October 7, 2012 at Calvary
Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA
“And Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart [Moses]
wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, “God made them
male and female.” “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold
fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two
but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’”
The Lord God’s design is clear. He desires that all should have
a companion that corresponded to them. It was so from the very beginning.
Looking at His creation, the Lord
God said: “It is not good that the man
should be alone; I will make a helper fit for him.” Being alone was not
meant to be. The Lord God was not
going to have that occur within the creation that He Himself calls good. Though
the Man created could give names to every living creature, “for Adam there was a not a helper fit for him.” So the Lord God goes about perfecting and
fulfilling His creation, making it precisely what He desired it to be.
The Lord God’s design is the reason why He performs the unique
act of creating a helper fit and suitable for Adam: “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.” This is the divine will enacted and executed.
Receiving this helper, Adam rejoices: “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.” Receiving this one who is corresponding
and proper, man enters into the relationship with woman that the Lord God established: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and
his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
This is the establishment of
marriage. It is from the very beginning, part of the Lord God’s perfect design for His creation. Marriage has
been part of mankind’s identity, what man and woman have been created to
participate in. But since sin has entered creation, as the same helper made for
man ate of the forbidden fruit and the man ate as well, the Lord God’s design is left unfulfilled. It
is not that the design is flawed. Rather, those who are meant to be directed by
that design are.
This is what we experience in
this world. Sin drives us away from and keeps us from fulfilling what the
Creator has established for us. It manifests itself in different ways: (a) people
refuse to believe that the divine design is that woman is the helper fit for
man, but seek a helper that is not proper; (b) others refuse to find their
husband or wife as a good gift from above, showing hatred and disgust instead; (c)
others see their husband or wife not as a helper or partner, but something to
be mistreated or coerced; (d) still others break the bond that the Lord God has established. Each of these
acts and more leave the Lord God’s
design unfulfilled.
This is the stark truth that
Jesus puts right in front of the Pharisees who confronted Him. You heard this
confrontation in the Gospel Reading: “Pharisees
came up and in order to test [Jesus] asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce
his wife?’” They seek Jesus’ statement on the matter: Will He say that it
is permissible for a man to rid himself of the fit helper that was given to
him? But the answer that Jesus gives shows the problem that such an act brings:
“And Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your
hardness of heart [Moses] wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of
creation, “God made them male and female.” “Therefore a man shall leave his
father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined
together, let not man separate.’” And when Jesus speaks to His disciples
privately, He doubles-down on the position: “Whoever
divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she
divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Jesus’ statements show that divorce
is antithetical to the Lord God’s
design. It is not meant to be. This was never part of what had been
established. The commentary given about what the creation of woman as a helper
fit for man accomplished makes this clear: “Therefore
a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they
shall become one flesh.” Divorce brings a tearing apart, a rending of the
one flesh that had been created through marriage. It is sinful, a failure to
complete and fulfill what the Lord
God commands, institutes, and establishes. But that judgment is not leveled
against divorce only, it applies to all the other matters that stand opposite
of the divine design: marital infidelity; spousal abuse or exploitation; dishonor
and strife; seeking a partner that the Lord
God did not create as proper or suitable. These are all sins that flow from the
hardness of human hearts, our hearts. They are all violations of what the Lord God established. They are numbered
among the “every transgression or
disobedience” which “received a just
retribution.”
But where sin entered His
creation, the Lord God does not
stand idly by. No, He comes with an answer to it. This is what Jesus
accomplishes. Mankind violates the divine commands, but a Redeemer is given for
them: “Since therefore the children share
in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that
through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the
devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong
slavery…. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so
that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God,
to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Atonement for the guilt
of transgressing the Law of God, even the laws concerning the institution of
marriage—that is what Jesus provides.
Because of what Jesus provides,
a new institution is established. The Man, the Perfect Man, the Man who is
exactly as the Lord God designed,
takes for Himself a wife. A helper fit for Jesus is not created for Him;
rather, by being a Helper fit for humanity, Jesus creates by Himself the
Church. From His side, His side pierced in crucifixion, the Church is created.
Jesus binds Himself to her, a bond that is not broken. Through Baptism, people
are united to Jesus in a way that surpasses even the most faithful vow-keeping
by husband and wife.
What is seen in Jesus’ acts of redemption
is the exact opposite of “writing a
certificate of divorce and sending [a wife] away.” There is plenty of
indecency to be found among us, not only in what we do to the institution of
marriage, but to all of the Lord
God’s design for life, property, reputation, even faith and worship. There are
innumerable grounds for each of us to be put away. But what does Jesus do? “[He] 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.” Jesus has no thought of severing Himself from the Bride
He has. Instead, everything is done to keep the bond together. Jesus gives
absolution for those who had transgressed and disobeyed the Divine Law. It is even
for those who have dared to separate what God had brought together.
The Father acts in a
corresponding way toward His Creation. Despite the shambles that we make of
what the Lord God has established and
all our efforts that leave everything unfulfilled, He still grants us access to
them. He acts according to His character, that which we professed in the Collect
of the Day: “Merciful Father, Your patience and loving-kindness toward us have
no end.” Though the first man and woman—and we ourselves—violated the divine
commandments, the Lord God still
grants men and women to enter into marriage. What was established at the
beginning continues to happen: “Therefore
a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they
shall become one flesh.”
Not only does the Lord God permit individuals to be joined
together, His promises concerning His institution remain. They are for those
who have been united to Him through Jesus’ redemptive work and strive to
fulfill His divine design for them. The words of the psalm prayed at innumerable
weddings of the Lord God’s people
speak of that blessing: “Blessed is
everyone who fears the Lord, who
walks in His ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you
shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a
fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around
your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.”
You who are redeemed by Jesus
have again heard His words concerning marriage. Recognize all the sinful
schisms that have taken place within marriages. Recognize where you yourselves have
failed to fulfill the divine design. Then ask again for help to be faithful and
obedient: “Grant that by Your Holy Spirit we may always think and do those
things that are pleasing in Your sight.” Receive the assistance that He gives
when you are tempted to be anything but what you are designed to be. Receive
the absolution that Jesus, the Faithful Husband to you, has earned by being the
propitiation for your sins. Then hear again the blessing pronounced when you
were bound together: “The almighty and gracious God abundantly grant you His
favor and sanctify and bless you with the blessing given to Adam and Eve in
Paradise, that you may please Him in both body and soul and live together in
holy love until your life’s end.” For Jesus “helps
the offspring of Abraham,” including you who have become one flesh with Him
for eternity.
+ In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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