200119 Sermon on 6th Commandment (John 2) (Epiphany 2) January 19, 2020 About 2,000 years ago there was some husband and wife whose wedding was greatly honored. Their wedding was the occasion for Jesus’s first miracle. He gave them a present that is almost ridiculous in its proportions. He gave them somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of the best wine they had ever tasted. Think of a 50 gallon barrel. They got about 3 of these. Jesus wanted this couple and all their guests to be merry and joyful. Obviously the marriage of a man and a woman is something that God approves of and is joyful over.But we don’t need to rely on this text alone to show us that. This is abundantly clear elsewhere in the Scriptures. In the image of God, God created man. Male and female he created them. When he first spoke to Adam and Eve he told them that they should come together. They should be fruitful and multiply. They should have children. Man and woman, marriage, sex, children, family—these are beautiful things intimately tied up with God and his will towards us. In fact, Paul says in Ephesians 5, that the coming together of a husband with his wife is like the coming together of Christ, the groom, with the Church, his bride. As a husband loves and takes delight in his wife, so God loves his chosen people.One of the ways that you can tell what is important for us and for our salvation is when the devil and the demons rage against something. I don’t think there is anything that is fought against so strongly as an honorable marriage, where husband and wife have clean consciences, and are eagerly in love with one another so as to make a family together. Instead, I dare say we have all been corrupted. Snickering among children, children telling each other new and exotic tales, pornography and sexually suggestive television, movies, and music, masturbation, the social expectation for dating and the sexual experimentation that is supposed to go along with it—these temptations hit every one of us like a tidal wave (particularly when we are young)—and it seems nobody comes out unscathed. What all these things teach with an almost irresistible force is that sexual activity is entertainment. It is utterly disconnected from a husband or wife and the children God gives as a fruit of this union.The alternative to this frenzied promotion of sex as entertainment is something that is truly romantic. It is the single-minded affection of a husband for his wife and a wife for her husband. They seek and win one another’s affection. I once heard someone use a good analogy that has stuck in my head ever since. He compared romance to the playing of a game. When you play a game you agree to certain rules. It is always possible to cheat. It is vastly easier to win when you cheat. But the thrill of victory for a cheater is altogether different than the thrill of victory for someone who plays according to the rules. So also, love and affection within marriage is harder than satisfying your cravings in other ways, but it is higher and better. It is tied up with our very human nature—the way that we were created to be. It even has something to do with our salvation and the relationship that exists between Christ and his bride, the Church. Being chaste and unadulterated, and yet at the same time, having a burning desire for your beloved, is so good that it cannot be gotten across by words. It is truly ideal.In confirmation class, while the students and I are studying the 10 Commandments together, we sing Martin Luther’s hymn, “These Are the Holy Ten Commands.” After talking about each of the commandments in turn there are two verses at the end that speak about the Ten Commandments all together. Verse 11 says, “We have this Law to see therein / That we have not been free from sin, / But also that we clearly see / how pure towards God life should be. / Have mercy Lord!” Two things go together here. The Law shows us what is good. Today, the Law shows us what is good when it come