The purpose here is to investigate the significance 
of Christ’s titles of “Bridegroom”
and “Lamb” and to show their interrelationship.

The wedding feast of the Lamb

By David C. Hajduk

The reign of the Lord our God Almighty has begun; let us be glad and joyful and give glory to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints. . . . Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb. . . (Rev. 19:6-9).

It is a very peculiar phrase indeed: The Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Of course, we would expect a peculiar phrase from the Book of Revelation with its wild beasts, seven-headed ten-horned dragons, and crystal thrones. However peculiar the phrase though, within it is contained a wealth of meaning and the heart of the Gospel message. It is a message about being first by being last, about finding life by losing it, about possessing life by surrendering it. It is a message of the resurrection that has the cross as its prerequisite. It is a message of self-sacrifice, or maybe better stated, self-gift. It is a message of a lamb crowned with thorns, and then crowned with jewels as he awaits his bride, who too has been arrayed in dazzling white linen (see parallel to Mark 9:3, Matt. 17:2, Luke 9:29) due to her sacrifice or “deeds” of self-giving. It is a message of the glory that can come only through suffering.

The purpose of this article is to begin to unlock the meaning that is latent in this little phrase: to investigate the significance of Christ’s titles of “Bridegroom” and “Lamb,” to show their interrelationship, and to allow them to shed light on the moral, spiritual, and sacramental life of the Church.

Christ The Bridegroom
John replied . . . “I am not the Christ. . . It is the bridegroom who has the bride; and yet the bridegroom’s friend, who stands there and listens to him, is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy I feel, and it is complete.” (John 3:27-29).

Jesus replied, “Surely the bridegroom’s attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them?” (Matt. 9:15).

These two passages, the first attributed to John the Baptist and the second to Jesus himself, are very significant because in the Old Testament, particularly in the writings of the prophets, the marriage metaphor is used to express the relationship between God and Israel.1 Amos tells us that God “knew” Israel (3:1-2), which is reminiscent of the first man and wife “Now Adam knew his wife Eve. . .” (Gen. 4:1, 25 RSV). “To know,” in the biblical sense, means “to be intimate with” or “to be in a self-giving relationship with,” and can also connote sexual union, not as a merely physical act, but rather as a communion of persons, i.e., two becoming one flesh (Gen. 2:24).2 This communion of persons bears fruit: “Now Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a son. . .” (Gen. 4:1, 25 RSV). In Hosea this marriage metaphor is more fully developed (Hos. 1:2), and the unfaithfulness of Israel to Yahweh by worshipping alien gods is likened to “adultery.” The later prophets also took over this theme (Jer. 2-4, Isa. 54; 62, Ezek. 16; 23), contrasting Israel’s infidelity with Yahweh’s absolute fidelity.

In the Old Covenant Yahweh appears as the bridegroom of Israel, the chosen people — a bridegroom who is both affectionate and demanding, jealous and faithful. Israel’s moments of betrayal, desertion and idolatry, described in such powerful and evocative terms by the prophets, can never extinguish the love with which God — the bridegroom “loves to the end” (cf. John 13:1).3

This notion of God’s plan of salvation as a marriage persisted strongly in the Jewish world of Jesus’ time. The Song of Solomon, although first interpreted solely as a testimony to human love, began to be interpreted allegorically in terms of Yahweh’s love for Israel.4 The coming messianic age was seen as a marriage feast. Jesus takes over these images and makes them his own.5

In Matt. 9:15, Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom and to his coming, i.e., the ushering in of the messianic age, as the wedding feast. He describes that the bridegroom’s attendants (the disciples) cannot fast while the bridegroom (Jesus) is with them. This is because the wedding feast is just that, a feast not a fast. The messianic age has begun with the coming of Jesus. This is also illustrated in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), but here the emphasis is on the “readiness” of the virgins (Israel and eventually all peoples) to accept the bridegroom’s (Jesus’) invitation to the wedding feast (Kingdom of God).

