The Jewish Wedding Ceremony - A Parallel to Christ's Reception of His Church

A considerable amount of the text, below is taken from:
The Jewish Wedding Ceremony (see link next)

http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/1087 By Rabbi Mordechai Becher

A new blogger friend of mine, Tamela, from http://tamelasplace.blogspot.com/ Tamela's Place had mentioned the idea of the Jewish Wedding Ceremony as having parallels to Christ’s reception of the church. I have read a few online articles and even Wikipedia’s explanation of the Jewish Wedding Ceremony since Tamela brought this topic to my attention. The article that I am pulling parallels to Christ’s reception of the church from had, what I felt was the best imagery to Christ’s reception and the defense of the church.

Because this is a Jewish ceremony, you will, of course understand why Rabbi Mordechai Becher does not refer to New Testament Scripture. However, I have given my interpretation as to how some of the Jewish Wedding Ceremony parallels New Testament scripture. Below the quoted and italicized text, you will find my interpretations to the New Testament relationship of the Church and her relationship to Christ.

Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section. I may try and work them into the text and give credit to your contributions.

“In traditional Jewish literature marriage is actually called kiddushin, which translates as "sanctification" or "dedication." "Sanctification," indicates that what is happening is not just a social arrangement or contractual agreement, but a spiritual bonding…. "Dedication," …of the bride and groom to each other, to the extent of them becoming, as the Kabbalists state, "one soul in two bodies."”

“shidduch
The very first stage of a traditional Jewish marriage is the shidduch, or matchmaking. This means that the process of finding a partner is not haphazard or based on purely external aspects. Rather, a close friend or relative of the young man or woman, who knows someone that they feel may be a compatible partner, suggests that they meet”.

I viewed this as God’s involvement, to make the introduction of His son to the human family.


“vort - engagement
When the families have met, and the young couple has decided to marry, the families usually announce the occasion with a small reception, known as a vort. Some families sign a contract, the tenaim, meaning "conditions," that delineates the obligations of each side regarding the wedding and a final date for the wedding. Others do this at the wedding reception an hour or so before the marriage. One week before the wedding the bride and groom, the chosen and kallah, stop seeing each other, in order to enhance the joy of their wedding through their separation”.

I felt that John 14:28 is the ‘arch type’ to this part of the Jewish Wedding Ceremony. For Jesus says, “
John 14:28
28"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.'

36Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?"
Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."



“bedekin
After the signing of the ketuvah, which is usually accompanied by some light snacks and some hard liquor for the traditional lechaims (the Jewish salute when drinking, which means, "to life!"), the groom does the bedekin, or "veiling." The groom, together with his father and future father-in-law, is accompanied by musicians and the male guests to the room where the bride is receiving her guests. She sits, like a queen, on a throne-like chair surrounded by her family and friends. The groom, who has not seen her for a week (an eternity for a young couple!), covers her face with her veil. This ceremony is mainly for the legal purpose of the groom identifying the bride before the wedding”.

Another blogger friend of mine, http://walkingbyfaithdownaisle15.blogspot.com/ Barbara commented to add this to the Bedekin phase of the Jewish Wedding Ceremony. She said within the Bedekin phase, just before the ceremony, the bride and groom meet face-to-face, in which the couple has a moment together to varify their intentions before the ceremony. I can see this as being part of what Rabbi Becher describes when he introduces the groom taking the opportunity to identify his bride. And then, ofcourse, whether it be for a year or a week long period of separation prior to the ceremony, the Groom stating his intentions to marry her, as well as asking the bride if she intends to mary him.

Barbara felt their to be significance to this 'later stated' portion of the Bedekin. As I considered it a second time, I thought of how Jesus, The Messiah came to the Jews and spent time with them. He stated His intentions and revealed Himself to be whom they had been looking for. With all of the 'types', those things of the Old Testament that point to His coming, and the prophecies telling of how He will come, they refused to believe in Him. And to this day, as a nation and a culture, they do not accept Him to be their Messiah. They refused to commit to the 'Wedding Ceremony'.

