Relationships | Jesus woos his bride

«EIFACH mue­tig – with Jesus as our role model…» is our new the­me for the year. The­re are various images for the rela­ti­onship bet­ween Jesus and the Church. One of them is the bri­de and bri­de­g­room. If the rela­ti­onship bet­ween Jesus and his bri­de is seen through the eyes of the old wed­ding cerem­o­ny, much beco­mes clear. The basis is the mar­ria­ge con­tract, which pri­ma­ri­ly places the bri­de­g­room under obli­ga­ti­on and grants the bri­de pro­tec­tion. The bri­de, on the other hand, is com­ple­te­ly preoc­cu­p­ied with pre­pa­ring for the upco­ming wed­ding. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus are in this pha­se and are the­r­e­fo­re cal­led upon to uti­li­se the time until Jesus returns.

Today we start the new the­me for the year «EIFACH mue­tig – with Jesus as our role model…» On the one hand, today’s ser­mon is inten­ded to lay the foun­da­ti­on for much of what is to come this year. On the other hand, it is also the start of the sub-the­me of rela­ti­onships. «EIFACH mue­tig». On the one hand, fol­lo­wing Jesus is easy, but on the other hand, it always requi­res a good deal of cou­ra­ge. But ever­y­thing that fol­lo­wers of Jesus do is con­nec­ted to the rela­ti­onship that he has with his fol­lo­wers. Many will pro­ba­b­ly strugg­le with this state­ment, but the­re is such a thing as belon­ging or not belon­ging. It depends on this rela­ti­onship. In the Bible, this rela­ti­onship is descri­bed in various ways. Among other things, the con­gre­ga­ti­on or church as the bri­de of Jesus. All of this ulti­m­ate­ly cul­mi­na­tes in the mar­ria­ge of the church and Jesus Christ. «Let us be glad and rejoice and honour him. For the time has come for the mar­ria­ge sup­per of the Lamb, and his bri­de has made hers­elf rea­dy» (Reve­la­ti­on 19:7 NLB). At the end of time, the Lamb (Jesus Christ) will come tog­e­ther again with his bri­de (the church) and cele­bra­te the wed­ding. The bri­de has duly pre­pared hers­elf for this, but what does this look like? To bet­ter under­stand this image, this mor­ning we will immer­se our­sel­ves in the anci­ent Jewish wed­ding ceremony.

The «ketubba» as a basis

Enga­ge­ment is a flee­ting con­cept today com­pared to how it was unders­tood in the Jewish tra­di­ti­on. Betro­thal has no gre­at value here. But this is pre­cis­e­ly the crux of the mat­ter. If we approach the topic of the «church as the bri­de of Jesus» with our wes­tern, post­mo­dern under­stan­ding, then we misun­derstand many things or at least not in the depth that was the case for peo­p­le at that time. The­r­e­fo­re, we need to chan­ge our under­stan­ding by immer­sing our­sel­ves in the anci­ent wed­ding cerem­o­ny or betro­thal. If we know the old wed­ding cerem­o­ny, then more and more bibli­cal pas­sa­ges beco­me more under­stan­da­ble and are pla­ced in this context.

The first step is to arran­ge the mar­ria­ge. As a rule, the father looks for a bri­de for his son. If he finds one, the two young peo­p­le get to know each other. If the­re is affec­tion bet­ween the two, the young man plans a visit. The decisi­ve fac­tor, howe­ver, is that both have to agree. The visit to the poten­ti­al bri­de then pro­ceeds as fol­lows. The young man goes with his father, a cup, wine and the bri­de­wealth. Now comes the cru­cial point. The young man knocks on the door. Behind it is the woman’s father. If his daugh­ter agrees, he opens the door! Ope­ning the door means con­sen­ting to the nego­tia­ti­on of this mar­ria­ge bond. If the poten­ti­al bri­de opens the door, then she has also pre­pared food. Reve­la­ti­on takes up this image for fol­lo­wing Jesus.  «Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyo­ne hears me cal­ling and opens the door, I will come in and we will eat tog­e­ther» (Reve­la­ti­on 3:20 NLB). Have you ope­ned the door for Jesus and let him into your life? If you would like to do this, you are wel­co­me to visit the pray­er team. If you have alre­a­dy done this, then it’s time to use the time until Jesus returns. More on this later.

