I’m still stuck on that.
Read back through Mark 2:18-22.
Why, when asked about rule-keeping and rule-breaking, does Jesus go down this rabbit trail?
How, when these folks are asking legitimate questions about the ethical out-pouring of their worship, can Jesus get all sentimental and abstract and start talking about going to the chapel? We’re talking about obedience here. We’re trying to be God-lovers. Here. Now.
Last week at a talk at Duke, world-renowned artist Mako Fujimura brought this theme into better focus. He described the vocation of the Christian, for his talk specifically the Christian artist but more generally any follower of Christ, as being a Wedding Planner.
That's what we are…Cosmic Wedding Planners.
We are wedding planners because we always have an eye on the end. The Wedding Feast of the Lamb when we are united with Christ and worship God face-to-face forever.
Ask anyone who has ever planned their wedding how myopic their vision can get among all the stress and organization and details. How easy it is to separate the preparation from the celebration. How easy it is to forget the reason you’re doing all this in the first place.
But Jesus reminds us, as he reminded them.
Our faithfulness now is not just for our own sake. Our present suffering is not for naught.
Rather we plan constantly for a Great Wedding Feast. We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus so that we don’t loose the plot. Every bit of our planning (praying, loving, sacrificing, serving, cultivating our specific callings, and being faithful where God puts us) needs to know the end.
So why a wedding?
Because, without a wedding, none of this makes sense. Without the groom waiting at the altar all of our work, even our best attempts, is in vain. Because, if we can’t recognize Jesus in our midst and can’t look forward to being united with him in the end, we’ve missed the point altogether.