In John 3:27-29, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom. The person who “stands there and listens to him” is the bridegroom’s friend (John 15:14). The bridegroom’s words bring complete joy. John the Baptist himself has experienced this joy. Jesus offers this joy to all who “listen to him” or “obey his commandments” (John 10:10, 15:11). John the Baptist’s testimony is reinforced by the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well (4:1-42), which reveals in a powerful way that Jesus is the true bridegroom — the only one who can give joy to the bride through his words and can satisfy her every longing.6

The emergence of the Church as the Bride of Christ was developed more fully in Paul’s letters. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul draws a striking parallel between the marriage of a husband to his wife and the marriage of Christ to his Church (Eph. 5:21-33). Husbands and wives should be “subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (21), which means that the husband and wife should lay down their lives for each other the way Christ did for the Church (John 15:13). This is made more explicit when Paul calls on husbands to “love their wives just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her” (Eph. 5:25).

Love makes the husband simultaneously subject to the wife, and thereby subject to the Lord himself, just as the wife to the husband. The community or unity which they should establish through marriage is constituted by a reciprocal donation of self, which is also a mutual subjection. Christ is the source and at the same time the model of that subjection. . . .7

This notion of “reciprocal self-donation” is what leads Paul to state in 1 Cor. 7:4, “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and in the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” In other words, the husband and the wife surrender themselves to each other, giving themselves completely to each other both body and soul. It is interesting to note that in this same letter, Paul emphasizes that Jesus gives his body to the Church as a memorial of his sacrifice on the cross (1 Cor. 11:17-32), and then goes on to describe the Church as the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-30). The Church is the “Body of Christ” because it is the “Bride of Christ.”
The love of the Bridegroom is a redemptive love (cf. Tob. 6:18, Hos. 3:2-3, Ez. 16:6-14; 62:3, Is. 54:6-8) which is consummated in a union in which the bride becomes “his own body” (Eph. 5:28-31).8

Jesus gives himself completely to us in his sacrifice on the cross. However, since spousal love is characterized by a reciprocal donation of self, we also must give ourselves completely to Jesus. We do this by remaining in his love through obeying his commandments (John 15:9-10). It is in obedience to the Lord’s commandments that we “subject” ourselves to him, conforming our will to his. The Lord thereby takes possession of our life. He comes to “make his home with us” since we have “kept his word” (John 14:23), and our body becomes his body. It is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). We are dead to ourselves and our sinful nature and live for God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11). The Lord gives himself freely to us, and invites us to “possess” him and his life. Jesus states, “. . . I lay my life down for my sheep. . .” (John 10:15) and “No one takes it from me, I lay it down of my own free will. . .” (John 10:18). This self-gift of Jesus is memorialized and re-presented in the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper becomes a “consummation” between Jesus the Bridegroom and the Church the Bride, a “Holy Communion” (John 6:56) whereby Bridegroom and Bride possess each other whole and entire.9 This “Holy Communion” is a foretaste of and participation in the full consummation/communion that will take place at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in heaven at the “consummation of the world” (Rev. 21:1-4).

. . . Christians came to see the Eucharist as the presence of the Bridegroom and thus a foretaste of the wedding feast of God. In the Eucharist a communion takes place that corresponds to the union of a man and woman in marriage. Just as they become “one flesh”, so in Communion we all become “one spirit”, one person, with Christ. The spousal mystery, announced in the Old Testament, of the intimate union of God and man takes place in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, precisely through his Passion in a very real way. . . .10

The Eucharist, then, is the sacrament of the total, mutual self-giving of the spouses. This is why receiving the Eucharist while in a state of mortal sin is such a grievous lie (1 Cor. 11:27-28, CCC 1384, 1415).

