Our closest friends and family sat in rows of plastic white chairs smiling and sweating in suits and dresses. Our beloved pastor stood slightly above us in his flowy white priestly robes and golden yellow stole. We were all nestled between the soft waves of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the melody of guitars. A hundred voices repeated the prayers we knew by heart.
My hands were clasped inside Parker’s slightly sweaty fingers, as our guests sat to watch.
“Do you Parker take Gabrielle to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until you are parted by death?”
“I do,” Parker says. The skin around his eyes wrinkle and he squeezes my hand. Next, Aubrey asks me the same question and I willingly give the same response.
From this moment, Parker and I are yoked together in marriage, albeit imperfectly. Though he will try to make decisions for the better, we might experience the worst. Though I will try to cherish him with the utmost consistency I will get annoyed and disappointed, quickly forgetting all the things I love about him.
Aubrey reminds us that this is a wedding ceremony within a worship service. The climax of the service comes next. Parker and I move aside from the center of the ceremony as Aubrey raises the bread and breaks it. Then, he lifts the cup and blesses it.
“By means of this holy bread and cup, we show forth the sacrifice of his death, and proclaim his resurrection, until he comes again. Gather us by this Holy Communion into one body in your Son Jesus Christ. Make us a living sacrifice of praise.” (BCP 1789, p 403).
To this, Jesus says, “I do.”
Like the marriage vows between a man and a woman, Jesus has married Himself to the Church and His creation in sickness and in health. Where we are imperfectly yoked to each other in marriage, Jesus is perfectly yoked to us in the ultimate marriage of heaven and earth. He took upon our burdensome flesh, becoming One in our humanity. “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3). While we want to skip ahead and take Jesus’ hand in His victorious resurrection, we need to remember that He married us in our weak humanity.
For His bride, Jesus bore the same burdensome body we bear. For His bride, He endured humiliation, betrayal, beatings by Roman soldiers, and ultimately, death on the cross. For His bride, He rose again in his New Creation body. In a body that is familiar, but mysteriously new, Jesus ushered in the firstfruits of the Kingdom right in the middle of a sin-burdened people and a sin-burdened world.
Jesus willingly and wholeheartedly says “I do” to us in a clearly uneven marriage covenant. He is the husband who knows our deepest, darkest secrets, who knows our secret failings, and who knows we are so tired and can’t always follow through.
But, Jesus, as a husband who is accustomed to our burdens and as the Creator of heaven and earth, is more than able to keep his side of the covenant to love us in sickness and in health.
So let us ...
1. Rejoice in suffering.
Though this may seem backward, we rejoice in suffering because Jesus also suffered unto death. His suffering resulted in His resurrection and exaltation at the right hand of God. Even Paul the apostle says, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor 12:10, ESV).”
This doesn’t mean we should not pursue healing, or treatment, or surgery, but when and if those solutions do not provide FULL healing, we are not led to despair. We will rejoice in our calamities, loss of limb, dysfunctioning, and decaying body as a connection to Christ, our suffering servant, who faithfully glorified God through his burdensome body.
2. Look for the in-breaking Kingdom of God and long for the day when Christ returns.
“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits -- we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:22-23
Between Jesus’ Resurrection and return, we exist in bodies that still break down, still endure trauma, still feel pain, and still expect death. But, right now we can still experience a foretaste of the Kingdom of God where all will be made new. In an even greater way, we can endure, discern, and trust Jesus today because we anticipate eternal life with Him. A life where we fully live as the co-heirs of Christ in an embodied life without burdened bodies. A life where “everything sad [is] going to come untrue” (Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, p 930).
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
- Hebrews 12:1-3
In the comments below, share how you have experienced Jesus as the "most sufficient spouse" during this season.
Thank you for reading my blog! This is the final blog post on a series about "Burdensome Bodies."
My next series will be about the importance of place. I'll share some of my favorite places and spaces. I'll also share some of my observations about Wyoming in an ongoing series called, "Wyoming Diaries."
Where do you live? What defines your home, city, or state? How do the spaces you occupy define you?
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