The Bride

DAILY BYTE

Now, you might think, you’ve spent this whole week talking about marriage and promises - well, I’m not married – or I haven’t had a good experience with marriage, or I haven’t had very good experiences with kept promises in general... So, how am I supposed to be able to trust that I can be humble – that I can let my guard down?

Well, the bible describes the church as the Bride of Christ. So in effect, even if you’re not married or have had terrible experiences with marriages and promises, if you are reading this and seeking after Jesus, desiring to be in some way a part of the body of Christ – the church – here on this earth, you are married to Jesus.

Jesus has vowed never to leave you, no matter what’s going on in your life. And Jesus is the one who teaches us how to be humble to each other and how to accept those who are humbled.

Trust in these vows doesn’t just happen. Trust grows, as we learn more and more about the other person, as trust grows in any other relationship. It can take a lifetime for us to accept the vows Christ makes to us and to make our own in return.

The church is clearly not perfect at keeping promises or at accepting people for who they are, but this is the path that Jesus leads us on. It’s a journey that he continues to teach about in the passage from Luke for today. He tells the host of the banquet to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. When you’re living and celebrating as a community, invite all of those people who cannot cover up the things that humble them. They wear humility on their sleeves without a choice. And so when we invite them, when we lift them up, we are doing what Jesus wishes we would do for everyone – see who people really are with all of their faults and insecurities – and choose to lift them up and encourage them because we love them, regardless.

Jesus wants us to walk with each other as God fills us with nourishing banquet food and surrounds us with love, encouraging us to be come better versions of ourselves. When we do this, we start to look more like Jesus, as individuals, and more like the body – the bride – of Christ, as a community.

Who do you want to look like and act like? You have a choice to spend your life learning to trust Jesus’ way and promises for you, or not. If you’ve been hurt by failed marriages, broken promises, and un-accepting communities, do think there may still be a God who vows to remain married, walking with you forever?

FOCUS READING

Luke 14:12-14 (NRSV)

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE...

Write down a list of the vows you would hope Christ would make to you, and write down the vows you are striving to make to Christ for how you think he would want you to live your life. Pray over these vows, and ask God to help you trust him, as you walk together.