The unveiling:
This part of the ceremony struck me as important to interpret for a parallel. However, I am not sure of what to make of it. If I am reading into it more than I should, what I feel it says of Christ, is that He will come back and take His bride, the church. And, the time between His departure and when He arrives is to identify all who have died in Christ and those who will be “caught up” as Paul says.



“chuppah
The next stage is known as the chuppah, or "canopy." The chuppah is a decorated piece of cloth held aloft as a symbolic home for the new couple. It is usually held outside, under the stars, as a sign of the blessing given by G-d to the patriarch Abraham, that his children shall be "as the stars of the heavens." The groom is accompanied to the chuppah by his parents, and usually wears a white robe, known as a kittel, to indicate the fact that for the bride and groom, life is starting anew with a clean white slate, since they are uniting to become a new entity, without past sins…

When the bride arrives at the chuppah she circles the groom seven times with her mother and future mother-in-law, while the groom continues to pray. This symbolizes the idea of the woman being a protective, surrounding light of the household, that illuminates it with understanding and love from within and protects it from harm from the outside. The number seven parallels the seven days of creation, and symbolizes the fact that the bride and groom are about to create their own "new world" together.

Here, in these last two paragraphs, I think we can see the symbolism for the Kingdom of Heaven and the union of Christ to His bride, who is the church. It is a ‘Holy’ relationship of which the church has obtained perfection in the first paragraph.

The second paragraph, borrowing from the imagery of a household (in the first paragraph) as the Family or “House” of God, is the Family represented by the Bride. She is keeping watch for the Groom (The Lord) as he prays for those who have not yet come into a relationship with The Father.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+14:32-42(From Mark 14:37)
You see, Christ demonstrated His defense of the House of God when He drove the merchants from the Temple. The Temple does not exist today, as The Church is the House of God. I think the lesson we ought to learn is that Christ wants us to be more assertive in defending God’s family. The cleansing of the Temple by Jesus is the only time in the gospels, that we see Jesus so aggressive and tenaciously defensive.

In that day, when Christ walked into the Temple, He discovered the merchants having made a market in the Temple, as they were exploiting the worshipers. This is what we see occurring in the Church today. We have all manner of wills, perching in the church, corrupting it and misleading the people of God into a false relationship with God. These people have been successfully waging their campaigns to change the Image of God’s Family by insertion of errant theology. And this has been accomplished as we have not been able to keep watch. Christ’s question to his disciples in Mark 14:37 seems to me to have been a prophetic statement.

Under the chuppah, an honored Rabbi or family member then recites a blessing over wine, and a blessing that praises and thanks G-d for giving us laws of sanctity and morality to preserve the sanctity of family life and of the Jewish people. The bride and groom then drink from the wine. The blessings are recited over wine, since wine is symbolic of life: it begins as grape-juice, goes through fermentation, during which it is sour, but in the end turns into a superior product that brings joy, and has a wonderful taste. The full cup of wine also symbolizes the overflowing of Divine blessing, as in the verse in Psalms, "My cup runneth over."”

In the wine, we see the perfect creation man once was. We see the corruption of man. And, we see, throughout the redemptive process, a final stage of completion in which there is joy and gladness, where the wrought and fermentation has passed.

kiddushin
The groom, now takes a plain gold ring and places it on the finger of the bride, and recites in the presence of two witnesses, "Behold you are sanctified (betrothed) to me with this ring, according to the Law of Moses and Israel." The ring symbolizes the concept of the groom encompassing, protecting and providing for his wife.

Here, I see the role of the groom, being as Christ is to the Church (the Bride). As Christ demonstrated and insisted of His disciples, we ought to guard and care for the Family of God. His Church, His Bride.



sheva brachos
After this, the sheva brachos, or seven blessings, are recited, either by one Rabbi, or at many weddings a different blessing is given to various people the families wish to honor. The blessings are also recited over a full cup of wine. The blessings begin with praising G-d for His creation in general and creation of the human being and proceed with praise for the creation of the human as a "two part creature," woman and man.

I have not come to any conclusions on this phase. In some ways, it appears obvious that it needs no interpretation. And then, I feel that there is something more. Any ideas?