Sermon-10-29-06-communion and our role as the bride of Christ.
Pt. 1-the Bride Price & the Cup
Luke 22 the Last supper
Deep imagery of the Bible-miss the depth of the metaphors there.
Dig into one today-that you may or may not have known is woven into communion-how X’s love for us is revealed through His referring the church as the bride of Christ.
This morning sermon in 2 parts
In each look at 2 aspects of the Jewish marriage traditions & then see how understanding them can deepen our understanding of what it means for God to refer to us, the church, as the bride of Christ.
I. the Bride Price
In the Jewish culture-
When it was time for a man and woman to marry, both fathers would negotiate the bride price-acknowledged that the bride would be a precious loss to her family.
This was a price that the father of the groom paid to the father of the bride. This agreement was sealed with a drink of wine.
II. The Proposal
Then the prospective groom would make his proposal by taking the cup of wine that his father had brought, drinking from it and offering it to the woman, symbolically saying that he wanted to make a covenant with her and that he would be willing to give his life for her. If the woman accepted the proposal she would seal the engagement by drinking from the same glass. From that moment on she was referred to as one who had been “bought with a price” .
Now with that in mind, lets read the account of the last supper in Luke 22:19-20 “And He took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
The night before His crucifixion here is Christ trying to communicate His deep love for us, illustrating it through the imagery of a Jewish wedding. He is comparing Himself to the bridegroom who has paid a steep price for His bride.
As Christ took the cup of wine, during the last supper, as he took it in his hands and told his disciples “this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
I’m sure that his disciples recognized the imagery of the marriage proposal. The groom offering the cup to the one he hoped would be his future bride, symbolically saying that he wanted to make a covenant with her and that he would be willing to give his life for her.
And as they accept the cup from Him, they are, in effect sealing the engagement, signaling their acceptance of and their commitment to Him.
As the disciples understand this, they begin to understand the depths of Jesus love-a love so deep that He made a covenant with them and was willing to give His life. That was the bride price-the price He had to pay for us-gave His life-his body and His blood-
I Cor. 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
After communion continue looking at this and understand how that impacts how we are to live, but for now as we worship-think about the deep love that X had for you, the bride price that he paid, w/ his body and his blood, so that you could one day be His bride, and now we are to live as His betrothed.
Pt. 2-go to prepare a place and live worthy
After they had finished the supper, X had given them the cup, the imagery of the marriage proposal, says that he is going to do what any potential groom had to do in that day and age-Prepare a place for His bride
-Turn to John 14:1-3
“Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me. In my fathers house are many dwelling places; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may also be.” (NASB)
In Jesus time, families usually lived in clusters of building called insulas. (picture)
These clusters of buildings were built around a central courtyard. Grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts all lived together in the insula.
So as sons married, they added to the insula. After asking a girl to marry him, the son would return to his village and build new rooms onto his fathers home. Then the son, waited for the day when his father would declare that the building was complete, then he could finally marry his bride and bring her to their new home. That is the word-picture that Jesus is presenting in these verses.
It is also the same word picture that X uses when He describes His second coming In Matt. 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but the Father only.”
So Christ as the bridegroom is preparing a place for us in the Father’s insula-His home-A place where we, the church, as His bride will one day live with Him. But what are we to do in the meantime, once again we can learn from the Jewish custom of the day.
While the groom was off preparing a place for the new couple, the bride prepared herself and her bridesmaids for the grooms return. During this time the bride was expected to remain true to her groom as she prepared herself to be the kind of wife who would honor her husband. She would be learning from her mother everything that she would need to know to be good wife and mother. Doing everything that she could so that she would be the best bride that she could. And she lived in anticipation of his return, longing for the blast from the shofar announcing his return, that he had finally come for her.
We to as the bride of Christ are to live for the day of His return, although we don’t know when it will be.
We are to live, preparing ourselves for the day when He will return to take us to His fathers house. And as the bride of X, it is our responsibility to live in such a way that when people observe our lives, they know that we belong to Him. They know that our life commitment is to our bridegroom. We are to live our lives preparing ourselves for living forever in eternity with Him.
And we are to live in anticipation of his return, longing for the blast from the trumpet announcing his return, that he had finally come for us.
I Thes. 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet. And the dead in X will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
App. This week remember who you are, the bride of Christ, you have been bought with a price, his blood. You have accepted His proposal, come to Him, now you are His. Live your life in such a way that people may know that you are His, preparing for His coming, anxiously awaiting the day when He will return to take us to the home that he has prepared for us.
