Kait and Zach's Wedding

“Kait and Zach’s Wedding”

[Genesis 2:21-24; Ephesians 5:31-32]

October 14, 2018, Windows on the Waves, Sea Bright, NJ

            As we witness and celebrate the union of Kait and Zach, I would like to quickly turn our attention to two Scriptures:

            A quick background to the first – God created everything that is out of nothing, culminating in the creation of humans in His Image.  God created the man first – Adam – and told him to get up, eat some fruit – not eat from one of the trees – and get tending the Garden.  God saw that Adam needed a “helper” – and after bringing all the animals by Adam, and having him name them, we read:

“So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘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.”

            The first point:  most human beings are created to be with someone who is their helper.

            So, what is a “helper”?

The word “’Helper’ (Hebrew ‘ezer) is one who supplies strength in the area that is lacking in ‘the helped.’ The term does not imply that the helper is either stronger or weaker than the one helped. ‘Fit for him’ or ‘matching him’ (cf. ESV footnote) is not the same as ‘like him’: a wife is not her husband’s clone but complements him” https://www.preceptaustin.org/hebrew_word_study_on_help.

What that means is that when the matchmaker brings two people together, or the parents arrange a marriage, or you “fall madly in love,” or go to Match.com – “The Leading Online Dating Site for Singles and Personals” – and they “match” you – two people who complement each other – two people who fulfill a lack of strength in the other, you come together as one physically, emotionally, and spiritually, for the good of each other and their family.

Zach and Kait found each other.  They found that they complement each other.  Zach gives strength to Kait, and Kait gives strength to Zach, and they are both better for it and their family is stronger for it.

            Most humans are created to be with someone who is their helper, because we all have different strengths and weaknesses, and most people need that other half of them to balance each other out and come out greater as one.

            And yet, for all the good and the wonder of marriage, there is something even more mysterious going on in what marriage points to – marriage is a sign pointing to something else:

Paul writes, “’Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

When a man and a woman – like Zach and Kait – join together in marriage and become one in their total being – that shows us – somehow – not perfectly – the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Church.

What does that mean?

If we go back to the Garden of Eden, we find out that Adam and Eve did eat the fruit of the one tree God told them not to, and since then, every human being has been born a sinner – born at odds with God.  But God promised Adam and Eve that God would make One Way for humans to become right with Him again – through the Savior He would send.

And we know from the stores, that Christmas is imminent – and on that first Christmas, God became a human being through the womb of the Virgin Mary.  He lived and died and physically rose from the dead, and then ascended back to His throne so that anyone who would believe in Jesus and repent of his or her sins would be made right with God again – and spend eternity with Him.

So, just as a marriage between a man and a woman – Zach and Kait – joins two people and makes them complete in and with each other – similarly, all Christians – the Church – is only complete and it is made complete as it is joined together with Jesus.

Jesus completes us.  Jesus makes us whole.   Jesus makes us right. With God and each other.

So, as you begin your life together as a married couple, don’t forget that you complete each other.  You are each other’s “better half.”  Together you complete each other and allow each other to be more than you could be on your own.

So, go to each other when you are hurting and when you can’t find an answer.  Be there when you are strong and you know the way to go.  You are now two people united as one.

And remember what your marriage points to – the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Remember that it is only as you are joined together with Him through faith that you will be right with God and united with Jesus – your eternal completeness and strength.

May your life together be complete, joyous, and good.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we ask that You would bless this union and glorify Yourself in and through their lives.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.