Consider this/ Einfach zum Nachdenken

I was recently asked to speak at the wedding of a friend of mine, and many people asked me for the text, so here it is.

At weddings like these it is quite easy to actually miss the readings: did you hear them? Have you heard what was said in them? Paul and N

oemi would not want us to miss them, because they picked them for a reason. So let’s have a look at them.

I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, for ever! (Psalm 89,1) This word “steadfast love” is a key word in the Bible; it could also be translated f

aithful love, covenant love. It is one of the most profound characteristics of the God of Israel, the fact that he is faithful, reliable, solid, and that he keeps his promises. The one who says this of God is a man called David: he was one of the kings of Israel, a good-looking, gifted and ambitious man, a man with a good heart. But he was also a great sinner, who committed adultery and murder; and still, even in those moments of tragedy and failure he experienced God as one who loved him, forgave him, a God who remained faithful to his choice.

This brings us to the first reading: Because you

are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life (Is 43,4) . This is God speaking to Israel and he says that they are precious and loved, that He holds them in great esteem. But what was so special about this little Middle-Eastern nation? It was not their military strength, their great culture, but the fact that God had chosen them. Sometimes when we hear of God choosing a people, we think of him as capricious, unjust, who on a whim decides to choose one people or individual and not others. But that is not what this is about: in choosing Israel and by calling them his own he shows what his steadfast love can do. In spite of their failings, their rebellion, their stubborness, God makes a covenant with them, a solemn promise to love them forever. And the rest of the Old Testament is the story of what happens to people who allow themselves to be touched by this covenant love: cowards become heroes, perverts become saints, barren women conceive. This love of God is not soft, romantic, weak, but full of power. And as Israel gets touched and changed by the power of God, they in turn are supposed to become a blessing to the nations around them: You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. (Is 43,10)

But the steadfast love does not simply remain a concept, a characteristic of God: God is so keen on communicating this love to us that it eventually becomes a person, Jesus Christ. In him people recognized the love of God, by the way he spoke, the way he touched people, by the healing he brought: And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity( Mt 9,35). The blind men in today’s Gospel and many others have an encounter with Jesus which does not leave them unchanged. It says that their eyes were opened. This is a symbol, an image of what happens with human beings when they truly encounter Jesus Christ: suddenly they see, they perceive that God loves them, even in their poverty, even in their sin like David, and that God has a plan for their lives. As a result, many of them decide to join their lives to God, to become his disciples, his followers. And what to they do? They become witnesses of that same steadfast love to others.

Now you might wonder why such readings were chosen for a wedding (and not some beautiful readings about beautiful brides, eyes like doves and so on). The reason is simple: what we are witnessing today is the making of a covenant, of a solemn promise between two people. But Noemi and Paul can only do this for one reason: because they have had a personal encounter with this man Jesus Christ. They have experienced this God loving each of them with steadfast love, in the midst of their limitations, weaknesses and sins they have experienced this God as one who has a plan for their lives, who has as a future for each of them and who will be faithful to them in that future. As a result they are full of hope. And therefore they can make covenant with each other, in hope.

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?( Romans 8,24) You could think them foolish to get married today, because they don’t know hat the future holds, and you are right. Humanly speaking getting married, promising to be faithful for the rest of your life is foolish, in fact it is more than foolish, it is impossible. You can only take such a step if you know that there is a God who is steadfast and who will give you grace to be steadfast yourself.

I don’t know whether you brought a gift for Paul and Noemi: maybe you didn’t, but on your way here you wished you had. I have a suggestion for you of a gift for the two of them (in fact even for those of you who already bought a gift): there is nothing that would bring as much pleasure to the two of them than to know that their wedding today brought you closer to God. So open yourself to this God of steadfast love, this God of covenant: as you watch the two of them exchange the vows and then the rings, don’t get distracted by beautiful dresses and kilts. Realize that this is a sign that God gives you of what he wants to do with YOU: he wants to become your bridegroom. He loves you with steadfast and eternal love; he wants to embrace you and open your eyes to his love; and he wants to reveal his plan for your life, for he has a future for you, a future full of hope. Allow this ceremony to touch you. Paul and Noemi want their wedding today, and their marriage after that, to be a witness to the love made man, a witness to Jesus Christ. I pray that you would meet him today, maybe for the first time, maybe just more deeply, so that you also can sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever (Psalm 89,1)..

# posted by tino @ Sunday, August 31, 2008 1 comments