Even Ugly Women

A few weeks ago as I was preaching through the book of James on Sunday we got to the verse in chaper 5 where the Bible says that Jesus is standing at the door. I was explaining how I saw this as a very powerful statement showing that the return of Jesus for His church (which we call the rapture) could happen at any moment. The wording would give the idea that He is about ready to come though the door at any moment.

I likened it to a wedding. What is the part of the wedding that brings about the most anticipation? Well, if you don’t like going to weddings, the best part is being dismissed by the ushers at the end. But other than that, what part of the wedding brings about the most anticipation? It is just before the Bride enters. The groomsmen have come down front and taken their places. The Bridal party has walked down the middle aisle and up on to the stage. The flower girl in her adorable little dress has caused all kinds of smiles and comments of “Oh, how cute” as she makes her wedding debut.

And then what happens? The music changes distinctly. The air of anticipation increases. The crowd stands and strains their necks as they look toward the back doors. Everyone knows what this means. The bride is at the door. The bride is ready to make her big entrance. Everyone wants to get that first glimpse of this special individual. Why? Because even ugly women look good on their wedding day. Wait! Did I really say that? What was I thinking? First service it was a simple unplanned gaff. However, it got such a huge laugh that I have to admit that I purposely said it second service.

I honestly didn’t mean it to be that way. I was trying to simply use the anticipation of the bride being at the door as an analogy to show us how we should be anticipating the fact that Jesus could return at any time. He is standing at the door. I wondered if maybe I would get some cards, notes or e-mails from people who were offended (but then again, what lady was going to actually communicate to me that I offended her personally by talking about ugly women?). One person in our church (a man) did e-mail me about my comment. At first, he thought the comment was distracting but after meditating on the sermon, he was able to take that statement and make a “beautiful” analogy. Here is the e-mail I received:

“Pastor Scott, I have been meditating on a comment you made during last Sunday's sermon. During the part of the message where you were trying to provide an analogy into what anticipation of Christ's return was like, you made a comment about it being like waiting for a bride to make her entrance during a wedding ceremony. During that, you interjected what I found to be a rather distracting comment about how even ‘ugly women look good on their wedding day’ or something along those lines. However, that comment triggered thought about how we as true Believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are nothing more than ‘ugly’ people that are clothed in the atoning blood of Christ, the bridegroom, and are made beautiful in the eyes of God because of His Saving Grace. We are all ugly; only through true repentance and faith in Christ can we be made ‘beautiful brides.’ I look forward to worshipping with you again this Sunday.”