Now comes the nego­tia­ti­on and sig­ning of the «ketub­ba». The «ketub­ba» is the mar­ria­ge con­tract. This imme­dia­te­ly chan­ges the sta­tus of the woman. The bri­de is now legal­ly con­side­red a mar­ried woman. From now on, she is the groom’s heir and this con­tract is legal­ly bin­ding. A divorce cer­ti­fi­ca­te is requi­red to dis­sol­ve this con­tract. Chea­ting during this pha­se also counts as adul­tery. The groom also under­ta­kes to pro­vi­de for his bri­de. He pays his bride’s fami­ly com­pen­sa­ti­on for losing their daugh­ter, but it is not a purcha­se! Through the «ketub­ba» he sepa­ra­tes her from the old fami­ly. She is now part of his fami­ly. Alt­hough she remains in the old fami­ly until the wed­ding, legal­ly she alre­a­dy belongs to the groom. It is now clear that this enga­ge­ment is so much more than ours! The cerem­o­ny ends with a wine ritu­al. The groom has brought wine and a wine cup. Both drink from it and the groom makes a pro­mi­se to his bri­de: «I won’t drink from it again until we are mar­ried». The «ketub­ba» has now been sea­led, but the mar­ria­ge has not yet been con­sum­ma­ted. Jesus Christ also made a coven­ant. He intro­du­ced the Lord’s Sup­per with bread and wine. This was fol­lo­wed by «Mark my words – I will drink no more wine until the day I drink it again with you in my Father’s king­dom» (Matthew 26:29 NLB). The Last Sup­per is a remin­der that Jesus paid the bri­de pri­ce with his life. At the end, the bri­de recei­ves gifts from her groom. The­se are inde­pen­dent of the bri­de pri­ce and belong to the bri­de herself.

The groom

This is fol­lo­wed by the enga­ge­ment peri­od, which lasts one to two years. This peri­od is cal­led «kid­dus­hin»: Sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on. The enga­ged cou­ple do not see each other too often and cer­tain­ly not alo­ne. This is becau­se sexua­li­ty is loca­li­sed in the mar­ria­ge and is part of the mar­ria­ge cerem­o­ny. During this time of sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on, the bri­de­g­room is busy. His task now is to set up a place for the wed­ding cerem­o­ny in his father’s house. He also pre­pa­res a flat for hims­elf and his bri­de. This keeps him busy. When he has finis­hed and ever­y­thing plea­ses his father, the bri­de­g­room is allo­wed to fetch his bri­de. Jesus also went ahead of his bri­de, i.e. the fol­lo­wers of Jesus, with a spe­ci­fic task: «The­re are many flats in my Father’s house, and I am going ahead to prepa­re a place for you. If it were not so, would I have told you so? Then when ever­y­thing is rea­dy, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me whe­re I am» (John 14:2–3 NLB). Jesus went and is now doing the same thing as a bri­de­g­room at that time. He pre­pa­res ever­y­thing and when he is rea­dy, he comes back to get us. And this is cer­tain. Becau­se he has given his pro­mi­se. He has made a «ketub­ba» with his successors.

He has ful­fil­led three essen­ti­al things. First­ly, he paid the pri­ce, the bri­de pri­ce for you and me. Just as the bri­de still remain­ed in her par­ents» house, so fol­lo­wers of Jesus are still on earth. They are in this world, but not of this world. We will see the impli­ca­ti­ons of this in a moment. Second­ly, he left a gift to the church as a bri­de. It is to remind the fol­lo­wers of Jesus to whom they are pro­mi­sed. This gift is the Holy Spi­rit. Third­ly, Jesus went and is now pre­pa­ring ever­y­thing so that he can take us to hims­elf. This «ketub­ba», the new coven­ant that Jesus has made with his fol­lo­wers, gives deep secu­ri­ty and abo­ve all obli­ges the bri­de­g­room, i.e. Jesus, to care for us. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus are pro­mi­sed to him!

The bride

But now to the bri­de – the fol­lo­wers of Jesus. What does the sta­tus of God’s bri­de mean for us? In the New Tes­ta­ment, Paul draws a par­al­lel bet­ween earth­ly mar­ria­ge and Jesus» rela­ti­onship with us humans. The Greek word for wife is the same word that is trans­la­ted as bri­de in Reve­la­ti­on 19:7. The bri­de who has pre­pared hers­elf for the wed­ding with the Lamb. «And hus­bands, love your wives with the same love with which Christ loved the church. He gave his life for her so that she might walk enti­re­ly with him, free from guilt.öwashed clean by bap­tism and the word of God. He did this in order to pre­sent them to hims­elf as a glo­rious church, wit­hout spot or wrink­le or any such thing, but holy and wit­hout ble­mish» (Ephe­si­ans 5:25–27 NLB). It beco­mes clear that the church is also in the time of sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on. The betro­thed had three tasks during this time, which also app­ly to the church. First­ly, she cle­an­ses hers­elf and pre­pa­res for the wed­ding. Second­ly, she wea­ves tapestries for her future home. Third­ly, she looks for­ward to the arri­val of her bri­de­g­room with vigi­lan­ce and joy. This shows that alt­hough she still lives in her par­ents» house, she no lon­ger belongs to it. She is pre­pa­ring to lea­ve. As fol­lo­wers of Jesus Christ, we are in the same pha­se. We are in this world, but not of this world.

