The Petition of the Bridegroom

This week, my bridegroom has found himself in a place no man should have to sit or stand — humbly petitioning the powers of this world for what should already be his by right.

Without the release of a single file number from Ottawa’s vaults, our upcoming marriage cannot be licensed. It is a position that echoes another scene long remembered in the Gospel — when Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor who waited for the kingdom of God, went in boldly to Pilate and begged for the body of Jesus. Few see the courage it takes to sit or stand before authority, not for oneself, but for love’s sake — to claim what belongs to you in covenant, yet rests in another’s hands.

That call — to carry the cross, standing face to face before Jesus the Forerunner, the Alektōr whose neighbourly crow gathers the Bridegroom, the Bride, and all their kin face to face in covenant faithfulness — is as real today as it was on that morning by the sea.

Even in Roman times, honourable citizens valued monogamous marriage and were free to divorce — but the right to marry again required the proof of proper documentation. While many commoners simply lived together, noble men and women sought the covenant of marriage — to give their children legitimacy, protect their property and inheritance, and provide for a widowed partner.

It was, after all, John the Baptist’s bold challenge of Herod’s unlawful remarriage that cost him his head. Perhaps that is why, in every age, the bridegroom who would claim the bride his soul craves finds himself caught in a tangle of politics, law, and conscience — a knot as stubborn as the legendary Gordian. The old stories tell us such a knot could not be untied by ordinary means; it had to be cut through in a single, decisive stroke of the sword.

A robe of scarlet, a crown of thorns, and gourds at the foot — a knot as tight as a ball in play, waiting to be cast to the right side of the boat or court. Like the Gordian knot, it will not yield to patient effort; it must be cut in a single, decisive stroke.

On the distant shore, Alektōr — the rooster who greets the dawn and guards his barnyard — keeps watch to ensure that God’s promise given to the almond branch in Jeremiah’s vision (Jeremiah 1:11), is fulfilled. Will you, like the Bridegroom of faith, take the bold stroke with the sword of the Spirit, rather than wait for the knot to unravel on its own?

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).

Joseph of Arimathea is Simon—because the Gospel writers describe the Bride’s chosen Bridegroom as a man who hears and does the Word of God. In Mark’s Gospel, it is Simon—believed to be a Black man—who carried the cross of Jesus, and who is revealed as Joseph when he took courage and claimed the body of Jesus. Two moments, one man of faith: the cross-bearer whose love for Jesus deepens into bold action.

The Gospel lifts up the cry of the Alektōr—calling us to take up our own cross, act faithfully, and cut through every tangle that keeps us from showing our faith in the Bridegroom and imitating his courage—so that we, too, may be on the Mark when the Rooster crows.

For it is Simon, the Rock, who stands as the building block of the Church—the stone the chief builders stumble over—because they mistake Joseph for just a carpenter shouldering wooden beams, and fail to see him as a bard and entertainer, joined with his Bride, the wise maker of home and temple. The Bride and her chosen Bridegroom have heard the Rooster’s call—his cry breaking the dark before the dawn—and the three bear witness to the Good News: Christ is risen. The Bride belongs forever to the Bridegroom.

If this glimpse beneath the divine canopy stirs something in you, come and see how the Gospels have preserved this story — of a Bridegroom and Bride whose covenant love transforms hearts, overturns old assumptions, and reveals the kingdom of God. Each of my posts is a step in untangling the knot. Your gifts of grace, hospitality, and faithful discipleship and witness are the foundation on which future generations will stand.