Revelation 19:6-7: And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready.

This is the beginning of the climactic vision in the Revelation to Saint John. The trumpets have sounded, the bowls have been poured out, the harlot city has been destroyed. There is an air of expectancy, as creation awaits the revelation of the bride. For when the bride comes, the marriage supper will begin.

History is the story of a marriage, the story of a courtship. From the beginning of creation, God has been moving history toward this great climax, the climax that we anticipate here in this feast. We are already at the end of history; we already share in the marriage supper of the lamb.

Jesus is the Lover who comes to win His bride, rescue her from the dragon, suffer indignity and death, triumph over the grave, all to bring her finally to this feast. The incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the greatest romance in history because it is the great romance that is history.

Jesus’ courtship of His bride shows us what the story of Adam already showed us, that the way to gain a bride is through death and resurrection. Adam went into deep sleep, was torn in two, and the rose from the dust to find a bride. Jesus goes into the deep sleep of the tomb, yet rises to gain a bride. This meal not only points to the end of history but to the means of achieving that end, for at this table, we proclaim the death of our Risen Lord, until He comes.

This table, then, gives shape to our own romances and marriages. Our own stories of courtship are not isolated oddities in God’s world, out of step with the deepest nature of things. Our own romances share in the depths of God because they symbolize on a small scale the movement of the whole of history. In Christ, our own stories of courtship are caught up in the grand story of Jesus and His bride.

Sacraments, the early fathers thought, are mysteries, and they are mysteries in part because they concentrate and manifest the mysteries of the world. This table is a great mystery, the sacramental mystery of Christ and His church, the great mystery of a man with a maid.