The communion of the Bridegroom and Bride bears “fruit” through the Holy Spirit (John 15:5). The Church, in a sense, becomes “impregnated” by the Spirit (see Mary as a type of the Church in Luke 1:35 and Rev. 12:1-6), and bears fruit in the world (Gal. 5:22). Indeed, like Mary, the Church bears Christ for the world. The Church also gives spiritual birth to children of God (John 3:3-6, 1 John 3:1, Gal. 4:4-7, Rev. 12:17) by fulfilling her commission to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach obedience to Christ’s commandments (Matt. 28:19-20). Thus, the Church as the Bride of Christ becomes the Mother of all the Faithful.

According to the later Church Fathers and the liturgy which developed during their time, the marriage of God’s Son with the Church began at the Incarnation (the womb of the Virgin was the bridal chamber from which the Bridegroom emerged).11 However, it is only on the cross, after Jesus utters, “It is consummated” (John 19:30 Confraternity Ed.) and the water and blood flow from his side, that the Church is born as the New Eve from the side of the New Adam. There he has won his bride, and in the heavenly marriage of the Lamb the union will reach its fulfillment. This imagery was utilized throughout Christian tradition, and was championed in the spiritual writings of masters such as St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross.

The cross, therefore, is the bridge between Christ’s titles of “Bridegroom” and “Lamb.” However, first we must investigate why, from very early on, the Church bestowed the title of “Lamb of God” on Jesus.

Christ the Lamb of God
Jesus went past, and John looked towards him and said, “Look, there is the lamb of God” (John 1:36).

You are worthy . . . because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation. . . Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing (Rev. 5:9, 12).

The identification of Christ with the Paschal lamb was common in New Testament writings. Yet, if we are to understand the significance of the New Testament reflection on Christ’s sacrifice, and, consequently, on Christ as “The Lamb” we must see it in light of the Old Testament sacrifices which it fulfilled.

Paul states in his first letter to the Corinthians, “For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed” (5:7 NAB). This is a reference to the first Passover when the Israelites sacrificed a lamb, sprinkled its blood on their doorposts, and, being thus identified as Israelites, were saved from the slaying of the firstborn: a punishment inflicted by God on the Egyptians (Exod. 12). This sacrifice and its aftermath led to the freeing of the Israelites from slavery to the Egyptians. So, as the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb was the instrument of the deliverance of Israel, the sacrifice of Christ was the instrument of the deliverance of the new Israel, i.e., the Church.

The sacrifice of the Paschal lamb also has the effect of consecrating those who participate in it.12 This, too, is vital to the understanding of Christ’s sacrifice. As the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb had the effect of consecrating the Israelites and “marked” them as God’s people, so Christ’s sacrifice has the effect of consecrating those who are baptized into it, who have “the seal on their foreheads of the servants of our God” (Rev. 7:3). The one hundred and forty-four thousand thus sealed are those who “have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).

It is interesting to note that the same lamb that was slain and whose blood was used to mark the doorposts of the Israelites, also had to be without blemish or broken bones (Exod. 12:5, 46), and had to be eaten that night as a sacrificial meal. Later, after Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt to Sinai where they received the law and the covenant, they sealed the covenant (i.e., the “old” covenant) with a sacrifice and a sacrificial meal. Moses offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings, poured out part of the blood of the victims (hosts) at the foot of the altar, and sprinkled the rest on the people. While sprinkling them he said, “This is the blood of the covenant which Yahweh has made with you” (Exod. 24:8). Then the flesh of the victims was eaten at a sacrificial meal. The sacrifice, the sprinkling of the blood, and the eating of the sacrificial meal consecrated Israel as God’s own people, and set them apart from all others.

Once again, the parallels are significant. Jesus is the lamb without blemish or broken bones (Isa. 53:7-9, Heb. 4:15, John 9:33-36), who is slain (Rev. 5:12), and who is to be eaten (John 6:53-56, Mark 14:22, Matt. 26:26, Luke 22:19, 1 Cor. 11:24, 29). At the Last Supper, Jesus is the “victim” or “host” and states, “This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood poured out for you” (Luke 22:20; see also Mark 14:21, Matt. 26:27, 1 Cor. 11:23-25). The partaking of the sacrificial meal (i.e., the eating of the flesh/body of Jesus) and the reception of the sprinkling of the blood (i.e., the drinking of the cup, see also Matt. 27:25) has the effect of consecrating those who are part of the Body of Christ (i.e., the new Israel, the Church) as God’s own and setting them apart from all others.

