Epiphany 2: “The Divine Lover”

1/14/07

Isaiah 62.1-5

Most of you are probably aware that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has recently published a new hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Your Worship Committee is currently in the process of reviewing it, to see if it is something that we might want to use here at Peace, and you’ll get a chance for some input in that process before too long. Most churches publish a new hymnal about every 25 to 30 years or so, and they always try to keep what is loved and much used, while introducing things that are new. Musical and literary styles change through the years, and any hymnal is a reflection of the time in which it is published.

One of my favorite hymns got left out of the Lutheran Book of Worship when it was published back in 1978, and I’m sorry to say that it has also been excluded from the new hymnal. The hymn is “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” written by Charles Wesley and while perhaps not his best hymn, certainly one of his most popular. Indeed, it had been included in almost every English language Lutheran hymnal in American history until the LBW. In the old Service Book and Hymnal, LBW’s predecessor, the hymn actually appeared three times, with three different tunes.

Of course the language of the hymn had always raised some eyebrows. “Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly”—it’s a pretty explicit lyric! Indeed, some editors over the years have tried to tone it down, changing the words to “Jesus, Refuge of My Soul” or “Jesus, Savior of My Soul.” But the original hymn has held its own, even with all its frankness.

And, we must say, with all its Biblical fidelity. For the image of God as the lover of human beings is Biblical to the core. One need look no further than this morning’s Old Testament lesson. “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” The image here is that of the love between a bridegroom and bride: that’s the kind of passion, the kind of delight, the kind of longing that God has for us.

Let’s unpack the metaphor just a bit. We might start by saying that the love of a bridegroom for his bride is a passionate love. For the bridegroom, his bride is the whole world. To him, his bride is the most beautiful, the most precious person ever to walk the earth. He desires her, he longs for her. She is absolutely everything to him.

And that, the Bible says, is the kind of love that God has for us! God loves us passionately! In God’s eyes, we are the crown of creation, the most beautiful and wonderful thing in the universe. God has created giant mountains, God has flung stars into the sky—but to him, those things are nothing compared to us! We are his joy, we are his delight, his love.

You can hear the passion in Isaiah’s words: “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and royal diadem in the hand of your God . . .for the Lord delights in you!” And that is said to us! The Lord delights in us! You know, to catch the depth of God’s passion for us, perhaps you must read that Old Testament love poem, the Song of Solomon: In one passage the bridegroom, who represents the Lord, speaks words to his beloved: “Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! . . . You have ravished my heart, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes. How sweet is your love! How much better is your love than wine!” And that is how God regards us!—not as the stupid, bumbling creatures we so often are, but as his beloved, his delight!

Then we might say that the love of a bridegroom for his bride is incredibly intimate. It is the intimacy that comes when two people share all of themselves together, when two people are joined together body and soul. It is the intimacy that grows over a lifetime of living together, the intimacy that allows two people to continue to love each other even when they see each other at their worst; even when they must see each other at the breakfast table, or when they must put up with fits of anger, moments of pouting, bad days at the workplace. This kind of love accepts all that, and knows that the price of sharing the joys of life is to share also the sorrows and the frustrations. And it grows out of a closeness and an honesty that is unsurpassed in any other human relationship.

That, the Bible says, is the kind of love that God has for us! He loves us intimately. For him we are so close and dear to his heart that he puts up with cranky moods and angry words. He lives with us. He is there at the breakfast table, he knows all our shortcomings and failings. We can’t hide anything from him—but that’s not because he’s a snoop who likes to keep tabs on everyone, but because he is so close to us, so close that nothing escapes his notice. When you live with someone, you can tell, by a word, a glance, an expression, just what’s on your partner’s mind. And God’s love is like that! He is so close to us that he knows everything, and yet he continues to love us, and continues to stay with us.

And of course the love of a bridegroom for a bride is a faithful love. The bridegroom loves his bride so passionately that he would not think of leaving. His love is a constant love. It does not vary from day to day. A husband cannot love his wife four days a week, and someone else the other three days. Faithful love is not turned on and off like a faucet.

A few decades ago the Beatles sang a song about faithfulness: “When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now, will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?” And of course the answer of love is “Yes!” That faithful love does not fade because of outward changes like a receding hair line—and a darn good thing that is! But that, the Bible says, is the kind of love God has for us! It is a faithful love, a love that will not change. A love that will be just as passionate and intimate when all the hair is gone!

And God is perfectly faithful! Sometimes, as we all know, our own human relationships don’t work out that way. We are not always faithful people to one another, or to God. There is no better demonstration of that than the Bible itself. We’re reading Judges right now in our adult Bible study, and the refrain comes again and again: “The people turned away from God, and went after false gods.” They were not faithful. That’s the story of humanity: not faithful not God, often not faithful to one another.

But God is faithful, and his steadfast love endures for ever. “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” Often the Bible, and the earliest Christian writings, use the image of the wedding feast to talk about Holy Communion, the Eucharist. This feast that we share is the celebration of the love that Christ has for us, and at this feast Christ is the Bridegroom, we are the Bride of Christ. This feast is where he proclaims his love for us, where he assures us that he is ours and we are his. The one who meets us here in bread and wine is Jesus, the lover of our souls, passionate, intimate, faithful.

Hasten as a bride to meet him,

Eagerly and gladly greet him.

There he stands, already knocking;

Quickly now, your gate unlocking,

Open wide the fast-closed portal,

Saying to the Lord immortal:

“Come, and leave your loved one never;

Dwell within my heart forever.”