"The 'Great Divine Romance,' the 'Bride Price,' and the Cross"

                                      Ps. 116:5, NIRV

     In recent years there has been increasing attention paid to imagery of the
divine romance of heaven for us.[1]  This might include the suggestion that in
Jesus’ sacrifice for us (which we now consider in Lent) he was paying the
“bride price” to win us.  He was retrieving the “beloved”--us! The details of
paying the "bride price" were well known in Jesus' day and would have
been understandable to all who cared to note this aspect of his

sacrifice.

    A pastor friend recently discussed this imagery with us and

materials that had been used at her church to explore such

ideas--part of a Lenten season program. (She also shared a

book by Ray Vander Laan that discusses this imagery.[2])

    This imagery was rather new to us.  It suggested another possible image
for the divine romance (as discussed in previous posts).  What if Jesus, the
“Bridegroom” (as he is indeed known in scripture) came to rescue his beloved
“bride” (us) and take us home to a greater--more loving--(spiritual) home
than we had ever before imagined or known?  This is certainly a theme
that runs through scripture, as we will see.  It has also long been a theme
in spiritual classics.  For example, St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “He joins
Himself to it [‘our soul’] in this inseparable way . . .”: the way of
“friendship” and of the “Bridegroom” coming to be with his beloved
“bride,” the soul.[3]

    What did the “Bridegroom”--Christ (Mt. 25:6; Jn. 3:29; Rev. 19:7)--do
for the soul, for us?  He gave his all: everything to his very last breath, until
he was executed as a supposed criminal.  Would the people of Jesus’ time
have been familiar with the imagery of paying a very high price for one's
"beloved"?  

    Yes!  The “bride price” that a young man paid to win his beloved “bride”
was steep in biblical times[4] (remember that Jacob worked seven years to
win a wife; Gen. 29:18).  The "bride price" was not as steep as the
ultimate price that Jesus paid, but, nevertheless, it was steep!  

    The “beloved” young woman was considered to be precious to her family
(more precious than in many other cultures of that day).  Because of her
preciousness, a considerable “bride price” was agreed upon between the
young man and the parents involved.  An agreement was then sealed
between the fathers and the young man with a cup of wine.  Next the
young man took the wine to his “beloved” to offer it to her.  If she
received the cup, she accepted him as her future husband.  This was their
way of making a commitment to one another: a loving covenant (like the
covenant imagery that is so important throughout scripture[5]--a covenant
made in loving consent on both sides). 

    Next, the young man paid an additional price in the form of hard labor.  

He built a new section onto his family home (extended families lived together

in that day).  He could not bring the beloved “bride” home until their new

home was fully ready.  Building the new rooms for the young couple

might take as much as a year.  Only after this labor was finished could

the young man retrieve his “bride” and bring her to his home.  The

young man had by then made considerable sacrifice to win his “bride.”

Can this be compared (in a small way) to the sacrifice

Christ made for us? Might this apply also to the sacrifice of giving

up his heavenly position for us?  Philippians speaks of:

Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard

equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being

found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to

the point of death--even death on a cross.  Therefore God also highly

exalted him . . . (Phil. 2:5-9, NRSV, NRSVCE).

                                                                                                                                                                                

(The story of Jesus continues, of course, with the exaltation of Easter

morn!)

    We have been discussing various images for the divine romance in

recent posts. So here is another one: Christ the “Bridegroom”

willingly pays the steepest “bride price” imaginable--his very life--

to win our souls in love and to bring us home to himself and our

Heavenly Father.  It is as if Jesus repeats words from Genesis:“Make the bride price and marriage gifts as large as you like, and

I will pay whatever you tell me"; Gen. 34:12, CEB. Such imagery can

be one important part of our thoughts during Lent--and then

finally as we approach Good Friday and Easter.  

  “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life

for one’s friends,” Jesus said in one of the best brief explanations

we have of the Good Friday events (Jn. 15:13, NIV).  And

further, are we not both the “beloved” and his “friends”?[6]  

(For further imagery similar to the “Bridegroom” and beloved

“bride” imagery, see Hos. 2:19-20; Isa. 54:5, 62:5; Ezek. 16:8;

Jer. 31:3; Rev. 19:7, or the Song of Solomon. ) How might we

pass on such beautiful imagery (such beautiful love) to others?

  Please note that by discussing the “bride price” imagery we only

hope to draw attention to an additional rich image to help us grasp

what Jesus has done for us. In no way would we replace other

long-term imagery regarding the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice.  

Certainly, Jesus was also taking all that has gone awry in this weary,

wayward, torn world upon his wide Shepherding shoulders and giving

his very life for it.  Or, in other imagery, in love he was willingly

becoming the "scapegoat" who carried away the sins of the world

(Lev. 16:10; Jn. 1:29; 1 Cor. 15:4) so that we might share a new

beginning with him--an Easter of our souls.  Or again, as one of

our pastors said recently, through Jesus God cradles us in God's

forgiving arms! We but need a humble-honest, contrite-childlike

heart that falls into those Great Cradling Arms.

                                            

In the end, the meaning of what Jesus has done to win us--of all he
has done for us on the cross--is so great that it will never be
adequately captured in ordinary human words.  (Note: "bride price"
covenant imagery continues to ring in Jesus’ words as the cup of wine is
raised at the Last Supper and also in his promise of many rooms in his
father’s large house [Lk. 22:20; Jn. 14:1-3].  However, for today it is the
steep cost paid to bring the “beloved” home to which we would pay
attention; it resonates with both the cross and the divine romance.)