First­ly, the puri­fi­ca­ti­on and phy­si­cal pre­pa­ra­ti­on of the bri­de. In the text rea­ding from the Book of Esther, we heard that Esther spent twel­ve months pre­pa­ring to come befo­re the king. It was a huge effort and all «just» for a wed­ding. During this time, the bri­de under­goes puri­fi­ca­ti­on baths. This is about ritu­al puri­ty. The bri­de should be holy and spot­less. Just as the bri­de beca­me pure through this ritu­al bath, so should her suc­ces­sors be through bap­tism. Bap­tism is an expres­si­on of belon­ging to the bri­de­g­room Jesus Christ.

The second important task of the bri­de is to be vigi­lant for the arri­val of the bri­de­g­room. The bri­de did not know exact­ly when the bri­de­g­room would finish his work. But she knew that he would come one day. So she was rea­dy! We heard many ser­mons on this during Advent, so I won’t go into it any fur­ther here.

The third com­mis­si­on seems the most important to me: the bri­de wea­ves tapestries for her future home. This may seem a litt­le stran­ge, old-fashio­ned, dus­ty and also spe­cial. But this is the heart of the mat­ter in fol­lo­wing Jesus. The bri­de wea­ves the tapestries for her house. She is pre­pa­ring for it. But the timing is also important here. She wea­ves them after the «ketub­ba» has been signed. The bride’s wea­ving can­not bring about the groom’s affec­tion. Rather, it is a result of the rela­ti­onship. Jesus gave his betro­thed the Holy Spi­rit as a gift. He only gave it after the New Coven­ant had been made. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus should prepa­re them­sel­ves for the coming wed­ding with the gift of their bri­de­g­room, the Holy Spi­rit. As a fol­lower of Jesus, this means beco­ming more like him with my way of life. After all, I belong to Jesus Christ and no lon­ger to this world. This stri­ving for a life that is chan­ged by the Holy Spi­rit can unsett­le, chall­enge and offend peo­p­le. Howe­ver, the Holy Spi­rit is not only the trans­forming power, but also the gua­ran­tee that fol­lo­wers of Jesus belong to him! «Through Christ you too have now heard the truth, the good news that God saves you. You have belie­ved in Christ, and he has con­firm­ed you as his own with the seal of his Holy Spi­rit, whom he pro­mi­sed long ago. The Holy Spi­rit is the gua­ran­tee thatür that he will give us ever­y­thing he has pro­mi­sed us and that we are his own - to the prai­se of his glo­ry» (Ephe­si­ans 1:13–14 NLB). The Holy Spi­rit is the gua­ran­tee of the mar­ria­ge bet­ween Jesus and his church, to which all fol­lo­wers of Jesus belong.

Alt­hough the bri­de alre­a­dy legal­ly belon­ged to the groom, the final uni­on was yet to come. Only after the final wed­ding ritu­al did the bri­de­g­room take the bri­de to him and they slept tog­e­ther. The church will only have com­ple­te com­mu­ni­on with Jesus when he returns and she is united with him. Name­ly at the wed­ding of the pre­pared bri­de with the Lamb. Accor­ding to our the­me for the year, the mis­si­on for every sin­gle fol­lower of Jesus is: «EIFACH mue­tig» – wea­ve my life with Jesus as my role model!

Possible questions for the small group

Read the Bible text: Reve­la­ti­on 3:20, Ephe­si­ans 5:25–27 and Ephe­si­ans 1:13–14

1. In Reve­la­ti­on 3:20, we read that Jesus stands at the door and knocks. By ope­ning the door, the young woman agreed to mar­ry the man. Have you ope­ned the door for Jesus and beco­me part of his bri­de? If not, would you like to do so?
2. The mar­ria­ge con­tract, the «ketub­ba», was an important part of the old wed­ding cerem­o­ny. This regu­la­tes the sta­tus of the woman until the wed­ding. Accor­ding to this, she is no lon­ger part of the old fami­ly, but of the groom’s fami­ly, alt­hough she still lives with the old fami­ly until the wed­ding. How do you orga­ni­se this time here on earth? How are you wea­ving your life?
3. Are you rea­dy to let «EIFACH mue­tig – with Jesus as your role model…» chan­ge your life? Whe­re do you see an obs­ta­cle coming your way? Be it other peo­p­le, inner resis­tance, habits or some­thing else. Try to name them and sub­mit them to God in prayer.
4. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus have recei­ved the Holy Spi­rit as a gift. He is the trans­forming power. In which area do you desi­re this chan­ge of the Holy Spirit?
5. Are you awa­re of your sta­tus as part of the bri­de of Jesus? If not, ask the Holy Spi­rit to give you this awareness.