Waiting for the Wedding

I watched a bit of the most recent Duggar wedding on the Learning Channel last week, and when I flipped it on, Mr. Duggar was explaining why the bride and groom had decided to wait until their wedding day to share their first kiss. I turned it off at that point because I've heard these stories a thousand times before; but it did gave me a smile, for a different reason - it reminded me of something special that I thought about during my devotions last week.

I'm doing a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan this year. This past week and a half, I've been reading the events of Holy Week in the book of Matthew; and when I read Jesus' words at the Last Supper this time, I was struck with a very special thought:

"While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

~ Matthew 26:26-29

Kissing on the lips is a Western symbol of romantic love, shared affection, and mutual enjoyment of one another's bodies and emotions. For this reason, some couples wait to share this symbol until the wedding, to show that they value the sacredness of their love enough to wait until they will be together for the rest of their lives. In a similar (but much more powerful) way, drinking wine in the context of the Last Supper is not just the physical consumption of a liquid; it is a symbol of Christ giving His blood, letting the nails and spears tear open His veins and pour His holy blood out onto the ground, a guilt offering given as atonement for the sinful people He loves. And when Jesus promised at the Last Supper that He would not drink wine again until we could all share this special symbol together, He was demonstrating not only His victory over death and sin, never to shed His blood and die again; but His anticipation of the day when we can celebrate His precious gift together, finally with Him for all eternity.

What a romantic thought! I hope this isn't the case for you, but I know that in my life, I rarely think about the fact that Jesus wants to be close to me much, much more than I want to be close to Him. I tend to feel in my heart like His dying on the cross was more of a duty, a noble sacrifice worthy of a lofty Shakespearean hero - something He did just because He was God and it was the right thing to do. But the fact is, that's not true at all. It was not the "right" thing to do - it was wrong on so, so many levels. The all-powerful, infinite Creator of the universe, reducing Himself to a frail, unattractive human body, letting that body be spit on and torn and beaten by the very people He was coming to save? Letting His total, majestic, white-hot purity and sovereignty be crushed under the humiliation of a criminal's death? Bearing the ugly scars of this death for the rest of eternity? It was an injustice, a crime, a shame of the highest order. He did not suffer all this because of a sense of duty. He suffered all this because of a passionate, burning, world-encompassing LOVE.

And so, on top of everything He suffered to bring us into a love relationship with Him, Jesus now holds this special, sacred symbol, abstaining from all wine until He can drink it with His beloved Bride, the Church that He died to ransom.

We, of course, are asked to continue celebrating the Lord's Supper, to keep us in remembrance of His love while we wait for His return. There is a chance that we, in our frailty, could forget sometimes how much He loves us; so He asks us to continue to remember by sharing this symbol together. But He, in His perfection, will never forget how much He loves us; and so He waits, His very abstinence a testimony to the patience and fullness of His love.

This is romance of the highest order. A foregone kiss, a special ritual between a couple - these things are beautiful, lovely earthly shadows of the great Wedding that is to come. But none of them can come close to the awesome beauty of the loving Savior, waiting in heaven to bring His Beloved to the wedding table, where together, at last, we will look into His eyes, perhaps feel the gentle touch of His scarred hand, and celebrate face-to-face the joy and wonder of His loving sacrifice for us.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come!