wedding

This morning's Scripture reading was really interesting to me. (I'm using the daily readings from The Liturgy of Hours.) It is from Ezekiel 16. God is talking to Israel… "You were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome, the day you were born… I passed by and saw you…You grew old enough for love…I entered into a covenant with you, you became mine [the Lord married Israel – this is the central idea in the Bible]…I bathed you with water…anointed you with oil…I clothed you with an embroidered gown…I gave you sandals, bracelets, a necklace, a ring in your nose, pendants in your ears [body piercing is an old custom]…You were exceedingly beautiful….but you were captivated by your own beauty…you became a prostitute…I will bring down judgment on you…Yet [oh, the wonderful 'yets' in the Bible], I will remember the covenant I made with you…I will re-establish my covenant with you…I will pardon you, says the Lord God."


I have paraphrased this long passage. It's a wonderful reminder of what God intends for us all—to be bound to him in a covenant relationship—to be "married" to him; to belong to him.



In Jesus, that covenant with Israel is universalized and made new. Baptism is the marriage ring. The Lord's Supper is a renewal of the vows. To be in union with the Holy One—that's what it's all about.