Marriage thanksgiving
Today we have dedicated this service to giving thanks for the gift of marriage… All of us I’m sure will join with me in offering prayers to ask God to continue to bless married couples everywhere, but marriage itself can never be taken in a vacuum. The Bible tells us and human nature dictates that actually we are all part of a much bigger family, married, unmarried, old or young, and as such each of us have commitments to each other.
And that commitment must surely be to love… If you have a sense of humour, and I’m sure you all do (!) you may like to hear some of the things the Bible says about love in marriage. In the book of Genesis (29:20) we read that Jacob worked for seven years for Laban to earn the right to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel. We’re told that the 7 years of work seemed to him just like a few days because he loved her so much!
He worked seven years for her father so that he could marry her. I am tempted to say he had it bad!
Moving on a little, The Song of Songs in the Old Testament is love poetry between King Solomon and his girlfriend while courting before marriage. Now I’m sure all men like to compliment their wives and tell each other they’re looking well and things like that !
Solomon’s way was slightly different. He told his girlfriend things like “your hair is like a flock of goats surging down Mount Gilead.” (4:1) He also thought she had the most beautiful white teeth and said, “Your teeth are like a flock of sheep to be shorn, when they come up from the washing.” (4:2) Of course Solomon was well practised in the good lines, as we’re told later in the Bible that he had 700 wives !
I’m not sure how many women in this country would put up with being 1 of 700 wives, but they say ‘Love is blind’ – an example of this could be the incident when, after a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, "You know, I was a fool when I married you." And the husband replied, "Yes, dear, but I was in love and didn't notice it."
Anyway the account of Jacob shows a wonderful determination to be with the woman he loved. For Solomon perhaps it was more a case of satisfying desire. We get another view of marriage in the Book of Tobit (8:4-8). Tobias' and Sarah’s wedding has taken place and they are alone that evening and pray to God to bless their marriage. They acknowledge that their marriage is not only fulfilling desires but comes from God.. is instituted by God. In their prayer they said,
‘It was you who created Adam, you who created Eve his wife to be his help and support;
It was you who said, “It is not good that man should be alone…”
It’s a beautiful prayer which continued, ‘Be kind enough to care of her and me and bring us to old age together’
It was a simple prayer, but a beautiful prayer, it showed their faith in God. When you read the whole of the book of the Tobit you will see that their prayer was answered. So that is another view of marriage that we get in the Bible.
When we read the New Testament we get yet another view of marriage in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In the letter we read that the love of a husband and wife for each other is a reflection of God’s love for us. The perfect love of a husband and wife is a mirror of the love of God for us, the love of God for us that we see in his New Covenant with us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So there we have some views on marriage in the Bible; determination to be with someone, satisfying our desires, then a more spiritual view of marriage in the prayer of Tobias and Sarah seeing marriage as instituted by God, and finally the lofty heights in the letter to the Ephesians, seeing the love of husband and wife as a mirror of God’s love for us.
So, we pray for married couples everywhere that their marriage may also soar to the heights of Paul’s understanding of marriage, that their love for each other may be so unselfish that it will be for each other an experience of the love of God.
And to achieve that, as we achieve anything else that is good, we can build our house on rock, the rock of Jesus mentioned in our gospel reading. Then when the storms come, as they come to everyone at some time, the house will not fall because it is founded on the most solid rock of all.
But this rock is not, as I touched on earlier, a private rock. We live our lives for ourselves and for those closest to us, but we also live our lives with a wider commitment to all those around us, all those who make up our family.
I often say, because I know it from personal experience, that there will be people who we find it difficult to like, difficult to understand, maybe people who are hostile to us, but Jesus simply offered the teaching to turn the other cheek, and to continue to love, whatever the cost…
Whether married or not, that is our commitment to the world – to echo the words of Jesus who said, ‘love one another as I have loved you…’ AMEN
And that commitment must surely be to love… If you have a sense of humour, and I’m sure you all do (!) you may like to hear some of the things the Bible says about love in marriage. In the book of Genesis (29:20) we read that Jacob worked for seven years for Laban to earn the right to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel. We’re told that the 7 years of work seemed to him just like a few days because he loved her so much!
He worked seven years for her father so that he could marry her. I am tempted to say he had it bad!
Moving on a little, The Song of Songs in the Old Testament is love poetry between King Solomon and his girlfriend while courting before marriage. Now I’m sure all men like to compliment their wives and tell each other they’re looking well and things like that !
Solomon’s way was slightly different. He told his girlfriend things like “your hair is like a flock of goats surging down Mount Gilead.” (4:1) He also thought she had the most beautiful white teeth and said, “Your teeth are like a flock of sheep to be shorn, when they come up from the washing.” (4:2) Of course Solomon was well practised in the good lines, as we’re told later in the Bible that he had 700 wives !
I’m not sure how many women in this country would put up with being 1 of 700 wives, but they say ‘Love is blind’ – an example of this could be the incident when, after a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, "You know, I was a fool when I married you." And the husband replied, "Yes, dear, but I was in love and didn't notice it."
Anyway the account of Jacob shows a wonderful determination to be with the woman he loved. For Solomon perhaps it was more a case of satisfying desire. We get another view of marriage in the Book of Tobit (8:4-8). Tobias' and Sarah’s wedding has taken place and they are alone that evening and pray to God to bless their marriage. They acknowledge that their marriage is not only fulfilling desires but comes from God.. is instituted by God. In their prayer they said,
‘It was you who created Adam, you who created Eve his wife to be his help and support;
It was you who said, “It is not good that man should be alone…”
It’s a beautiful prayer which continued, ‘Be kind enough to care of her and me and bring us to old age together’
It was a simple prayer, but a beautiful prayer, it showed their faith in God. When you read the whole of the book of the Tobit you will see that their prayer was answered. So that is another view of marriage that we get in the Bible.
When we read the New Testament we get yet another view of marriage in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In the letter we read that the love of a husband and wife for each other is a reflection of God’s love for us. The perfect love of a husband and wife is a mirror of the love of God for us, the love of God for us that we see in his New Covenant with us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So there we have some views on marriage in the Bible; determination to be with someone, satisfying our desires, then a more spiritual view of marriage in the prayer of Tobias and Sarah seeing marriage as instituted by God, and finally the lofty heights in the letter to the Ephesians, seeing the love of husband and wife as a mirror of God’s love for us.
So, we pray for married couples everywhere that their marriage may also soar to the heights of Paul’s understanding of marriage, that their love for each other may be so unselfish that it will be for each other an experience of the love of God.
And to achieve that, as we achieve anything else that is good, we can build our house on rock, the rock of Jesus mentioned in our gospel reading. Then when the storms come, as they come to everyone at some time, the house will not fall because it is founded on the most solid rock of all.
But this rock is not, as I touched on earlier, a private rock. We live our lives for ourselves and for those closest to us, but we also live our lives with a wider commitment to all those around us, all those who make up our family.
I often say, because I know it from personal experience, that there will be people who we find it difficult to like, difficult to understand, maybe people who are hostile to us, but Jesus simply offered the teaching to turn the other cheek, and to continue to love, whatever the cost…
Whether married or not, that is our commitment to the world – to echo the words of Jesus who said, ‘love one another as I have loved you…’ AMEN
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