It is a great honor to be here today to deliver God’s message here at Shane and Liz’s wedding. For those who don’t me, I was Shane’s roommate throughout college. We were very good roommates for each other in terms of our cleanliness.
Actually Shane’s dad and I were reminiscing of Shane and my days at Gordon the other day and he remembered one time freshman year when he walked into our room and saw a carpet of clothes about 2 feet deep from wall to wall. My wife Bethany said, “Well Peter is still the same way.” I guess we will have to wait to see if Shane will also improve his laundry skills by being married.
Shane and Liz actually told me about a week and half ago that I would be speaking at their wedding. My wife commented that it wasn’t a whole lot of time to prepare. Then she thought for a moment and said, “Well even if he had given you a whole year to prepare Shane should know by now, from being your roommate that you wouldn’t start preparing until 4am on that day anyway. This was often the custom for my studies in college with my desk light shining on my roommate’s face unintentionally waking him. Shane certainly knew this custom, and now my wife has also experienced it from time to time.
So Liz, I wish you all the best in getting to know all of Shane’s fascinating roommate habits.
The scriptures that I want to look at today are the verses we just read in Matthew 5. This section of text is called “the beatitudes.” The name comes from the Latin meaning “blessed.” This word “blessed” that is given to each person is a hard word to translate. “Blessed” is really an obscure word in our culture today, we don’t really use it unless someone sneezes. So some translators use the word “happy” but this also is a hard translation to work with because happiness is so subjective in our culture. I think a good translation for each one of these “blesseds” would be “eternally hopeful and joyful” are these people because of the
This is a hard concept to understand. However, we can find a very great parallel in the meaning of these verses to the marriage that we celebrate today. In the days before Bethany and I got married we pondered when would be the exact moment in time when we would be officially married.
Was it when we said “I do?” Was it our first kiss as a “married” couple? Was it when the pastor declared us husband and wife? Or perhaps like in Lord of the Rings at the very instant when Frodo puts the ring on his finger he turns invisible, we were married right when we put the rings on fingers. Or was it simply when we signed the paper saying we were married.
A case could probably be made for each of these symbolic acts. But in the ancient world, the real moment of a marriage is when the couple would be alone for the first time and “become one flesh” as it says in the book of Genesis. Now if you need clarification on what this means come talk to me at the reception….
Actually it’s from this tradition where we get the term to “consummate a marriage.”
We can speak of in this way. A marriage is inaugurated during the ceremony but it is not consummated until the wedding night. Our beloved couple will experience this today…All through the reception they will be already married, they will already have the rings, already have said “I do,” already have been announced, already signed their marriage papers…but not yet will they have experienced the fullness of the consummation of their marriage.
This is the great parallel to the passage of scripture we read today. Actually we see this parallel all over the New Testament. Scholars actually refer to this as the “already/not yet” tension. What they mean by this is that Jesus Christ has already come to earth, already dealt with the powers of sin and evil. With Christ’s ministry, death, and resurrection the
So to elaborate on some of these beatitudes: blessed (or eternally joyful) are the poor, now, even though they are poor, now, because they will be vindicated in the consummation of the
Eternally joyful are those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God to finally be demonstrated over the world, for they will be satisfied in the consummation of the Kingdom of God.
Eternally joyful are the peacemakers, those who bring about the reign of God, for they will be called sons of God in the consummation of the Kingdom.
Eternally joyful are those who are persecuted for the righteousness of God they do. for they will be vindicated in the consummation of the Kingdom.
Jesus here paints a very beautiful picture of what the consummation of the
And now to Shane and Liz, who will soon experience the joy of a consummated marriage, the beatitudes also provide for us an ethic for those living within this
“Love.” It is another word we have real trouble with in culture. I love Chinese food, but I would never die for Chinese food. The night before Jesus was crucified he told his disciples.
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jn 15:13
This is not only for Shane and Liz but for myself, my wife, and any other married person here. You may not ever need to die physically for the one you love. But everyday you should be self-sacrificing, emulating Christ’s actions for us, and thus helping to issue fourth the coming consummation of the
Shane and Liz, I wish you long years filled with health and prosperity, as members of this Kingdom
Yes, many people inquired of my knowledge at the reception!
