Marriage = Man + Woman

1 Man + 1 Woman = MARRIAGE

• Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [Genesis 2:24]
• Because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. [1 Corinthians 7:2]
• Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “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. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. [Ephesians 5:25-33]

1 Man + 1 Man = SIN   and   1 Woman + 1 Woman = SIN

• For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. [Romans 1:26-27]
• Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral ... nor men who practice homosexuality ... will inherit the kingdom of God. [1 Corinthians 6:9-10]
• The law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for ... the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, ... and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. [1 Timothy 1:9-11]

Christ and the Church: Foundational to Marriage

On Sunday, Cardinal George posted an article entitled Reflections on “Chicago values” on the Catholic Chicago Blog (hosted by the Archdiocese of Chicago). I commend him for this well-written article, hope you will take the time to read it, and pray it will spark some informed conversation on this topic.

However, there is one statement I wish he would reconsider:

“The Church, because Jesus raised the marital union to the level of symbolizing his own union with his Body the Church, has an interest in determining which marital unions are sacramental and which are not.”

The Church indeed has an interest in marriage. After all, God instituted and sanctions it. But Jesus did not raise the marital union to the level of symbolizing His own union with the Church. Just the opposite. The union of man and woman was, from the very beginning, a reflection of Christ and His bride (the Church). The Church existed the moment man and woman were created. There was the Son of God with His bride. Then God joined the first man and first woman together, and their union reflected that of the Son of God and His bride.

This is why Saint Paul writes:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. [Ephesians 1:3-4]

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body. “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. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. [Ephesians 5:31-32]

The first passage reminds us that God chose us—the Church—in Christ before the foundation of the world (i.e. before He brought the first man and first woman together). The second passage reminds us that the relationship of man and woman in holy matrimony is based on the relationship of Christ and His bride (the Church). It is not the other way around.

The relationship of Christ and His bride is foundational. The relationship of husband and wife is simply a reflection of that.

Christ—the Son of God—became man. The Church is woman. And God the Father has joined these two together as one. That is why marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman.

Cravin’ Chicken

The intolerance police are at it again. A Chicago alderman and the mayors of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco are threatening to ban Chick-fil-A from opening restaurants in their ward/cities. Not because Chick-fil-A is discriminating in their hiring or serving practices, but because the company president personally opposes gay marriage. That, they say, is intolerant.

Intolerance, to these politicians, happens whenever someone holds a viewpoint different from their own. But denying a business entrance into one’s ward/city, that’s the epitome of tolerance!

You can read more about this fiasco at the links below:

• The American Conservative
• National Review
• Rush Limbaugh

As for me, I’m going to make the 15-mile drive up to the nearest Chick-fil-A this week and enjoy lunch. And when the new Chick-fil-A opens in Bolingbrook in the near future, I plan to eat there more often. Why? Because I’m tolerant of personal viewpoints. Oh, yeah, I also like really good chicken sandwiches!

The Second Temple

The temple of Jesus’ day was the one rebuilt by Herod the Great. Its size, grandeur, and magnificence made it one of the most remarkable architectural projects of the day.

This is same temple in which the 40-day-old Jesus was presented. The same temple in which the 12-year-old Jesus listened to the teachers, answered their questions, and taught them. The same temple in which the adult Jesus taught, healed, and cleaned house. On one such occasion, one of Jesus’ disciples said to Him:

“Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” [Mark 13:1]

In response, Jesus said to him:

“Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” [Mark 13:2]

Just as Jesus predicted, Herod’s temple was destroyed. It happened when the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Below is a virtual reconstruction of Herod’s Temple. Enjoy!

HT: Larry Peters

God’s Foreknowledge

There seems to me ... to be such incompatibility between the existence of God’s universal foreknowledge and that of any [man’s] freedom of judgment. ... God ... views ... everything as though it were taking place in the present. If you would weigh the foreknowledge by which God distinguishes all things, you will more rightly hold it to be a knowledge of a never-failing constancy in the present, than a foreknowledge of the future. ... God sees all things in His eternal present.

Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy V, in Colman Barry, ed. Readings in Church History, vol. 1 (Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, 1960), 199 and 203.

A God Who Bleeds

A sermon from LCMS Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller of Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, Colorado, whose church is not far from the sight of Friday’s movie theater massacre...

INJ
John 10
“A God Who Bleeds”
Prayer Service
The Eve of Trinity Seven | Saturday, 21 July 2012

Dear Saints,

The devil comes to kill and steal and destroy. He delights in every drop of blood split, in every tear, in every heart broken, family torn in two, every last breath. The devil loves death, he loves violence, he loves darkness; he loves this tragedy that has unfolded in our neighborhood this week.

But he is never content. He kills, and he wants more. He destroys, and he wants more. The devil is not sitting back tonight, shaking the dust off his hands, content with the pain already inflicted, he wants more. He wants you wrapped up in the chains of the fear of death. He wants your mind and heart to be draped with despair.

As the dust settles around in Aurora, the devil comes to you to tempt you, to tempt you to anger, to tempt you to fear, to tempt you to despair, perhaps worst of all, to tempt you with the idea that because you are suffering God has deserted you, has left you to yourself, that God is far away.

“Where is God in all this? He must hate you, or worse, He must not care.” That, dear friends, is the devil’s voice, the devil’s temptation, and we’ve heard enough of that voice.

We are gathered here this evening to hear the voice of Jesus, your Jesus, who is not a stranger to suffering. Listen, Jesus is not a stranger to suffering. You do not have a god who sits far off, who is distant, who sits on top of the mountain, or is beyond the clouds, who is looking the other way. No, you have Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the one who doesn’t just watch over the sheep. He lays down His life for the sheep. He takes His life and His righteousness to the cross for you. You, dear friends, have a God who bleeds, who bleeds for you, who suffers with you, who hears of the death of His friends and weeps, weeps over death, and fights against death for you. Jesus stands under the devil’s torment, under God’s wrath, under the condemnation of the law, stands with you, stands in your place, and suffers for you.

And if your Jesus suffers for you, then He will certainly suffer with you. When you suffer it does not mean that God is far away. He finds you in suffering; He saves you by suffering. When your friends and neighbors are suffering it does not mean that God has forsaken them or abandoned them. He can’t. He loves them, He loves you too much.

Jesus cries out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” so that you never would. He prays Psalm 22 so that you can pray Psalm 23, “Yeah though I walk through he valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with with.” In the shadow of death, He is with us. In the shadow of violence, He is with us. In the veil of tears, He is with us. He cannot leave you or forsake you, He has bound Himself to you, written His name on you with His blood, claimed you as His own and promised you life, His life, eternal life.

Jesus is not far away. The One who died for you now lives for you, prays for you, helps you in time of trouble. He sends His Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to comfort you with His presence and His promises, His forgiveness.

And it is His forgiveness, at last, that sets us free, even from the fear of violence, even from the fear of death. For in life and in death you are the Lord’s, your life is His, and because for you to live is Christ, for you to die is gain. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding,

guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ + +
Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO

Religiosity in America

Graphic: Chicago Tribune