God's Marriage Problem Series

Nothing can be so funny as that which can be so tragic. There is

nothing funny about tragedy, but one of the paradoxes of life is that

tragedy produces so much humor. Tragedy and comedy are so close

they are Siamese twins. There is nothing funny about a concussion,

for example, but if you get one by falling on a banana peeling in a

crowd, you will get laughs galore. It is because one of the basic

causes for laughter is shock. When I was in college the horrible story

of Ed Gein, the madman who butchered several people, hit the news.

Within a week there were hundreds of jokes about it. It was the

greatest theme for humor. It is strange that such a tragedy can be

the basis for so many laughs, but it is not unusual, for tragedies are

the source of so much humor. Such themes as immorality,

drunkenness, and mental illness are examples of tragedies which

produce thousands of jokes.

Then we come to marriage, which is a theme that reaches the

interest of just about everyone. Someone has said the money we

spent on landing a man on the moon is nothing compared to what

women are spending to land a man right here on earth. I was talking

to a relative who said she was chasing her parakeet one day and it hit

the door and fell stunned at her feet. She was quite thrilled she said,

for that was the first time a male had ever fallen for her. It was

funny, and everybody laughed, but what made it so was the tragic

truth that she was unlovely and unloved.

Few themes can be more comprehensive then love, courtship, and

marriage with all of their potential for blessing or tragedy. A bad

marriage is no joke, but the jokes on bad marriages could fill

volumes. I am sure it is a blessing that we can laugh about the

problems of marriage and family life. It acts like a release valve

when people can see that their problem is common enough to be

joked about. Someone has said that the problems of marriage are so

common that the best way to describe the boy-girl relationship from

meeting to marriage is in three words: friendship, courtship, and

battleship.

The point of all this is that the kingdom of God suffers because of

this same problem. God is not a bachelor. He knows about the

problems of marriage from the inside, for He has struggled with it

ever since He chose Israel to be His bride. Israel was often an

unfaithful wife, and God who remained loyal to her cried out in Jer.

3:14, "Return backsliding children, says the Lord, because I am your

husband." (Berkeley Version). All through the Old Testament the

idolatry of Israel is called a whoring after other gods. She is pictured

as an adulteress. The book of Hosea is a story of an unfaithful wife

who left Hosea for her lovers, but he pursued her, forgave her, and

took her back, and all of this is an illustration of God's faithfulness to

His unfaithful wife.

Now we come to the New Testament, and James says God's

marriage problem is still the same. The New Israel-the Church, the

Bride of Christ can still be as unfaithful as old Israel. The sharp

language of verse 4 can only be understood when we see that

worldliness on the part of a believer is a forsaking of God for another

love, and it is equal to spiritual adultery. This kind of language is

also positive proof that these are true Christians that James is

writing to, for one cannot be unfaithful wife who is not a wife at all,

which would be true of all unbelievers. No non-Christian is in any

sense a part of the Bride of Christ. Phillips translation makes the

meaning of this verse very clear. "You are unfaithful wives, flirting

with the glamour of this world, and never realizing that to be the

world's lover means becoming the enemy of God."

God's marriage problem has always been the same problem. It is

a lack of loyalty. His people in both testaments have not given Him

their undivided loyalty. God's lament is found in Jer. 3:20. "Surely, as a

faithless wife leaves her husband, so have you been faithless to

me, O house of Israel." The Christian likewise breaks the marriage

vow when he or she allows the world to win their affection. The

enticement of the world is so real and strong that it is rare when a

Christian can honestly say from his heart what the poet has written.

Let worldly minds the world pursue.

It has no charms for me.

Once I admired its trifles too,

But grace has set me free.