For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
Ah, here we are at the very beginning with God's original institution - marriage. But often times we forget what is at the heart of the marriage ceremonies that millions of people all around the world will in some way take part in - commitment. Marriage is, in God's eyes, an outward expression of this inward commitment, and it's the commitment itself that is the heart of the marriage. Without this commitment, the ceremony is (or soon will become) dead.
As we see in Genesis above, the very first words used to describe marriage are "being united." Obviously, while the marriage ceremony itself is a great and wonderful way to express love and commitment, to invoke a sense of family and community, and to serve as a landmark "seal-the-deal" moment of the day you actually committed to love and serve someone else for life, the real heart of a marriage is in the commitment and unity itself. The marriage ceremony we go through simply points toward this and serves the purposes mentioned above.
But now I would like us to consider something else for a moment. I would like us all to consider what it would look like if someone decided to have a wedding... yet get married to no one. How would this work? Think about it for just a moment, if you would.
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Done? Good. Now I hope you've come to the very same conclusion that I have: that even the notion of such a thing is pure foolishness! By the very definition of marriage, you need two people to carry out the vows. With only one, there is no commitment, no relationship, no marriage. With only one person, it is no marriage at all. So how foolish it would be for a person to even consider this! Hold on to that thought for just a moment if you would.
Let's turn to another Biblical ceremony that's very much like marriage, but of course different in its own respects - baptism. Now baptism is very different from marriage in many ways, but at the heart of baptism, like marriage, is unity and commitment. Let's read this next verse to see what I'm talking about.
Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. Romans 6:3-5
"United with him" - this is what baptism is. It is a physical representation of a spiritual unity - very much like marriage - and it's a wonderful thing! But also like marriage, without the relationship, the commitment, and the unity, the ceremony itself is useless. So now consider again our single-personed marriage. We agree here that even this very idea is foolishness... Yet how often do we try to do this with God.
As we see in Romans 6 above, when we are baptized into Christ, it is a symbol of us being spiritually "united with Him", much like marriage. But if we are being united to no one - if Christ is not present - the baptism (or the marriage) is pointless and empty. Yet amazingly, we still do this - or at least try.
Because baptism is a spiritual matter, we cannot physically SEE Jesus - the groom - present at the ceremonies. This also means that we cannot physically SEE if Jesus is absent, either! So this issue of baptism is something that I would ask us all to do an internal reflection on. Rather than judge others' baptisms, I'd like us to turn the microscope upon ourselves. I would encourage us all to ask to ask the very important questions:
"Is this symbolic act really reflecting my own inward commitment to Christ?
If not, what can I do about it?
And if so, how can I honor Him and live out this unity by drawing nearer to Him each and every day?"
Blessings in Christ,
Andrew
