Origin Story #12.1 of 21:

Therefore… (Gn 2:24)

The “Therefore” in our story tips us off that it has to do with us—about who we are and how we live. David C is right when says that our origin story shapes us. Without it, we don’t know our origin. We don’t know who we are.

What prompts this “Therefore”? It’s the wonder of what our Lord did while Adam slept. It comes right after Adam’s love song, when he awoke and saw what God had done. It has to do with how “the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” It’s such a wonder that it brings us our first “Therefore” (Gn 2:24):

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother

      and cleaves to his wife,

      and they become one flesh.

Those who first knew our origin story lived in a patriarchal society where the father defines the clan. In such a society, the wife leaves her family and is absorbed into the male clan. But this other, who is like but different, causes such a stir that a man will leave even his clan and cleave to his wife. Our origin story frees every married couple to form a new home of their very own.

Jesus makes use of this wonder when he affirms the sanctity of marriage (Mt 19):

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother

      and be joined to his wife,

                              and the two shall become one flesh'?

So they are no longer two but one flesh.

      What therefore God has joined together,

      let no one tear apart.

These are the very words I spoke last week at Kristen van Steenwyk’s wedding ceremony.  “Those whom God has joined together,” I said to the bride and groom after they kissed, “let no one tear apart.” The celebrants cheered and applauded—they would feast and dance. What would a wedding be without our Lord’s words? Jesus himself began his earthly ministry among us by joining a wedding festival at Cana of Galilee. You remember what happened… how Jesus salvaged the merriment by turning water into wine—his first miracle. It all has to do with what God did while the man slept.

The Apostle also affirms the sanctity of marriage with our same “Therefore”. First, by warning us against infidelity (God’s “No”):

When you join yourself to a prostitute

      you become one body with her

for, as it is written

      “The two shall become one flesh” (1Cor 6).

And second, by affirming the wonder of marriage (God’s “Yes’):

Husbands love your wives…

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother

     and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh."

This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband. (Eph 5)

That’s quite a “Therefore”. It gets us, by way of a “profound mystery,” to Christ and his Church. The mystery stretches all the way into Eternity when we will feast forever at the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” (Rv 19).