2025
I suppose you had to have been there, but if you were, that would have been noteworthy, too.
There was no temple; in fact, there were no structures at all. There were a bunch of plants and animals. It was paradise.
There were two trees of note. Beyond that, there was a man and his wife. And there was God.
Like I said, I suppose you had to have been there, but can you imagine what it must have been like? You could walk around without shame in a manner that would be shameful today. You would have lived in complete harmony with everyone there, all the animals—all of them, whether they are today plant eaters, meat eaters, or blood suckers—and even the environment. Like I said, it was perfect: the temperatures were bearable night and day in that manner that would today be considered shameful, and the weather was amazing all the time. Nothing was there to harm you, but all of it was perfectly beautiful symbiosis.
And, like I said, God was there. This is a part that may be a little more difficult to imagine. Moses declared, “[T]hey heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” (Genesis 3:8) There is every indication that that was a regular occurrence, but it is never described. Scripture confesses that God is spirit (cf. John 4:24), so what does it mean, what did it look like, when that spirit walked in the garden, making sound indicative of that activity? Nevertheless, God was often with the man and his wife in Paradise. The fallen imagination of man can hardly comprehend the reality of God walking with the man and his wife in Paradise.
I once read that St. Ambrose taught that man was created for no greater purpose than companionship with God. The creation of woman bears that out, as He would not have man be alone as He was once “alone” before creating man, and there was nothing among the animals of creation that could do for the man what the man was doing for God. Companionship and relationship are at the heart of creation, which is why marriage, which was created in the beginning (cf. Genesis 2:24), and which some consider a sacrament, is still practiced and celebrated today. Companionship and relationship are necessarily elements for the foundation of sound civilization. It is this companionship and relationship that God created for Himself with man, and with mankind. So much so, that He would leave His heavenly throne regularly to walk with the man and his wife in the Garden. God is love, St. John wrote (cf. 1 John 4:8), and He expressed that love in the creation of man, the woman, and His regular walks with them.
Now, remember I mentioned those two noteworthy trees. Both were planted in the Garden for God to show His love for man and for man to prove His love for God. The tree of life was planted so that the man may eat of it and continue to live in the presence and companionship with God. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was planted so that man could obey God’s command not to eat of it, and continue to live in the presence and companionship with God—“[F]or in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17b)
And with that, the breakup began.
God was on one of His walks in Paradise and knew that the man and his wife had done what He commanded them not to do. So began the great divorce. But God is still love and always remains so. Out of love for His fallen creation, He made man a promise, speaking to that crafty serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
A few millennia later, a certain man had a dream, and in this vision, an angel of the Lord told him, “[D]o not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Then, the Word of God declares to you, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” Immanuel…God with us.
Out of love for His fallen creation, God sought to restore the relationship and companionship that He once had with the man, Adam, and his wife in Paradise. He started that restoration with Moses, first in a bush that burned but that was not consumed (Exodus 3:1ff), then in pillars of cloud and fire (Exodus 13:17ff), then in a tent of meeting. (Exodus 33:7-11) That tent would be replaced with the tabernacle, as He instructed Moses (Exodus 25-31); in the most holy place of that tabernacle would be placed the Ark of the Covenant, covered by the “mercy seat,” God’s throne on earth. Eventually, the tabernacle would be replaced by a more solid structure in Jerusalem: the temple. (1 Kings 6) In all of these means, God was present, though hidden, with His people. He still desired that companionship and relationship with His creation, though it could not be fully realized because of creation’s fallen nature.
And it would be that fallen nature which would render all of these means impermanent. Because of the idolatry of His chosen people—whoring themselves out to other gods though God Himself was as a husband to them (cf. Jeremiah 31:32)—His presence left the temple, and it was destroyed. (Ezekiel 10-11; 2 Kings 25:8-10) Though it would be rebuilt twice, the Ark of the Covenant had been lost forever, God’s throne on earth permanently removed.
But remember God’s promise to Adam’s wife, spoken to that crafty serpent. Remember the dream that Joseph had. God would still place Himself among His people, and do so in order to restore Paradise. As John wrote, and you’ll hear a couple of times over these days, “[T]he Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14) John wouldn’t just leave you without imagination here, either, referencing the means that God had used in the past to be present among His people, for you could also translate what he wrote there, based on the word he used, as, “God became flesh and pitched His tent or tabernacled among us.” The body of Jesus is the new tent of meeting, the new tabernacle, the new presence of God among His people, the fabric of the tent having been replace with the fabric of flesh taken in the womb of Mary.
Even more, God’s hidden presence in the flesh of Jesus was not merely to be present among His people. He wasn’t dwelling among man as man simply to be with them. His love—His being love—compelled Him to restore the relationship and companionship that He had with Adam and his wife, but to do so for all mankind, especially for those who believe. It’s written right there in the declaration made to the serpent in Eden. It’s spoken right there in the vision given to Joseph in His dream. “[H]e shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.” “[Y]ou shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
I’ve been using the words companionship and relationship throughout this sermon. So, let me complete and fulfill those words in the way that Christ is described as the Bridegroom and the Church His Bride (and you members of it).
St. Paul wrote, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Paul took the institution of marriage from Genesis 2 and said that while it applies to husbands and wives—you husbands and you wives—it is actually a profound mystery referring to Christ and the Church: “’Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:25-32)
St. John described a feast in eternity as the wedding feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end. A great multitude cried out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure…” (Revelation 19:6-7) The angel later told John, who was seeing this in a vision, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Revelation 19:9) And there are yet a few more times where St. John referred to the Church as the Bride of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:2, 9; 22:17)
Jesus is the Bridegroom, who saves His Bride—saving His people from their sins—but fulfilling His husbandly duties. As St. Paul wrote, He loved the Church and gave Himself up for her. I like to point out that the wedding happened on a Friday, a very Good Friday. On a hill outside of Jerusalem, Christ gave Himself up for His church by dying on the cross—a feat He could only do, being God, by becoming man, by the Word becoming flesh. There, on Golgotha, He left His Father—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)—and His mother—“Woman, behold your son…Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26-27)—and held fast to His wife, the Church, dying for Her, cleansing Her, presenting Her to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish. By the shedding of His blood, He has adorned her in pure beauty, the robes of His own righteousness, washed in His blood, even as Her members—you, dear baptized—have been washed of water with the Word. There, dear friends, is the profound mystery.
The Word became flesh and entered a one-flesh union with His Bride, the Church. You, dear Baptized, are the result of that one-flesh union: “[C]hildren of God, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13) Is it any wonder that, historically, the Church has been referred to as Holy Mother by Her children, the members of the Bride of Christ, made so by the restoration won for them on the cross of Calvary and given to them in that sacred flood in the Church, Holy Baptism? You can think of the font as the womb from which you sprang forth into this life in Christ! After all, Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about Baptism as being born again of water and the Spirit. (cf. John 3:3-7)
God created man and woman for companionship with Him. Man breaks up with God. God expels man from Paradise—Paradise lost. God still loves man. God remains present with man. God becomes man. God gives his life for man. Those who have been washed of water with the Word, being made a part of the Bride of Christ, have a restored relationship with God, one that will last to eternity in the new heavens and the new earth—Paradise restored.
Because God became flesh and dwelt among us, because Jesus is Immanuel and He has given Himself over to death for you and is risen again, you have been clothed in His righteousness and will live with Him forever, having a restored companionship and relationship with your Creator because He is also your Redeemer and Savior. You are blessed to be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end, because you are forgiven for all of your sins. Listen to the faithfulness of the Bridegroom, the Word made Flesh, Immanuel: “[B]ehold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)
