I can only think that the engineering and mathematical wheels in this sanctuary are turning, and all the possible solution sets are being worked out.  But quite frankly, none of those mathematical answers will even be close to solving the mystery, nor will they end up be correct. 

For we as humans want God to play by our rules, by our own equations, and by our theorems.  We try to force God into a recognizable package, defined by reason and logic, because we don’t want mysteries.  Mysteries are too complex, they just seem to us to leave things undone.  But rejoice, Jason and Kimberly, the mystery equation set before you is already solved, and so there is no mystery left for this day, no challenge with an empty solution set.  For the answer to the equation has already been given to us and the solution is very simply, and that solution is love.  And the source of that love is God.  For God had a patient and kind love for you both, even since before the day you were born.  In love, God has had a plan for you both and God’s never ending love has brought the two of you together.  And everyone gathered here today can see that love you have for each other is abundantly apparent.

While you grew up in different places, now you are together, and today you will be made one.  An equation solved, by God’s love for you both.  Yet even greater still you are given the promise by God that this solved equation will last for an eternity.  For in the waters of your Baptisms, you were made one with Jesus Christ.  In Baptism you were both claimed by God and made part of His Holy family.  There, in the waters of your Baptism God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, gave you both the promise to be together with Him for all eternity. 

Yet God is before and beyond all eternity and that indeed is a mystery to us.  It is also a mystery that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to undo all the sin of this world.  For Jesus came into this world as an infant, just as both of you did, and it was here that He grew in wisdom and stature.  And just like you both, Jesus Christ was baptized.  And because Jesus Christ’s life included His journey to the cross...sin, death, and the devil have been conquered.  It may be a mystery to us why Jesus would come here for us.  But God gives us the answer to that question too, by saying, “8 God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”(Rom. 5:8)  God loves you both so much that He gave His Son Jesus Christ to die for you.  He gives you that gift freely, just as He has given that to all who live and breath in this world.  One man, Jesus Christ died for many, so that they may never die, but rather have eternal life. 

Many equations may come before you in this world.  Some may be solved, and others, may remain a challenge.  Challenges may face your marriage, there will be good days and bad, there will be sickness and health.  But also know that from time eternal, God’s patient and kind love for you has brought you both together in this place.  God brought you both together and the two of you have become one.  So in reality the greatest of all equations, the greatest of all mysteries is already solved for you.  For God brought Jesus Christ into this world, for you, so that together in Him you may be one and therefore have eternal life together.  In Jesus Name. Amen.

 

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