God put Adam to sleep and opened his side to make his bride. On the cross, Jesus' side was opened too.

The first bride

On the sixth day, God made Adam. But Adam was alone, and God said that was not good. So he did something strange:

"Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam."

Genesis 2:21 to 22

The Hebrew word for "rib" also means "side." God put Adam into a deep sleep, opened his side, and from it made his bride.

"And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living" (Genesis 3:20).

A figure of him that was to come

The New Testament says Adam was a picture of someone else:

"...Adam, who is a figure of him that was to come."

Romans 5:14

Paul calls Jesus "the last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45). And he says marriage itself, the two becoming one flesh, was always pointing further: "This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ, and in the church" (Ephesians 5:32).

So if Adam is a picture of Christ, and Eve is a picture of the Church, where does the Church come from?

The second sleep

On the cross, Jesus cried out, "It is consummated," bowed his head, and gave up his spirit (John 19:30). He fell into the sleep of death.

Then:

"But one of the soldiers opened his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water."

John 19:34

A man asleep. His side opened. And out of it, life.

The bride is born

The early Church saw it. St Augustine wrote that Eve was formed from the side of the sleeping Adam, and the Church from the side of Christ sleeping on the cross.

The blood and water that came out are the two great signs of the Church: the water of baptism, by which people are born into it, and the blood of the Eucharist, by which they are fed.

Eve was "the mother of all the living." The Church is the mother of everyone who lives again.

Why this is a big deal

On the first pages of the Bible, God puts a man to sleep, opens his side and brings out his bride. Thousands of years later, on a cross outside Jerusalem, the last Adam sleeps, his side is opened, and from it pours the life of his bride.