There are a lot of cool things about being in a
cross-cultural relationship and specifically one that involves Middle Eastern
culture. One of those things is the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding
of Scripture through growing in understanding of the place in which much of it
was played out. Reading the psalmists cry, “I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?” (Ps. 121:1, ESV) has a whole new poignancy after
you’ve seen the hills of the Holy Land. Reading about Mary’s surrender to God’s
plan for her life becomes all the more real after you’ve stood at her home in
Nazareth. But it’s not just the place that enlivens one’s understanding of the
Bible; it’s the culture as well.
Throughout high school and college, learning about the “ANE
culture,” i.e. the culture of the Ancient Near East, was part of my curriculum.
This helped inform my understanding of Scripture by helping me read it in a
fuller context. What I didn’t realize until recently, though, is that there are
strains of that ancient culture that exist in modern Middle Eastern culture as
well. And through my relationship with my fiancé and the resulting cultural
exposure, I am gaining a deeper glimpse into the goodness of God in more ways
than one.
If you’ve grown up in church or been to a Christian wedding,
you’re likely familiar with the fact that marriage was designed by God to be a
picture of the relationship that would exist between Jesus and the Church, i.e.
the people He purchased out of bondage through His sacrifice of His own perfect
life. You might also be familiar with the passages of Scripture where Jesus is
referred to or refers to Himself as the bridegroom (see Matthew 9, Mark 2, Luke
5, and John 3). I was well acquainted with all of those as well, but there’s
another familiar passage that I had never connected to Jesus’ identity as our
bridegroom—until recently.
In John 14, Jesus is speaking with His disciples, those who
were arguably the human beings who had the closest relationship to Him during
His time on earth. He is nearing His crucifixion and is spending concentrated
time at their last meal together speaking with, praying for, and preparing them
for the coming dark days. In the midst of this weighty time, Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe
in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not
so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that
where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3, ESV).
At first glance this does not seem to be a passage about the
picture of marriage. From a twenty-first-century American viewpoint, it seems
like a straightforward passage about heaven—that Jesus is going to heaven and
that eventually we will be there with Him. But now I think there is so much
more to this passage than what is initially apparent to our modern American
eyes.
You see, my fiancé and I are currently separated by about
6,000 miles, and as it stands right now we will be until days before our
wedding. A few months ago, he left to return to his home country, having
completed what he came to my home country to do, and is working and making
things ready for our future together. In his home culture, unless young men
move away from their hometown for school or a job, they typically live with
their families until they get married, and once they become engaged they look
for a dwelling of their own and begin intentionally preparing it for their
bride-to-be. Such is the case with my fiancé.
Sometimes he even uses the phrase “preparing our home” when
he speaks, and it was after a few times of hearing this that it hit me how
similar it sounded to Jesus’ words in John 14.
And that’s when I realized the
depth of what Jesus was saying to His disciples. In speaking of preparing a
place for them, He was using imagery that would have been thoroughly familiar
in their culture; He was alluding to Himself as the Bridegroom, preparing an
eternal home for His Bride. He was getting ready to complete what He had come
to our home to do, and He would then return to His home to make things ready
for our future with Him.
The disciples weren’t too happy about the idea, as we can
see by Jesus’ explaining to them why He had to leave. The separation was bound
to be difficult since they had to adjust to no longer having their Friend and
Savior physically with them. In the same way, the separation is difficult for
us today. Even though we have the Holy Spirit within us, I’d wager to say we
have all had thoughts something akin to, “If only I could just see Him or hear
His voice or feel His touch.”
Likewise, the separation my fiancé and I are experiencing is
not easy. I know I am going to be with him soon, but it’s still hard not to be
physically present with each other. But
as we’ve been talking every day, I hear updates about the preparations my groom
is making in our home, and I am constantly reminded of the preparations my
Groom is making for me in my heavenly home. And just as I am waiting with
confident expectation for the time when my fiancé and I will be together again,
I am reminded to wait in the same confident expectation for the time when my
Eternal Groom will bring me to be with Him forever.
I don’t know exactly what it looks like for Jesus to be
preparing our future home for us, but if the love and care and intentionality
I’ve experienced from my earthly bridegroom is even just a small taste of it, I
know it’s going to be beyond our wildest dreams.
PC: Jane Morris. Used with permission.