We can also see, particularly in the Letter to the Hebrews, how Christ is the mediator of the new covenant like Moses was of the old (Heb. 9:15). Jesus is the high priest who offers himself as a sacrifice to destroy sin and has established a new people of God (Heb. 5:1-10). In other words, Christ is both priest and victim, and has offered himself in a sacrifice of expiation (Rom. 3:25, 1 John 4:10). When considered in light of Old Testament sacrifices of expiation, this indicates that the sacrifice of Christ was the perfect sacrifice for sin (Heb. 7:28). However, the sacrifice of Christ simply is not complete without the resurrection. The resurrection shows the acceptance by the Father of Christ’s sacrifice. The glorification of Christ’s human nature is the result of his full possession by the Father. It is this which consummates his sacrifice.13 In essence, the Father accepts the gift, transforms it, and then returns it. This, too, follows the pattern of ancient sacrifices and is displayed in the structure of the Lord’s Supper.

They (the givers) are united with the gift; the god is united with the gift; and so they are united with their god. . . . That is why the gift-giving of sacrifice finds its completion in the return of the gift that it may be eaten in common by the worshippers. By this means they attain a communal union (communion) with their god.14

It is clear that Jesus as the Lamb of God is intimately connected to Old Testament notions of sacrifice, and is described as the fulfillment of them. In fact, John’s Gospel even has Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross happening simultaneously with the sacrifice of the Passover lambs in the temple (19:14).15 So, once again, we find ourselves at the cross, the key to understanding the interrelationship of Christ’s titles of “Bridegroom” and “Lamb.” This will be our final investigation.

Sacrifice and self-gift
No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you (John 15:13-14).

If we are to understand the interrelationship of these two titles of Christ, we need to first understand the interrelationship of sacrifice and self-gift.

In the essential actions of sacrifice we have a particular instance of a very ordinary human activity, namely, “gift-giving.”16 There are many reasons why humans give gifts, but, most fundamentally, it is to express in action some message to another person or persons. Words could be used, but actions are seen as more powerful, and, to a certain degree, more telling. For example, a man can say to his wife “I love you!” but if while saying it he gives her a diamond anniversary ring she is all the more certain that he means what he says.

However, we must also acknowledge that a gift normally carries with it a deeper meaning than a mere message. The gift stands for the giver.17 In every human gift, a self is also given. In a way, the gift is a symbol or even a sacrament of the self.

This reflection leads us to conclude that sacrifice and self-gift are really one and the same. This is probably why human lives or animal lives or things like food or drink which support life were the gifts used for sacrifices. Human sacrifices were made because primitive people in some way understood that sacrifice was self-gift. Later on, after realizing that human life was not really theirs to dispose of, humans gave the life of some animal in place of theirs or some food or drink which supported human life. The meaning of all of these was the same: “We want to give ourselves to you; we want to lay down our lives for you.”

Self-gift, however, is not just the language of sacrifice. It is also the language of spousal love. “Nuptial love demands the surrender of the self even to the final sacrifice.”18

