The Marriage of Josh and Nicole Church

The Marriage of Josh and Nicole Church

 Text: Matthew 19:4-6

Dear Josh, Nicole, family, and friends, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As many of you know, Josh and Nicole like to bowl, so I thought we’d begin today with a bit of bowling humor.

Alright, Josh and Nicole,

“What did one romantic pin say to the other?”

“Let’s never split.”

Okay, that’s about the gist of my humor.

But it helps us understand the Gospel reading today, where the larger context of the verses comes from a conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees, those strict teachers of the Old Testament Law, who approach Jesus and ask, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife?” (Matthew 19:3)

Jesus responded by saying,

Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. (Matthew 19:4-6)

Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees is interesting because He directs these teachers of the Old Testament back to our first reading from Genesis, the words of Moses, which they knew well.

“This at last is bone of my bones

                   and flesh of my flesh;

          she shall be called Woman,

                   because she was taken out of Man.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24)

A man and a woman are to be united, to become one flesh, where the head goes, so the body follows.

But did you notice that Jesus also doesn’t argue with the Pharisees; He simply confesses what marriage is in a positive way.

We could all do a bit more of this, couldn’t we?

But from this day forward, your lives together are to do this: confess what marriage truly is, confess to a world eager to conform you to its ways, the winds and waves that toss many couples into tailspins and lead you away from this blessed gift that God gives you—to love and cherish one another until death parts you. 

Your lives are to be living sacrifices for each other—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, amid arguments and dirty diapers, toilet seats left up, and dishes left in the sink, for the I love yous, and I forgive yous. 

Because being living sacrifices, as St. Paul said, means exercising your faith in Jesus Christ together, bringing the darker aspects of marriage —like fear of the unknown, disappointment, sadness, tears, sin, and anger—to the cross of Jesus so that your minds and faith might be renewed. It involves putting away what ails you and thinking and believing like Christians again. 

And this isn’t a choice for the Christian couple, because when St. Paul wrote, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2), it is in the imperative: a command for you and all of us today who may be struggling in our marriages.

And if you forget how God has joined you together today, remember each time you pass the font that you are His baptized children. Because of this, your entire life should be focused on putting to death the sin and malice in your heart, as it is drowned at the font, so you will rise again, to new life, to love your wife, your husband, your closest neighbor, as yourself.

Because let’s face it, after today, the two of you will be stuck like glue and stuck on you, like peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies, macaroni and cheese, bread and butter, salt and pepper, fast cars and freedom, hammer and nail, lock and key, rock and roll, Tarzan and Jane, Mickey and Minnie, Romeo and Juliet, and even the birds and the bees.

Or, as it will be said more reverently in a moment, “What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.”

Why?

Because this marriage you desire is ordained by God, He is uniting you today; this isn’t a game of bowling, there are no splits here. From this day forward, your marriage becomes a wonderful confession of your Heavenly Father’s love for you. A sacrificial love understood in the sending of His only Son, Jesus Christ, who went to the cross and died for you, for all of you, His bride, the Church.

This is love — the love of a husband for a wife, of a bridegroom for the bride, and of Jesus for you. 

This is the sacrificial love you are to have for one another now – to support one another in the middle of the night after a child throws up. To face financial challenges together, to walk together as illness and death draw near.

It’s not an easy path, this marriage thing, but through it, you get to confess the love of Christ Jesus in you every day of this life together.

As you walk away today, recognize the wonderful gift you’ve received and rejoice in how God has united you this day, man and woman, two individual beings into one beautiful and loving flesh. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness

Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Tomah, WI

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Website: www.goodsheptomah.org

The Shepherd’s Voice Podcast: https://goodsheptomah.podbean.com/