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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text comes from the Old Testament reading and the Gospel reading. We pray with me. A lamb goes, uncomplaining, forth, the guilt of sinners bearing, and laden with sins of earth, none else the burden sharing, goes patient on, grows weak and faint, to slaughter, led without complaint, That spotless life to offer. He bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies, the mockery, and yet replies, all this I gladly suffer. In the name of Jesus, amen. You may be seated.
Let me tell you about a marriage. She was married to him at a very young age, and in many ways she grew up with him. And she was comfortable around him. She didn’t fear being around him. He was always kind, and she was very comfortable around him. But for many years, the husband had been encouraging her, saying, we need to spend more time together. But she would always tell him, I’m content with our together time, aren’t you? He, after many times, would respond, do you love me? And she would smile and say, well, sure I do. And then she would tell him all of the ways that she loves him.
The problem is, most of those ways were all of her own invention and none of them were how he wished to be loved. So I suppose she could justify that in her own mind, but he had told her many times how he wanted to be loved by her and only her. He would ask her, why is it that you don’t honor me in front of the children or honor me in front of your friends or even honor me in front of your parents and family members? Why is it different? And there was silence. He continued, even the children noticed that the gifts you give to your parents and your friends and family members, it’s different than the gifts you give to me. Typically, I get the leftovers and I don’t mind, he said. All I desire is to know what it is you mean when you tell me I love you.
Isn’t it possible for us to have a stronger marriage? Shouldn’t we have something to enrich our marriage with one another? Trying to draw her in the conversation, it seemed to only make her quieter. After a long time of silence, he asked her, Do you trust me? Do you trust me to fulfill you completely? Haven’t I proven myself to you? Finally, why is it so hard for you? Why is it so hard for you to allow me to be the center of your life? All I desire from you is your heart. If I have your heart, then I know I have all of you. And there was more silence.
For whom should we be praying? For the husband? For the wife? The only right answer is that we should be praying for the wife. Why? Because the wife is you, and your husband is your Lord Jesus. It was Jesus who said, If anyone comes after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and yet forfeits his life? What can a man give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with all of his holy angels.
You were the one who married him at a very young age at your baptism. You were the one who grew up with him. He was always kind to you, never harsh. You were the one who allowed other things to come in between your and his relationship with you. Not only things outside of you, but the things inside of you. He desires to spend time with you in his holy word. He desires for you and your actions to mirror… What you say with your lips, that I love you, O Lord, to show him that he is your most treasured earthly possession.
He desires you to trust him in all aspects of your life, especially those that you and I spend the most time controlling, wanting to make sure it never gets out of our hands because to let go of it, well, that would be to let someone else take care of it. And that scares us in those certain areas of our life. And he has been living on your and my leftovers since we were little children. And he sees how we give gifts and how we show favoritism, how we’re more concerned sometimes with the relationships within our family than we are with him. What do they think of us, as opposed to what does he think of us? We’re more concerned about pleasing someone else than we are pleasing him around whom we’ve grown up.
We have to repent, dear brothers and sisters. We have to repent. For we have not been faithful to him. We have been adulterous in our heart, which is the only thing he desires. And adultery looks different for every person. So we can’t even look at another person and say, I’m not as bad as… We can only repent for our own adultery. We have to repent of loving other things above him. For we have shown him there are many things in this world that far exceed meaning to us.
But we also have to receive his unconditional love. And it’s hard, isn’t it, when you know how adulterous you and I are. It’s so humiliating to receive from him his fidelity when all we can offer him is our infidelity. It’s so humbling to receive from him his free love when we always condition it. It is he who chose you. As Paul wrote to the Romans, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. He didn’t choose you because he saw something beautiful waiting to bloom. He chose you because he saw death that needed to be died for and resurrected, which only he can do.
That’s why he chose you. You have to hold fast to your bridegroom in this world when so many others wish to seduce you away from him. He will continue to watch over you. He will continue to provide for you in spite of your infidelity. He will not change how he upholds you and comforts you in spite of your and my fickleness. We know that communication is the very foundation of any marriage. Communication is two ways. You communicating to him. Not just those things that are so beautiful to come off your lips. Communicate with him honestly when you’re mad because he did not fulfill an expectation that you thought he ought to fulfill.
He knows you’re thinking it. Say it. Be honest. If we want to talk about being real, be real to God. He’s heard you think it all of your life. It won’t be a surprise to Him. The second part of communication is listening. Like your mama or your daddy always said, God gave you two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk. Listen to His words, His sweet words of soothing love. When we’re waiting for him and the other shoe to drop to scold us, he does not. He woos us like Hosea wooed Gomer. He woos us, not with words of assault, but with words of sweet honey.
He chooses to anoint you with his very self and the oil of gladness from his very heart, which is the Holy Spirit, so that you know whose child you are. As he said to Abraham in this morning’s Old Testament reading, I will make you, I will make you. You will not make yourself, I will make you. To be a blessing from one prostitute to another. To be a blessing from one sinner to another. To be a blessing. For just as the woman who washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair loved much because she had been forgiven much, he will make you to be a blessing to them, that you may love and forgive as you have been loved and forgiven. He will make you. That’s only what a loving husband does. He will make you to be a blessing to many.
When he whispers in your ear, he will tell you how he met you, how he met you as a dead, blind, and enemy of his, and made you alive. He will tell you how he held your hand and has never stopped holding your hand. He will tell you how he has never left your side, even though… And he will tell you that he always waits for you. Like the father to the prodigal son, he will tell you that he delights in you when you don’t even delight in yourself and can’t stand the sight or the thought. He delights in you even then because that is what he is, the loving husband.
I am all you need in this adulterous and sinful generation. You don’t need anyone else but me. Who else loves you more? In the name of Jesus, amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
