Fifth Sunday of Easter 2023

There are some very important things going on in the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. One of these is a wedding. Judaism has its weddings in two stages. The first is called Erusin, and the second is Nissuin. We must get some ambiguities out of the way. Erusin is not engaged, Erusin is the wedding. There is also no such thing as pre-marital sex in Judaism, by definition.

A woman becomes betrothed to, a man to be his wife in three ways, and she terminates her marriage, in two ways. The Mishna elaborates: She becomes betrothed through money, through a writ, and through coition. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Kiddushin.1.1?lang=bi&lookup=%D7%A0%D6%B4%D7%A7%D6%B0%D7%A0%D6%B5%D7%99%D7%AA&with=Lexicon&lang2=en

That means kids, if you have pre-marital sex, you are married. Saint Paul discusses this in 1 Corinthians 6:16 “Do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For “the two,” it says, “will become one flesh.” The coital act is a marriage act. Further, in the Greek, I Corinthians 7:36 literally reads, “If anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, and if a critical moment has come* and so it has to be, let him do as he wishes. He is committing no deviation; they marry, γαμείτωσαν.

If you decide later you don’t like the gay/gal and do the act with someone else, that is adultery and bigamy.

In Jewish tradition, the groom says, “Behold, thou art Kiddush/Holy unto me with this ring according to the Torah of Moses and of Israel.” In Judaism as in Christianity, the participants in the ceremony are God, the groom, and the bride. Marriage is a sacred act. https://www.brides.com/story/traditional-wedding-vows-for-non-demoninational-weddings#:~:text=Jewish%20Wedding%20Vows,-Unlike%20many%20other&text=During%20a%20Jewish%20wedding%2C%20the,dat%20Moshe%20v’Israel.%22

In Christianity, we speak about consummating the wedding. This is the Jewish Nissuin. This is when the bride and groom do the formal act, which can be the same day as Ersuin.

More properly, there is a year break. During this time the groom goes out and readies his home for his bride. In our Gospel, we see this when Jesus says, “You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”

This represents how Jesus marries himself to his congregation, us. Jesus’ first-century followers would have understood this. Marriage is for Jesus, and for us, the example of how we should live our lives, as living stones, each helping the other.

Jesus then goes a step further. He speaks using two Greek words or more precisely a prefix and one word which also exists in English. The Greek prefix is “Peri” and it means “around.” The main Greek word is “Chorus.” In ancient Greek days, the chorus stood for the dance and we see this in our word “Choreography” which means the writing of the dance.

Look at your hand.

Those pink bones are your hand proper. The orange, purple, and aqua ones are your fingers. All together they make one complete hand. Sometimes they are one and sometimes they are not. It is necessary that sometimes they be one and sometimes that they be different. Otherwise, we could never grip things. Otherwise, we could never function.

When we think of what Jesus is saying, the fire picture above makes the statement better. Sometimes the fire comes out from the log as one whole. We can think of fire using the Hebrew term, “Ish.” We might also use the Greek term, “Photia,” as in photo.

For flame, we can use the Hebrew term, “Haba,” which relates to another Hebrew term that means love. The same fire has multiple flames which distinguish themselves from each other.

If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”

If we as flame ground ourselves in Ahaba which is love to the greater fire, God working through us will do greater things than Jesus did.

A single dancer without his chorus can’t really say much. When he has his chorus he can do truly great things. This is perichoresis. Saint Paul uses grafting as an example in Romans 16:21. We only have life when we attach ourselves to the tree, bush, and plant trunk. When we do we are part of the greater fire. When we don’t we are just flame. What does this mean in practical terms? We are all living stones as Saint Peter says in our first reading. We are family. We are branches of the one living tree which includes stones, plants, animals, and most importantly, each other. We need to treat each other as such. If we do, we can do great things. If we are only for ourselves, we can do nothing. This is our lesson for this Sunday.