Is it because of the Mars/Venus thing as has been suggested? Is it to provide stand-up comics with endless fodder for their routines? (I mean, Phyllis Diller would have lost most of her material without Fang.) Is it revealing of God’s playful sense of humor, attracting men to women and women to men since Eden? The institution of marriage: the heart condition that unmoors logic, that blurs the entire world with the exception of one very special member of the opposite sex, that precipitates the leaving of parental homes to begin new family generations. God’s Plan; the exclusive covenant bond guaranteeing a life full of perpetual intrigue and intimacy and delight. Frederick Buechner says: “A marriage made in heaven is one where a man and a woman become more richly themselves together than the chances are either of them could ever have managed to become alone.”1 Paul writes: “Marriage is the beautiful design of the Almighty, a great and sacred mystery – meant to be a vivid example of Christ and his church.”2 When Jesus’ critics confronted him about his disciples not fasting, he alluded to being the Bridegroom: “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?”3 John writes: “ . . . the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come. And his bride has made herself ready. 4
Our twenty-first century culture is squirming at the restrictive nature of God’s archaic definition of marriage. But for all the sadness and heartache that may come from our fallen, broken ways of relating, ‘One Man, One Woman’ marriage is God’s Plan ‘A’ with no Plan ‘B’ in the wings. Popular opinion and re-written laws are tested and found wanting against the plumbline of the eternal, unchanging God of the universe. And God says: “ . . . I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of whose who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” 5 As his much loved, adopted children, we are able to stand supremely confident in the full light of God’s revelation. And should we ever need a reminder, the Holy Spirit is here to teach us and lead us back to all truth. To God Be the Glory! PD
