Wedding Sermon for David Byler and Teryne Bell: "Two Become One"

+ The Rite of Holy Matrimony – November 1^st, 2016 +

David Byler and Teryne Bell

Genesis 2:7, 18-25; Ephesians 5:15, 21-33; Matthew 19:4-6

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In Genesis it is written: A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

St. Paul agrees: A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

And St. Paul learned his theology of marriage from Jesus who declares: So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.

The two become one. This is the constant theme for God’s gift of marriage, for the marriage of David and Teryne’s today, and it’s also a declaration of the Church’s marriage to Christ: we are his bride; he is the bridegroom.

The two become one. It may sound like some fuzzy arithmetic, like Big Brother’s accounting: 2+2=5. But this is not double speak; it’s the truth. Marriage is God’s gift of divine mathematics. Two become one. It was not good that man should be alone. So as God gave Eve to Adam and Adam to Eve, today he gives Teryne to David and David to Teryne.

But of course we know marriage takes work. Adam and Eve fell for the devil’s doublespeak and the perfect union they had with each other, the perfect communion they had with God, was divided. Not long after the great marriage of Genesis 2 came the great divorce of Genesis 3. Husband and wife divided in sin. Creation divided in sin. Each of us divided by our sin. We fight against the maggot sack of our sinful flesh, as Martin Luther once called it.

But we do not fight alone. David and Teryne are not alone. And neither are you. As good as it is that God is joining this man and this woman together today, it is even greater that God has united us Jesus’ death and resurrection in Baptism. As good as the union of man and woman is, it is even greater that God unites himself in our humanity to remove the dividing wall of sin from us forever. As good as the marriage feast and celebration will be here today, the eternal joy and mirth of the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven, and the Lord’s Supper here on earth are far greater.

You see, Moses, Paul, Jesus were right. The two become one. It’s true in God’s gift of marriage. And it’s true of Christ’s death and resurrection for you. On the cross Jesus divided you from your sin forever. Jesus became one with your death. And Jesus has made you one with him in his resurrection.

That’s what St. Paul means when he says that God’s gift of marriage is a great mystery. The one-ness of husband and wife in marriage is a reflection of the one-ness given to us in Christ Crucified. He’s the bridegroom; we’re his bride.

Jesus became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh to save you. Jesus saw that it was not good for us to be alone in our sin, so he took it upon himself for you. Jesus gave himself up for us, to make us holy, to cleanse us, to wash us with water and word, to present us without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. In the cross of Jesus, the two become one.

It is this grand, yet gracious mystery of our one-ness in Christ Crucified that will sustain David and Teryne as they are made one in marriage. For try as they will not to, they will still sin against one another. And life will not always feel like heaven on earth. But none of that can divide them, or you, from Christ our bridegroom. For in Christ, David and Teryne, and all of us, are one with in the flesh of Jesus Crucified for you.

So, whether it’s God’s gift of marriage here today, or the marriage supper of the Lamb, the two become one in Christ who has become one with us.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.