A few years ago when I was back in Minnesota visiting my god-children, who as many of you know are Episcopal , I was enchanted to be awakened one Sunday morning by the sound of three angelic voices marching through the house singing “This is the feast of victory for our God!” I think it was the morning the middle child Philip was first serving as an acolyte and they were all very excited. Ted had been officiating since he was ten, since he’s so tall everyone always thinks he’s at least two years older than he really is, so Philip had had to wait four years instead of the two years that is the actual difference in their ages to be old enough.
At any rate, the victory theme is repeated every day before communion in Episcopal churches across the country. And I wondered why it’s not a theme that we use around the communion table more often in the Presbyterian tradition. So I looked it up. The terms “victory” and “feast” are never put together in the New
Testament, particularly not with the Lord’s supper. Even in the parables which sort of hint at the great banquet which the angel now announces are wedding feasts or a great banquets.
But in this chapter of Revelation the wedding banquet comes right along with the final victory that Jesus wins over the forces of evil. In order for the marriage to be consummated all the obstacles to the union have to be done away with.
It’s a classic theme. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, something dreadful happens - misunderstandings, plots, jealous rivals - the variations on that part of the theme are endless. Anyway the lovers are separated. The bride-to-be has a choice: to accept the end of the affair, and settle for second best, or to insist on hoping beyond all reasonable expectations that her love will be restored to her. If she
chooses to remain loyal, she has to stand firm under the nagging of her family and friends; she has to resist the temptation of accepting an offers from one of her less desirable suitors, just because they’re there and she is, after all, not getting any younger. The lover fights his way back to his bride, escaping from slavery or prison, or recovering from amnesia, or perhaps earning the fortune that her father requires before they’re finally united. At any rate when they finally get together, both have clearly won victories, although they have been fighting rather different battles, and of course he’s never really been tempted to be unfaithful.
The saints have all been watching this celestial drama from their ringside seats, cheering and booing at all the appropriate places. And some of the time it has seemed to drag on rather a bit too long. But at last the final act has arrived. The long awaited chords signaling the arrival of the bride sound. And the whole crowd lets loose with a standing ovation!
John heard “the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God...” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who is seated on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise
our God, all you his servants, and all who fear him, small and great." Then [he] heard what seemed to be... the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder peals, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.”” [v. 1, 4-6]
Now ... what does all this mean?
Well, Jesus, of course, is the bridegroom. And the father arranged the marriage at the beginning of time, although the bride didn’t meet the groom until she was old enough. Oh - yes, the bride. Who is the bride? It’s the people of God. The church is often referred to as the Bride of Christ, but the relationship really began back in Old Testament times. God tells Jeremiah to call the people back, saying, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness ...” [Jer 2:2] And the prophet Hosea, who married an adulterous wife at the Lord’s command to illustrate the pain of Israel’s unfaithfulness, foretells the day that John now tells us about: “And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in
mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.” [Hos 2:19-20]
But it wasn’t until Christ came, of course, that the bride met the bridegroom face to face. And even then, with true love unmistakably crackling between the star-crossed pair, it was only the gift of the Holy Spirit that has made her able to resist all the pressures to settle for counterfeit relationships instead of holding out for the real thing. And so for the last two thousand years, the people of God, the church, the Bride of Christ, has been waiting in the dressing room for the big
moment to come.
During that time she has been alternately tempted and coerced into abandoning her true love. Here in America Christians have been tempted by visions of security to settle for the boy next door instead of the exciting, romantic stranger who may or may not come back. Elsewhere Christians are threatened and punished if they hold out against the mustache-twirling villain, knowing that the hero might not come back in time but honorably refusing his dastardly intentions.
“Death before dishonor,” they cry, and the saints watching from the gallery applaud.
But, as the angel tells John, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." [v. 9]
This story that opened when God’s spirit first moved on the face of the waters is the true romance, the many-splendored thing that all human beings, men and women alike, have hungered for since the world began. The reason why the plot of the standard romance novel fits this scene so well is because somewhere within each one of us we know how the course of true love really runs, we believe that it really exists and that it’s worth waiting for. But we also know that true romance comes with danger, and courage, and loyalty. This bride can’t sing with Eliza Doolittle’s father, “I’m getting married in the morning, souped up and lookin’ in me prime, girls, come and kiss me, show how you’ll miss me, just get me to the church on time.” You can’t flirt with the rejected suitors while you’re waiting for the hero to return. Either the church is faithful to Jesus Christ, or she will find the door shut when her attention is elsewhere.
That is why it is such a victory when the end finally does come. And it’s a victory for the bride, as well as for the groom, even though it’s the groom who wears the shiny sword and gets the best lines. Because the temptations to settle for less than the real thing are very strong, and sometimes we find our attention wandering off without our even noticing it. That is why God calls us to meet together on a regular basis, to make it possible for us to remain faithful, to believe
in the face of all the pressures and temptations that true love is worth the wait. Because love in marriage must be on both sides, “God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins... We love because he first loved us.” [1 John 4:9-10,19]
But oh, it is going to be worth it. Each taste of love that we have experienced on earth is just a hint, just a fleeting glimpse of what is in store for us when we meet with all the saints in the joy of his eternal realm. The writers of Scripture stretched their imaginations and the power of language almost to the breaking point to express to us what that love would be like. Paul prayed that we, the church, “may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge...” [Eph 3:18-19] John points us to the results of God’s love: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are... Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. ” [1 John 3:1,3]
If we have any inkling, any hint of the magnitude of God’s love for us, how can we help but respond? And how are we supposed to respond? Paul tells us that our love is to result in action. “This is my prayer,” he says to the Philippians, “that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help
you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God [Phil 1:9-11] . When the guests for this wedding supper were first invited, they were dressed in rags, out at the knees and stained with the rough and tumble of life on the mean streets. But by
the time the maitre’d calls for them to be seated, they - we - are to have been transformed. “...his bride has made herself ready; to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure"-- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” [v.7-8] That’s us, folks. We don’t earn our way into the presence of Jesus Christ by what we do.... but do we really want to be found stark naked when the host takes his place at the table?
Our faithfulness carried out in our service to Jesus Christ as we love and serve one another is the perfect complement to the victory of our Lord, and it is as beautiful to him as his victory is to us.