When Jesus sacrifices himself on the cross, he gives himself to and lays his life down for God and us. In so doing, he is accepted by God as Lamb and by us as Bridegroom. Christ has offered himself to the Father on our behalf and was slaughtered in our place (Isa. 53:4-5). He has given us communion with God (Rom. 5:1, 10), since both God and we are united with the gift who is Christ. He has proved his faithful love through the total gift of himself. He is the Bridegroom who has laid down his life for his bride in order to sanctify and consecrate her (Eph. 5:27), and set her apart as his own. He is the Bridegroom with whom we become “one body” when he gives us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. We, in turn, as his bride, lay down our lives for him by “keeping his commandments” (John 14:15, 15:10, 1 John 2:4), thus proving our own faithful love through the gift of ourselves. We are to give our flesh and our blood to him, which is inseparable from giving our flesh and our blood to our neighbor (Mark 12:28-31, Matt 22:34-40, Luke 10:25-28, John 13:14-15, 34, 1 Cor. 11:24, 1 John 4:20). “Without love of neighbor, made concrete in keeping the commandments, genuine love for God is not possible.” It is our communion with Christ that begets true community. This communion produces “fruit” in the Holy Spirit (John 15:5), and brings complete joy (John 15:11). We now go to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19), so that through baptism, i.e., being marked with the sign of the covenant, they too might be “born from above” (John 3:3), consecrated by Christ, set apart as his own, and share in his joy (Luke 15:6, 9, 24; 1 John 1:3-4).

To conclude, then, this article has shown how the Bridegroom and the Lamb are really one and the same. The sacrifice of Christ is the self-gift of Christ, and vice versa.

That gift of himself to the Father by obedience unto death (cf. Phil. 2:8) is contemporaneously, according to Ephesians, a “giving himself up for the Church.” In this expression, redeeming love is transformed, I would say, into spousal love. Giving himself up for the Church, through the same redeeming act Christ is united once and for all with her, as bridegroom with bride, as husband with wife. . . . In this way, the mystery of the redemption of the body conceals within itself, in a certain sense, the mystery “of the marriage of the Lamb” (cf. Rev. 19:7).20

In all of this, the Lord has given us a model to follow (John 13:14-15, John 15:12, 1 John 2:6). “The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church” (CCC #1617). We are to lay down our lives for Jesus by keeping his commandments and by laying down our lives for our neighbor (1 John 3:16), even our enemies (Matt. 5:44, Rom. 12:17-21). It is only in the sincere gift of self that we will find our fulfillment.21 If we are to be first we must be last, if we are to find our life we must lose it, if we are to possess life we must surrender our life, and by so doing we will one day have full communion with Christ our Bridegroom at the great Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Happy are those who are called to his supper! 

1 Pierre Grelot, Man and Wife In Scripture, Freiburg, Germany: Herder, 1964, 102.
2 G.N. Vollebregt, The Bible On Marriage, Wisconsin: St. Norbert Abbey Press, 1965, 94.
3 Pope John Paul II, A Letter To Families, Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1994, n. 19.
4 Grelot, 82.
5 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000, 141-142.
6 Pheme Perkins, “The Gospel According To John”, New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Ed. Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, and Roland Murphy, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1990, 957, n. 60.
7 Pope John Paul II, The Theology of the Body: Human Love in the Divine Plan, Ed. John S. Grabowski, Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1997, 310.
8 Grelot, 106.
9 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Called To Communion: Understanding The Church Today, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1996, 38-39.
10 Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 142.
11 Vollebregt, 96.
12 William F. Hogan, Christ’s Redemptive Sacrifice, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1963, 60.
13 Hogan, 67.
14 Rev. Clifford Howell, Of Sacraments and Sacrifice, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1952, 102.
15 Footnote John 19:14, New American Bible, CCD, 1986.
16 Howell, 98.
17 Howell, 100.
18 Grelot, 106.
19 Pope John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, Boston: St. Paul Books and Media, 1993, n. 14.
20 Pope John Paul II, The Theology of the Body, 314.
21 Gaudium et Spes, 24.

All Biblical quotations are taken from The New Jerusalem Bible, New York: Doubleday, 1985, except where otherwise noted.

Mr. David C. Hajduk has ten years experience in youth ministry and catechetics. He is a member of the Religious Studies Department at Delbarton School, Morristown, N.J. He is the founder of DC Ministries, an outreach effort offering programs on the Creator’s plan for love, sex, marriage and the family. Mr. Hajduk resides in Wantage, N.J., with his wife Shannon and their four children whom they homeschool. This is his first article in HPR.