“Who has the bride is the bridegroom.” John 3:29
“While all the sacred writings are holy, the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies.” Rabbi Akiva
When Jesus says he is the bridegroom, Sophie Strand claims it is in reference to the Song of Songs.
The beloved is all of creation… and its partner is the one that loves it, the person who sees their beloved’s face in all of creation – the trees, the fawns, the fruits, the scents. It is not male or female, it is both, and its lovers can be either.
It is a song of God’s interaction with itself – the lover is God, and the beloved is God. Jesus is the husband of all of creation, and he invites us also to be spouses of the beloved.
Love her lips which are the lilies, her breasts that are the fawns lying together, her cheeks which are the fruits on the trees, her eyes the stars. See the beloved and fall in love every moment with its beauty.
All of the commandments, all of the prophetic visions, all of the parables of Jesus will lead you to the wedding with the beloved; will lead to the recognition that you are the annointed groom prepared to love the world, you are the Christ, the embodied God come to make love to all that lives, Adam in the Garden, lover of the Mother of All Living.
All righteousness is to teach you to know the beloved, to embrace and praise the beloved, to fertilize the beloved with your creative and caring force.