"In the first century, generally a young woman would be married in her early teens, often at thirteen or fourteen. It would become known that she was now 'of age,' and her father would entertain offers from the fathers of young men who were interested in marrying her. If the fathers agreed on the terms of the marriage, there would be a celebration to honor the couple and announce their engagement. At this celebration, the groom would offer the young girl a cup of wine to drink.
But she doesn't have to drink it.
She can reject the cup. She can say no to his offer of marriage. Even though everything has been arranged, she can still say no. It's up to her.
Can you imagine the pressure on the young fella?
Here is everybody you love the most, friends and parents and relatives, gathered in a room, watching to see if she will accept the cup.
If she says yes, the groom gives a sort of prepared speech about their future together.
Because if she takes the cup and drinks from it, that only means that they are engaged. They aren't married yet. Something still has to happen.
Or to be more precise, something has to be built.
If she says yes, then the groom goes home and begins building and addition onto his family's home. This is where he and his bride will start their new family together. And so he works and works and works, building a place that they can call home. And here's the interesting part: he doesn't know when he's going to finish. Because he doesn't have the final say on whether it's ready. That's his father's decision. And so his father periodically inspects his work, looking to see if the quality of what the son is building properly honors his future bride. The father has considerations as well. If he has many sons, and they've all built additions, then his house is getting quite large. There are many rooms in it. This was called an insula, a large multifamily dwelling. If the father had built his addition onto his father's house, then by now, several generations later, this is a large dwelling with rooms for a lot of people.
Back to the story.
The future bride is at home, learning how to run a household. She also doesn't know when the work will be done, so she's preparing herself for a date that's coming, she just doesn't know when.
And then the day comes. The father inspects and tells the son that it's time. So the son gets his friends, and they set out for her house to get her. But how will he know what room is hers?
He'll know because she has filled her lamp with oil each night and set it in the window, so that when he comes, he'll know which rooms is hers.
And so he goes to get her, and they gather their friends and family, and there's a giant procession back to his house, where the party starts.
And so when she takes the glass of wine at their engagement party and drinks from it, the groom says to her: "My father's house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."
Does his speech sound familiar? This is what Jesus says to his disciples in John 14:2-4.
When Jesus wants to assure his followers that they're going to be okay, that their future is secure, that they shouldn't let their hearts be troubled, he uses the wedding metaphor.
They would have known exactly what he was talking about. They would have heard the groom's speech growing up, the ones who were married would have given it to their brides, and they all would have taken part in numerous wedding celebrations.
To describe heaven, Jesus uses an event they all had experienced and basically says, 'It's like that.' "
--from Sex God, by Rob Bell
No comments:
Post a Comment