catholicsphere

Mark Shea’s column today on Catholic Exchange reminded me of something that’s been on my mind for awhile.  I’ve heard some preachers talk about this passage ([tag]Ephesians 5:21-26[/tag]), but they just don’t seem to bring the force of this passage that is necessary to get through to their congregations — especially men.

Most women get the “be subject to your husbands”, but very few men get the “love your wives”.  Or, at least they don’t get the full force of it.  Men may respond, “Of course, I love my wife.”  Yet, I suspect that many would stumble when it comes to loving their wives “as [tag]Christ[/tag] loved the [tag]Church[/tag] and gave Himself up for her”.

Mark Shea puts it this way, “It is not a license for Man to be a pig, but to be, if necessary, a lamb led to the slaughter for love of his beloved.”

There are men out there — Christian men — who don’t allow their wives to truly be a helpmate, who don’t seek their input on family matters, etc.  If their wives were to speak up, they would consider it something akin to an offense against God.

And, there are women who believe that this is the position the Scriptures call them to.

However, if married couples want to be true to their calling to marriage, they would do well to understand that women are not called to repress their indentity as women and become slaves of men.  Likewise,men are not to expect servitude from their wives.   In fact, the respect that Paul speaks of at the end of Ephesians 5, requires that husbands and wives communicate with one another, expressing their genuine feelings as they feel led by the Spirit so that together as “one flesh” they may serve each other and the Lord.
[tags]sacrifice, husbands, wives, love, marriage[/tags]