"A Little Bit of Shock and Awe"

     Dear Friends in Christ,  

This morning we are going to talk a little bit about…shock and awe. Shock and awe…a term that I’m sure most of us have heard or experienced at least in some context in our lives. If you’re like this gentlemen, the shock and awe comes in tax season when you sit down with your CPA to hear the total due. Maybe it causes us to think on military campaigns…attacks that are so devastating that the enemy will be overwhelmed with the show of force. Or maybe you can relate to “shock and awe” a little more personally. It’s not hard to be shocked and awed when you turn on the television…just to find you and your family inundated with images and language which today’s culture says is anything but shocking. Or maybe it has been a more positive experience for you. Maybe you’ve been shocked to see long lost friends or family members who have been away for a long time…maybe you’ve been shocked and left in awe at the beauty of God’s creation as you stare out over a stunning view of a snow-capped mountain range.

We’ve all experienced those situations of shock and awe…all of us, from the very beginning. Even Adam. Somehow I’m not sure how this man could continue to be shocked and awed after what he had already seen and where he found himself…I mean the man was living in paradise…he was seeing God’s perfect creation with perfect vision through perfect eyes, something that yes, will probably shock us and awe us when paradise is recreated at the Last Day, but this was his norm. But yet, in our Old Testament reading today, we find Adam filled with a bit of shock and awe. You see, there is something unusual happening here. You remember how the creation of the world worked…each day God created something different and at the close of each day He looked at His new creation and said, “This is good—this is complete”. And according to Genesis 1, after the sixth day, when it was all said and done, He looked out over it all and said “Oh, this is very good—I’m done, it is finished.” But when we take a closer look at creation, which Genesis 2 allows us to do, we notice a new detail…a point where God is heard saying, “ There is something that isn’t good (now this is not God saying He’s disappointed with His handiwork, rather, He is saying “There is something here that is incomplete”). For God looks down on his finest and most special creation, man, and says “You know…he needs something…I know just what it is…he needs a helper, a compliment to himself.” And so God remembers what He had created, He remembers what he had created just for Adam. He had formed…and can’t you just picture the hands of God working here like some master craftsman…he formed all of the animals that walked on land and all of the birds of the air…not bad for a couple days work. But He’s not done. Then with the very hands that formed these creatures He brings them before Adam to see what Adam would name them and to see if Adam could find a helper, a compliment to himself. And you would think that Adam might be left with a little bit of awe seeing this enormous parade of animals come in front of him…every animal that ever walked the face of the earth…but if that was the case, we’re not told. Rather, Adam didn’t find a helper, a compliment. It is almost like you can hear Adam, as he exhales in disappointment, possibly saying…”Well they’re all wonderful, majestic animals, but look, I’m the only one without a mate. There is no one like me.” And so, with a smile I’m sure, God closed Adam’s eyes, caused him to fall into a deep slumber, and with those creating hands—the same hands that had formed all creation, the same hands that had placed the sun and the moon and the stars into their places, the same hands that reached into the dust of the earth and formed man, these same hands take one of Adam’s ribs and builds the helper that Adam desired—the compliment to his humanity. And with His holy, creating hands, God brings her to Adam. At that moment, in light of everything that Adam had witnessed, in light of what he himself had been a part of, he experiences some shock and awe. “At last” “This time” this is it! This is “bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.” This woman and I are not two, but one…one flesh…indivisible, inseparable, one.

Here, as I’m sure most of you married men can remember (especially from your wedding day), Adam is in shock and awe as he looks upon the one who makes his life complete, the part of his life which was missing. She is his mirror…in her does he finally see and come to know himself as man. Now humanity is complete; now God’s design, His blueprint for all humanity, is finalized…all humanity, all society would have, from this moment on, marriage as its foundation. Here in this pre-Fall, before sin, state, marriage is given as a blessing from your Heavenly Father to His children. And as marriage is given, so also its purposes are given throughout Scripture. First, marriage is a gift given to man and woman for the purpose of mutual love. And throughout Scripture, you may remember from Pastor’s sermons on this topic, love within marriage is not some sweet, sentimental, fickle love that comes and goes. No, the Christ-given, grace-filled gift of love that marriage is built upon is concrete, solid, and forever. It is no accident that your Heavenly Father describes His love for you, His child, in the same way—He describes you as His bride and says that He loves you with the most permanent, unconditional love ever known…a love that is only possible for sinners like you and me because of the love that was shown on the cross of Calvary, a love for you that is so strong that Jesus died to seal that promise of love for you. God also gives a second purpose for marriage…to husbands and wives—who are two, separate individuals, yet ones who at the same time are inseparably united as one...He says to be fruitful. A command from God but also a blessing because there in your children you have tangible evidence of the love that God has given to you…your child is an incarnation of your love for one another. Sound familiar? It should because of your Heavenly Father’s love for you, His love was incarnated in His son, Jesus Christ. Finally, God points out to Adam and Eve, to all who have inseparably joined themselves together in marriage, that marriage serves as a place of healing. The unending commitment that marriage is built upon serves to not only curb one another’s sins and lusts, but marriage also serves as a vehicle for forgiveness…always being willing to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven you. And that is how marriage was designed, that is how marriage is supposed to be…for Adam and Eve, for you.

