Kingdom Harbor

Listen to a podcast version of this post here.

We continue our reflections on The Chosen TV series, this week exploring S1 E5 called “The Wedding Gift.” After a touching scene where Simon Peter tells his wife, Eden, he has met the Messiah and has been invited to travel with his entourage, we quickly find Peter asking the first of many presumptive questions: “What does attending a wedding in Cana have to do with the bigger project of being Israel’s Messiah?”

In the middle of viewing this episode together as a church, my oldest son whispered a seemingly simple question in my ear as he watched Jesus interact with the wedding guests: “Dad, did Jesus ever get married?” My initial answer was ‘No.’ But in a deeper sense, the entire Bible in general and the Gospel accounts in particular shout, ‘He’s planning His wedding as we speak!’

Those who are keyed into the larger theme of “Covenant” that spans the entire Biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation, will begin to connect the dots rather quickly. My teacher, Dr. Paul Eddy, argues that a basic understanding of Jewish betrothal and wedding conventions will help make sense of many otherwise vague scripture passages.

We know that Jesus was accosted for spending so much time feasting and hanging out at festive parties, while John’s disciples were a more somber bunch who preferred fasting. Jesus says plainly, “It’s not appropriate to fast while the bridegroom is in the house! It’s time to feast and celebrate!” Jewish custom was for a groom and bride to have a betrothal feast at the beginning of their courtship, and then go back to their separate villages and families for about a 1 year betrothal period. Each had a main task to go about during this “waiting” period.

The groom would go back to his father’s house and begin building a room onto it for he and his bride to inhabit after their wedding day. The bride would go back to her house and aside from continuing to learn the duties of running a household, she would begin the important task of preparing her dress or wedding gown. This was a costly and precious labor of love.

According to Dr. Eddy, typically only the father of the groom knew the day and the hour of the upcoming wedding feast — not even the son (hear the echoes in Scripture?). Everyone else needed to stay on their toes, and be ready for when the father announced the Day had arrived. The father would shout, and the wedding attendants would get the bride ready and begin the procession to the celebration. (Bridesmaids or attendants better make sure they have enough oil in their lamps to make the trip when necessary!)

Dr. Eddy suggests that the reason Jesus went about feasting so much was that his 3 year ministry was essentially Jesus going from town to town, celebrating a protracted betrothal feast, as he wooed his collective bride one follower at a time.

Toward the end of this 3-year long betrothal feast, he surprised his collective bride when he said, “I need to return to my Father’s house for a while, because I am going to prepare a room for you my bride” (John 14). There is not just one singular room, but many rooms in his Father’s house because he has a composite bride! He assures them that He will eventually come back to get them (his bride!), and then the Wedding Supper of the Lamb will commence.

So, for 2,000 years our Heavenly Groom has been preparing our special room in the Father’s House. Yes, it’s been a very long betrothal period, and we still await the trumpet blast, and for the Father to shout, “Today’s the Day, Son. Go get your bride!”

In the meantime, what are we the church, the Bride of Christ, to be busy about? That’s right! We are to be preparing our wedding dress/garment. In Revelation 19 we read about our future wedding, when the Divine Trinitarian Godhead will be joined in a holy union with redeemed humanity. On that day we will join with the angels in shouting:

Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
⁸ Fine linen, bright and clean,
    was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

I did not add the line in the parenthesis; it’s in your Bible, and it explains what it means for the church to be busy knitting together our collective wedding dress that so we will be ready, dressed in “fine linen, bright and clean.” When Christ returns for His Bride, the church, will we be dressed in deeds befitting our role as Christ’s Bride? Or will our collective witness be stained by hypocrisy, divisiveness, infighting and adulterous flirtations with idols?

Dr. Eddy emphasizes that “righteous acts” is best thought of in terms of “right relationships” with others. That is, we are to be working together, sewing together a collective quilt-like wedding dress, where my individual faith and witness will be joined with yours, and yours with mine. This undercuts any individualistic notion of private spirituality that’s just about “me and Jesus.”

Christ is waiting to return, and part of that waiting is to find a united Bride who reflect the Trinitarian fellowship of mutual giving and receiving of love. Might Christ be appalled at all the blotches and stains in our collective witness as he looks down at the American Church today? Might he be shaking his head with sadness, muttering under his breath, “My bride has become split into little tribal factions, and each denomination or group is busy making their own style dress. You all need to come together, and figure out how to join your separate pieces together.” We do well to read Jesus’ disturbing parable of the wedding banquet in Matt 22 and take note of what happens to those who aren’t dressed in a proper gown.

Thankfully, the Father and the Groom are merciful and absurdly patient with the Bride. “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9).

Likewise, he does not leave His Bride with a wash basin and a brush, ordering us to “Remove all the stains and then I’ll return.” He provides us with the cleansing bleach of the gospel, and with his own blood he washes us clean forever more. So let us live out of that pure and spotless — redeemed — identity we have been given solely by His grace!

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come” (Rev. 22:17).

Jesus responds: “Look, I am coming soon! (Rev. 22:7)

Get oil in the lamps, and keep your ears tuned to that final Trumpet call. Then let’s get ready to join the Dance of the Trinity and let the New Wine flow!