* * *

We close with thoughts for meditation, prayer/poetry/proverbs:

                                 

“YOUR Heartbeat (a Meditation)”

    

     (With reflection upon Deut. 33:27, Phil. 4:7, Ps. 23, Jer. 3:31, and

Rev. 19:7; AMP, NIV, CEB.)[7] 

                                                                       

     “For . . . eternity is not Nothingness but rather the realm

enclosed by the everlasting arms.” - Helmut Thielicke[8]

***

                             

“Meditating upon the Great Love Story”              

                               

We are invited IN . . .

into divine embrace, into divine romance,

invited to come Home--

home to be the “beloved”

in the family of God,

💗 the family of Triune Love.

We are invited IN . . .

into the care of the Shepherd of Love,

into the Great Love Story

of the Abba,

the Mother-who-never-forgets,

the Bridegroom who retrieves the bride.

                                 

Acknowledged or not, we are the “beloved” ♡

and we are invited IN . . .

                                 

(With reflection upon Lk. 15:20, Ps. 23, Isa. 49:15, Rom. 8:15, and

biblical themes discussed in previous posts.[9])

***

An opening to prayer/meditation:

     (See St. Catherine of Siena’s discussion of God as the “mad lover,” who

has fallen in love with the created--us![10])

***

From my journal (in the depths the “still small voice” seems to whisper):

You have no business living in anything . . . except EASTER . . . Only

ONE can handle the terror of “Good Friday” . . . 

I did it! this ONE promises: It’s over . . . “It is finished”. . .  It is DONE!*

I burst the darkness; you cannot do it! . . . I did it for you; I brought

you Easter! 

I BRING you Easter! . . . Now your business is to live it . . . newly . . .

each day. Your business is to flower EASTER out . . . EVERY . . .

SINGLE . . . DAY! 

                      *Jn. 19:30

* * *

“[T]he Lord appeared . . . from afar.  I have loved you with an

everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to

you.” - Jeremiah 31:3, RSV

* * *

“The Chamber”

“[L]et’s imagine that this castle [the soul] has ... many

chambers … and in the very center, the middle of all the rest,

is the most important one, which is where the most secret

exchanges take place between God and the soul.”

– St. Teresa of Avila [11]

There's a chamber deep within us--                      

Here there dwells a mystery                      

None has ever captured;                                                     

Some but learn to set it free.                             

There's the entrance of a Presence;          

There's a meeting in the soul.            

All must enter-in in silence,      

Must be “childlike” to know--    

There's a gift that can be given

In this chamber of the soul.

It’s the gift of God's creation

That continues in us all.

And God gives of this gift freely

To the one who knows this space--

Knows that all that's ever given

Is the weaving of God's Grace.

     (John Ruysbroeck speaks of “the riches … which He [our God]

causes to pour forth without ceasing in the most secret chamber of

the soul, at that place where it is most like unto the nobility of God.” [12] 

And Martin Luther wrote: "Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child, / Make thee a

bed, soft, undefiled, / Within my heart, that it may be / A quiet chamber

kept for Thee!" [13]  Also see Mt. 18:3; Eph. 3:16-19.)

* * *

(See additional blog posts after the "Notes"--Newer/Older Posts.)

…………………………

Notes:

1. See “The Great 'Divine Romance of Heaven' for us & its Frequent Neglect” (and
resources listed there);
http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-great-sacred-romance-and-its.html.

2. Ray Vander Laan with Stephen & Amanda Sorenson, Life & Ministry of the Messiah,
Discovery Guide (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), pp. 117-118, 123-126, 146-147.  

3. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and
Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976, 1980),
Vol. 2, pp. 240, 237.

4. Catherine Clark Kroeger & Mary J. Evans, The IVP Women’s Bible Commentary
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 80.

5. E.g., see Jer. 2: 1-4; 30:22; 32:40; 50:4-5; Hos. 1:2, 2:19-20; Isa. 62:5; Ezek. 16:8.

6. See No. 4 above.
7. Meditations, prayer/poetry/proverbs by Lorraine B. Eshleman.
8. Helmut Thielicke,  Nihilism, trans. John W. Doberstein (New York: Harper & Row,
1961), p. 178.

9. See discussion of mother-love as a metaphor for God’s love in Isaiah in

“Sacred Tenderness—Lost in Translation?”;
http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/02/sacred-tenderness-lost-in-translation.html
See discussion of Triune Love, a frequent theme in Celtic Christianity in “Hearing God’s
Heartbeat”; http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015_07_01_archive.html.

For discussion of the “beloved” (us) see “The Tender ‘Love Song’ of God”;
http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2017/02/. For discussion of the
“Shepherd of Love” see "The ‘Shepherd of Love’--An Enduring Image of God's Tender
Care”;  http://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2018/01/.

For "Abba, " which Pope Francis interchanges with "Papa," see Mk. 14:36 (many scholars

believe this intimate Aramaic address for Father must have been used more frequently

by Jesus, since it shows up in usage by the early church, e.g., Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6. For

divine embrace see Lk. 15:20.  

10. Catherine of Siena: The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke, O.P.

(New York: Paulist Press, 1980), pp. 325, 364 (Chap. 153, 167).

11. Cathleen Medwick, Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul (New

York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), p. 206 (from Interior Castle, 1:3).

12. Quoted in Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (New York: Meridian Books, 1955), p. 117

(from De Ornatu Spiritalium Nuptiarum, l, iii, cap. iii), italics ours. (Also see further

thoughts about this mystery in "'Traveling Companion'--A Tender Image," Notes 25

and 26 and the quotations and final entry that accompanies these notes; https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/04/traveling-companion-tender-image_23.html )

13. From the hymn "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come," trans., Catherine

Winkworth, verse 5 (italics added). (Also see the comment in Note 12 above.)