Subordination

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflection:

The scripture today is just big, that’s the best word for it. There is a connection between the three readings but at the 1,000 foot level. (I think we can actually use the flow of today’s scripture as sort of a courtship analogy. The first reading is like popping the question.)

Joshua asks the leaders of the people if they want to serve the Lord our God or some other religion. We can assume Christ’s soon to be fiancé was being a bit wayward so the “will you marry me” question was asked in a way that seemed to give the people options. Then we have the famous scripture passage from Joshua where the quote; “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." The passage ends with the rest of the people he gathered also swearing allegiance to the Father, recounting it was He who brought them out of Egypt and protected them on their journey. It and of itself this passage is a profession of faith and a reminder of God’s love for his people. To the question “will you marry me?” the answer is "I will."

Next we come to the Psalm where again we hear echoes of the Bead of Life discourse from last two Sundays. I the context of the flow of scripture today, we can be reminded that this is our engagement dinner. “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” is our refrain. It is a life giving meal.

Do you remember a little over a week ago in a reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew, we heard Jesus talking about divorce? Remember also how we talked about the sacramental nature of the bond between husband and wife and how that differs from the civil contract formed during the ceremony? Remember also, how we said many parishes avoid that reading because it is so hard to explain? Today, in what will be in our analogy of courtship the wedding vows, we are given another very difficult passage, one that is commonly pushed to the rear because it is difficult to reconcile with the secular feminist movement and can be interpreted literally as male domination. Fortunately, it is given in its entirety so we can focus on the very first line:

“Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Be subordinate to one another. That means mutual respect. Granted, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written back in the first century, just years after the death of Christ, to a male dominated society. His definition of roles is consistent with Hebrew tradition of the time. The most important element we must take away from what he writes here is that marriage is a partnership, a partnership in which husband and wife must be “subordinate to one another”. That mutual subordination is based upon the bond of love they share, love that is the very image of Christ’s love for his bride, the Church. Determining roles and views within that partnership is what is accomplished throughout the courtship process and, that it is discussed, is verified in the marriage preparation process. The roles in our analogy today,. between Christ and His Church, are codified by scripture, the magisterium, and Canon Law.

Finally we come to the Gospel. The situation we see from St. John today follows the Bread of Life discourse we have heard for the past two Sundays. Jesus has just told his followers (it appears that he was being followed by a pretty big number by this time) that “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Then we hear today; “Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’” Does that sound familiar? Who else do we know that cannot accept that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist and, because of that, have turned and gone back to their old way of belief?

Participating in the marriage between Christ and His Church is difficult. We are asked, as part of our renewed commitment, to accept that Christ is head of the Church and for us to remain faithful we must eat his flesh and drink his blood so that we might have life within us. We were adopted in Baptism, we had our Coming Out Party in Confirmation, we celebrated our marriage in Eucharist and it marks our anniversary each time we eat of the flesh of the Son of God. Today, let us renew our vows. Once more accept the Bridegroom, who is Christ, and vow to be faithful to him.

Pax