Jan. 5: The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

Ghent Altarpiece—Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck, 1420s–1432. Twelve-panel altarpiece. St. Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. Public Domain.

“Worthy Is the Lamb” from the album The Messiah (Platinum Edition). Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and London Philharmonic Choir with John Alldis conducting. Composed by George Frederic Handel.

Poetry:

“The Lamb"
by Linda Gregg

It was a picture I had after the war.
A bombed English church. I was too young
to know the wordEnglishorwar,
but I knew the picture.
The ruined city still seemed noble.
The cathedral with its roof blown off
was not less godly. The church was the same
plus rain and sky. Birds flew in and out
of the holes God’s fist made in the walls.
All our desire for love or children
is treated like rags by the enemy.
I knew so much and sang anyway.
Like a bird who will sing until
it is brought down. When they take
away the trees, the child picks up a stick
and says, this is a tree, this the house
and the family. As we might. Through a door
of what had been a house, into the field
of rubble, walks a single lamb, tilting
its head, curious, unafraid, hungry.

THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB

The final chapters of the book of Revelation follow more drama than most readers can comprehend. We read about angels and hideous monsters and violence. A pregnant woman is threatened by a vicious red dragon who seeks to devour her child. Both child and mother escape, but the dragon rages and unleashes more monsters on the earth. The book overflows with imagery, admonitions, and encouragements that have resonated with people throughout the ages.

Just before God does the final mopping up of the earth—ridding it of evil, sin, and death—people shout praises as the invitations are sent out to the faithful of God because the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is soon to take place. It’s as if the people have connected the historic dots and are now confident in God’s ultimate, redemptive work in the world. We come to understand that this Lamb is also the child that was born to the woman and who lived under the shadow of suffering and death, ending up as the slaughtered Lamb of Revelation. The child is vulnerable in his birth and the Lamb is weak in its death, and yet the child/Lamb conquers all of the powers of evil. And the people receive their invitations to the marriage supper with the kind of joy that is reflected in the praise found in the Song of Songs, a joy that is as intimate as it is jubilant:

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. (Song of Solomon 2:4)

Jesus talked about this, but in a much less dramatic way than is depicted in Revelation. He said, “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also . . .” (John 14:3)

Jesus came to people in real time, in real life, with all the grit and suffering and wonder that is earthly existence. When he returned to receive his followers, he received them in that same real life. Like all human beings, the lives of the faithful have been plagued by suffering and death, but we’re told in Revelation that Jesus returns to usher in the new heaven and the new earth.

It’s an odd sort of connection, this relationship between heaven and earth. Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece captures this relationship as he offers Biblical depictions, some highly stylized, along with actual buildings and landscapes of his own time, as well as references to contemporary figures. The blending of images is a reminder that the biblical narrative is always lived out in daily human existence.

The image of the faithful being invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb even before God’s work of justice is complete provides something very important for us. Like the first people who heard the words about John’s vision in Revelation, we live in a world that is violent and broken. And yet, it is God’s good creation beneath it all, and when God reconciles all things to himself, there will be a new heaven and new earth. We don’t see that reconciliation at this moment, but we remain confident in what God will one day bring to fulfillment, because God has already made his intentions known through the first coming of Jesus in his birth, suffering, death, and resurrection.

And in that confidence, we give glory to God.

Prayer:
God our Father,
Grant in us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts, and in that trust to give you glory. You never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy, and our confidence is in you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Michael McNichols, D.Min.
Pastor and Author

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, please visit our website via the link in our bio.