Preparing for Worship - January 16, 2022

Three of the four readings for this coming Sunday, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, have references to marriage. God Himself instituted marriage for the man and woman He created in the garden, even before the fall into sin. The image is often used in the Scriptures, then, of God being like a bridegroom who loves and cares for His bride, his Old Testament people, and then the church, the believers of the New Testament.

The Psalm is Psalm 128. Blessings are promised for those who fear the Lord, with awe and respect, and who seek to walk in His ways. Blessings come to homes and marriages and families and children’s children and peace for God’s people, in the Lord.

The Old Testament Lesson is from Isaiah 62:1-5. The reality is that because of sin, people can become like an unfaithful bride in relationship to the Lord our Bridegroom. That rebellion can bring people to forsake God and live in desolation, apart from Him, and can bring sorrow to marriages and families, too. And the wages of sin, death, come for all. That rebellion was the case for God’s Old Testament people too often. Yet God still loved them and wanted to save and bring His people back into “marriage” with Him, trust in Him, with the rejoicing and blessings that follow.                                                          

The Gospel Lesson is from John 2:1-11. Jesus showed His concern for people and marriages, as He attended a wedding and solved a problem when the wine ran out, by changing water into wine for the celebrating that could go on for a week. We hear that in this, “the first of His signs, Jesus… manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.” Jesus was beginning to show that He was the promised Savior, who could bring people to trust in and follow Him.

The Epistle Lesson is from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and is the beginning of six weeks of readings from 1 Corinthians 12-15. We hear this week of the importance of the Holy Spirit and the gifts He brings to us in His love for us. Above all, He enables us to trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. “No one can say, “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.” Then He gives gifts to us and other believers in order to encourage one another, that we may remain in faith, “married” to our Lord.