The Cord of Three

Lynnsey and Matt have chosen as the First Lesson today a passage that has not been chosen by any other couple in the dozens of marriages at which I have officiated over the years.

Although the original setting for the passage is likely referring to a son or a brother as the companion, I don't think it is too much of a stretch to apply it to the companionship of marriage.

Thus we proceed this afternoon.

The final verse of that little lesson got me to remembering.

When I was a boy on the farm, there was always a pile of twine around discarded from hay bales.

We would take three strands of twine and braid them together to make a much stronger rope for whatever projects we kids could dream up.

Three braided together is much more durable than separate strings, just as the writer of Ecclesiastes observed.

When we move this observation from strings to our situation this afternoon, what are the “three” to whom we refer?

It is Lynnsey and Matt, being bound together in the promise of the Lord Jesus.

Two are still just separate strings; it takes the third to bind them together.

That is exactly what we want to say here.

Marriage is a gift of the Lord Jesus, whether a couple realize it or acknowledge it.

That is the truth, whether they rejoice in it or try to ignore it, or even spurn it and turn away from the great giver of life and companionship, hope, endurance, and fulfillment.

Let's see how that plays out in the icon in front of us this afternoon.

The scene is the wedding at Cana of Galilee, where Jesus and his mother are guests at the feast.

The couple think that they are in charge the event, and they are seated at the center of the table.

The person appointed to take care of details for them, the steward discovers he has a problem.

Someone goofed, and the wine supply for the feast has run out.

Mary hears of the dilemma and asks Jesus to do something about it.

At length, he instructs the servants to fill the stone jars with water.

They are busy with this at the right side of the icon while Jesus is seated opposite them.

When the steward tastes the water become wine, he exclaims that the best wine has been provided now, rather than at the beginning of the feast.

Jesus was merely a guest at the wedding, but he is become the host, the person really in charge of the festivities.

That is what Jesus will do; when there is any sort of opportunity, Jesus will move right ahead and give gifts even better than we could have imagined on our own.

This is Good News for Lynnsey and Matt, and for every marriage in this room.

Open our eyes and ears and hearts to see and receive God's good gifts, and respond in thanksgiving, or to invent a word that might be even better, thanks-living.

How long will those gifts of God continue?

As long as the braid of three endures.

And how long can that be?

We take our cue from the Second Lesson today, where Paul is talking about three of God's gifts to us.

The first one is faith, and it continues until it is changed into sight in the fullness of the kingdom of God.

We trust that God's gifts continue until we see for ourselves, first-hand, at the end.

The second is hope, and it continues until it is transformed into the experience of God's final community.

The third gift is love, and it continues forever, because it is the love of God the Father for God the Son, in the Holy Spirit, an eternal loving relationship which we are invited to share.

It is no wonder then that in the Gospel reading today Jesus repeats the recognition from Genesis that sin is always trying to drive us apart from God and from each other, but the promises of God are stronger than evil in any of its sneaky disguises.

So this afternoon we read about that promise, sing about it, pray about it, celebrate it, cling to it, and treasure it:

A three-fold cord is not quickly broken, the writer of Ecclesiastes says.

Lynnsey and Matt are being bound together in the promise of Jesus;

in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.