1 Corinthians 6:12–20

¹²"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. ¹³"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"- and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." ¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

The brilliant glow of Christmas is slowly fading in the West. The candles and lights of the past season have been taken down and packed away. Almost forgotten are the wonderful times we've had as a family—children or grandchildren coming home, the house filled with light hearts and memories of old times. Now the darkness of the world begins to shroud our lives, our families, and our community as we return to the normalcy of January. The winter with its shortened days has exhausted our supply of energy. The pressures of a new year pile up. We find ourselves, as St. Paul would say, in a world full of sin and darkness. The problems of our lives wear us down and possibly depress us and our families.

But it's not too late for a wedding!

The story of the brilliant Christ Child still enlightens our hearts this Epiphany season. If we close our eyes, we can still see the candlelight of Christmas Eve. We can still see the sanctuary decked out, the greenery, the glow of the tree and of a hundred flickering flames. What better setting—even now—for a wedding? An Epiphany wedding. Today, during this season in which we see the light of the Christ revealed,

We Are Gathered Here in the Sight of God for an Epiphany Wedding—to Be Joined to the Lord.

Traditionally the story of the Wedding at Cana is the Gospel reading for this, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. There is a reason for this. Epiphany is the time of revelation, when the promised Messiah, the Seed that God promised to Adam and Eve is revealed to the world to be Jesus Christ. Yes, that very baby born in Bethlehem, the House of Bread, and laid in a manger, the feed trough for animals, is the promised Messiah, the Christ. He was revealed by a star to be the King of the Jews and worshipped by Gentile Wise Men. At the wedding in Cana he performed his first miracle which manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him.

In our gospel reading today we hear of another minor miracle: he saw Nathanael under the fig tree. On account of this small miracle, Nathanael believed in him and confessed his faith that Jesus was the King of Israel. But Jesus told him, "You will see greater things than these." One of those greater things was the miracle of turning water into wine and the wedding in Cana.

So why not have a wedding today? An Epiphany wedding. What greater miracle can there be than for us to be joined to the Lord as His bride.

After all, shall we be joined to the works of darkness? "Never!" we exclaim. Well, but maybe all too often we are. By now the toys of Christmas are broken and the batteries run down. With these breakdowns we are reminded of the constant breakdowns of our everyday life. Broken relationships; broken families; lives broken by alcohol or drugs; poverty; prejudice; illness; depression; sorrow; and sin. Our hearts are broken and twisted, full of selfishness and sin.

"It's my sister's fault," cries out a child. The broken toy is worth more than another's feelings. A fight breaks out between the two siblings. Quarrels always erupt among us. Why? Because we've joined ourselves to things. They seem more important to us than people, friends, brothers and sisters. St. Paul, in his First letter to the Corinthians, reminds us that the darkness of the world brings quarrels and dissensions.

But it's not just for little children that this season is dark and contentious. The bills of Christmas are coming in. How did we spend so much money? "It's all because you won't limit the gifts to your family," some husband might say. The fight is on. Our relationships are destroyed. Why? Because we'd rather be joined to our possessions than to the people the Lord has given us.

And what about all those New Year's resolutions. They're broken too. The new exercise program has fallen into disuse. The self-discipline of the new diet worked for a few days, but food is just too good to resist. What does Paul say? "Food is meant for the stomach, but don't let food control you." If you do you've joined yourself to some other thing.

Above all in this text, Paul reminds us that the marital relationship is not exempt from the fractured, quarrelsome darkness of the world. "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!" The perils of our sexuality, of being chaste in the illicit world make us sometimes wonder if we are really Christians. Look at our sinful world. It's on our minds, on our televisions, in our music. The culture is full of vile and prostituting things. All one has to do is try to watch one evening of prime time television.

We don't want to think too much about our situation; after all, it's someone else's fault; certainly not mine. Why did God give me such a lazy husband who's never attentive to my needs? "Shall I be joined to a prostitute?" asks Paul. Never! Well, do we not join ourselves to the world of sin? Our love for things? Our love for comfort, for pleasure, for self?

But, we have been joined to the Lord. "He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him." Christ came into the world of failures, brokenness, fights, and squabbles. He came to bring us his peace, a peace which surpasses our human understanding. He came to give a peace different from the world. He appeared at Bethlehem, and those who are wise still come to see him and kneel at his side.

Christ came into the world to wash us in his precious blood, to dress us in his white garments, and to marry us as his beloved Bride. He established marriage; but not our painful marriages of today. It was sin that brought corruption to our marriages into the world. It is sin in our hearts that is responsible for the brokenness of our relationships. But Christ came to wash us of our sin and corruption. He came to renew us and create a new heart; a heart of love. He came to show us the ever-giving and other-serving love of a true Husband. He came to be faithful in every way. And he came to create loving and faithful hearts in us, his bride. He came to re-create us as his own children, born anew in love and holiness.

Christ came into the world to do the things we could not do. He came to overcome the frailty of our sinful nature and to win for us the right to be his own possession. We, who are baptized into Christ are not our own; we belong to him. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." Since we are his, we can serve our fallen neighbor, those in relationship to us. we can joyfully be attentive to the needs of our wives, children, parents, because our Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, looks out for us, because we have been joined to the Lord.

We have been joined to the Lord in baptism and are radiant in his glory. We were bought with the price of the blood of the Christ child. Do you not know? Do you not know that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit? Do you not know that you have been bought with the price of his blood? Yes! You know that well! You know the price your Bridegroom paid for you—his suffering and death on the cross. You know that "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. He held back nothing on order to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." That is, that WE might be holy and without blemish before God.

For we are the new Bride. As a new bride bathes herself, scents herself, and then dresses in a beautiful white grown, she dons her jewels and slips her feet into golden slippers. She is now ready to be wed to the Prince of Peace. One might even say she is radiant. She reflects the glory of the Lord just as Moses face shone brighter than the sun after meeting with God.

Even still, her mom and dad know that this radiant bride is also that little tomboy that could at times be sweaty, grimy, and filthy. She could act out, yell and scream. She could throw a temper tantrum as good as any other child. That's us as well. Sinner and saint. And the Father says to us, "Little children, I wish you would not sin, but when you do sin, know that I have sent to you the Light of light and the King of Kings. He is Jesus Christ, the great defense attorney. He has driven the darkness away by being the light of the world.

And when the word of baptism came, you and I were united with Christ. Therefore, we may sing God's praises, for we have been given a new name. We have been joined to Christ... as a bride is joined to her husband. In our country, the beaming bride gets a new name. So it is when we are married in baptism. We get a new name, the name of Christian.

Even today, even in the fading glow of Christmas, the light of Epiphany illumines our wedding. The great King of Kings says to us, "You are mine!" While you were sinners, broken, in darkness, prostituting yourselves in so many ways, he married us. Taking us as his own, he dressed us in the brilliant garments of a newly vested queen. We are his beloved Bride, loved now and loved forever.

Amen.