Mock Marriage Ceremony

Introductory Monologue:

Mawage. Mawage is what bwrings us togevah today.

No but in all seriousness, on behalf of the bride and groom I am so happy to see all of your beautiful faces here today as we celebrate the union of Bartholomew and Gretchen in holy matrimony.

Marriage is something that God had in his plans for mankind since the very beginning of time.

Genesis 2:18 reads, “18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.””

Traditionally, people have read this verse to mean a ‘helper’ in the since of an administrative assistant, someone who will do what you ask them to when you ask it. The simple fact of the matter is that this has been a terrible mistranslation of that Hebrew word!

You see this word, ezer, is used only twice to refer to women as the helper of man. Much more often, this word is used to describe God’s relationship with his covenant people!

In Deut. 33:29 we read, “29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs.””

Psalm 33:20 “20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.”

Psalm 115:9-11 “9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.”

What we see when we look at this is that God, in creating women, implanted the portion of his character that is defined by his desire to lend aid, to support his people, and to rescue them!

Bartholomew, God is giving you this woman, Gretchen not to be your administrative assistant, someone who will vacuum the carpet, or make you lunches, or to wash the dishes, although she may very well do these things. No, God is giving this woman to you to be your ever present help in times of trouble. When you are faced with challenges you don’t think you will be able to overcome, you can rely on Gretchen to be there to support you and uphold you.

Gretchen I give you this charge, to uphold your husband when you can tell he can’t handle things on his own, to show to him the very love and care of God to when he needs it most. In you, he will see and feel and hear the love and care of God.

Bartholomew, I give you this charge from Ephesians 5:25-28

Ephesians 5:25–28 ESV

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 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. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

What husbands are meant to represent and to show to the world through this covenant relationship of marriage is the self-sacrificial love of God. The same love that drove God to take on humanity unto himself is the love you are to show to your wife. The same love that drove Christ not to claim an earthly throne, but to patiently and obediently usher in something better, if not harder, is the love that you are to show to your wife. The same love that drove Jesus Christ to die a shameful death so that we might enjoy uninterrupted communion with the lover of our souls, is the love that you are to show to your wife. Do not ask of her something you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself. Bartholomew, this is my charge to you.

In the love that you show one another, the world will see the love of God. In the love that you show one another, the world will see the love that Christ has for his church, that which drove him to lay down his life that we might find it.

Bartholomew and Gretchen, what you are charged to do today is to lay down your lives for one another. Put aside any selfish ambition, any selfish superiority complexes, anything that would prevent you from loving your spouse before yourself.

It is through this sacrament of marriage, that we are able to experience a transcendent love, the kind of love which would drive God to help us in our time of dire need.