Sounds shocking I know…because just after our Old Testament lesson today comes Genesis 3…the fall into sin. And in light of that Fall, nothing in all creation would be immune from its effects…not even marriage. And so it is that God’s children began to distort this institution. And by the first century, views on marriage were shocking to say the least. Divorce was not only allowed within certain sects of the Jewish religion, but even accepted by the religious elite…the Pharisees. The Midrash, a collection of Jewish doctrine, indicates that divorce was not only allowed for adultery, but also (shockingly) if the husband simply didn’t like his wife anymore for whatever reason… “He may divorce her even if she spoiled a dish for him…” (The Mishna, Gittin 9, 10, page 321. ) Divorce had become part of their worldview. It was widely accepted, but they knew this was not so with some. And so, thinking that Jesus would probably speak against the Torah, the law of Moses, as they interpreted it, which would ensure his arrest, they go before him with a question. And Jesus, knowing their hearts and their intentions, intends to turn their worldview upside down—with a little shock and awe. He tells them, “look, Moses doesn’t allow divorce, it was your sinful and rebellious will that brought it about.” And he points them back to the beginning, to before the Fall into sin, for there is the model for marriage. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast (cling) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." And later on in the New Testament, Paul reflects on this ‘one flesh’ writing, “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.” He continues, “This mystery [this one flesh union of husband and wife] is profound, and I am saying that it refers to…” how Christ loves the Church, how Christ loves each and every one of you. Did you hear that? Your love for one another, your marriages are designed to reflect the often shocking and always awesome love that Jesus Christ has for all, for you…a fierce, undying, unconditional love that remains constant in the face of whatever winds of discord and unhappiness may blow.

As Christ comes with some shock and awe to do away with their views on divorce, so also he comes today, shocking to some of you I know, to correct what is today the dominant view on divorce—a worldview that not only allows and accepts divorce, but also often encourages it; a worldview that has for the most part thrown out the idea of commitment and faithfulness, a worldview that more often than not says that when we’re tired with one spouse for whatever reason, we can move on to another. It’s a worldview that says marriage is more about personal comfort and convenience than a conviction to remain faithfully married regardless of whatever circumstances may cause discomfort. I can’t read your minds this morning, but I’m sure those of you who have been affected by divorce, those of you who are thinking about divorce, are thinking, “Well, you don’t know my situation, you don’t know my story.” And that’s true…I don’t. But in our Gospel lesson today, Christ comes and says, “let’s set aside those terrible situations, all those bizarre situations. They’re not what we’re talking about.” You see that’s what the Pharisees tried to do—bringing Him a specific situation. His answer to them and His answer to you may be shocking… “Go back to the beginning. See there that it was never God’s will that divorce be an option. What God has joined together, let not man separate.” Divorce is man’s undoing of all that God has done.

That said…we as the Church cannot escape the fact that in this sinful world, marriage too often is perverted and degraded. Too often, married couples forget about promises. They forget that they not only made promises to each other, but they also made promises to God—promises that they would fulfill His purposes for marriage, live completely within its design, promises to love one another as they are loved by God…too often they turn their backs on each other and on God believing it’s all about themselves and their happiness, and they sin.

It is a shocking word that I bring, that divorce is against God’s will, but that Word, Jesus Christ, is unchanging, unmoving, even in the face of a society that encourages it. But the shock and the awe does not end there. For my brothers and sisters in Christ, it is shocking to look upon a bloodied man hanging from a cross. It is shocking to see His body thrown into a cold tomb. It is even more shocking and awesome that He rose from the grave, fully alive. As shocking as it is that He would do this for you, the foremost of sinners, Christ died for each and every one of your sins. For those who truly repent, He forgives you. Jesus Christ, who suffered all your pains on the cross, knows your pain firsthand and he greatly desires to be that healing balm which you so greatly need and desire.

You see my friends, those of you who are in marriages, those of you who are thinking about marriage, those of you who suffer from the effects of divorce--no sin shall separate you, divorce you, from the love of Christ, for His love—His forgiveness, His grace--is tied to you, inseparably connected to you…He is your bridegroom, you are His bride. And that, my friends, is a marriage that can never be dissolved, a marriage that never fails.

            Amen.