April 19, 2011 – Song of Songs 3-4

3:6: What is that coming up from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?  This makes me think of Jesus with a couple of the references.  Coming up from the wilderness, like Christ coming out of the 40 days in the desert to start His ministry.  Then the myrrh (ointment used after death) and frankincense (signifying prayers to God) being two of the gifts given by the Magi.  The first half of the chapter is about God looking for His lover, His spouse and then finding it.  But after finding it you have this signal of Christ coming.  After this, you see a group of skilled warriors surrounding Christ and prepared to do battle.  It reminds me of what I talked about a couple of days ago about the Spiritual Warfare that we are called to fight.  You can see something like this and understand how the Jews were looking for a military leader to be their Messiah.  But Christ comes out of the Wilderness and surrounds Himself with warriors of a different set of skills.  They are armored with the words of Christ, the Word of God, a two edged sword.  This is the soldiers Christ recruited and is still looking for. 

4:7 is often used in conjunction with St. Paul in Ephesians  5:27: “that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”  It is used to show that the Church is unblemished, not necessarily its human parts, but its teachings and it Spirit.  What does St. Paul mean of a Church without spot or blemish if he does not mean there is a difference between the Church and the men that make up the Church.  St. Peter was a sinful man, Judas the betrayer, even St. Paul talks about struggling with doing what he doesn’t want to do.  How can the Church made up of these men be presented as spotless and unblemished unless there is a separation between what is meant by Church and the sinful men that make it up.