Be Subject to One Another Part I
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sunday Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:21-33 (NRSV)
21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Read more…
Looking to Sunday: Preparing to Hear From God
by Elaine Poproski
After a brief hiatus from Ephesians last week, we’re back. This Sunday we are faced with one of the Apostle Paul’s most difficult-to-understand passages (at least for many of the women I know). It’s a passage that has been used to justify the subjugation and even abuse of wives by husbands. It’s been interpreted to support ideas of men’s inherent superiority to women and to condone any number of limitations placed on women’s existence throughout Christian history. But what did Paul actually write?
This Sunday we’ll explore Ephesians 5:21–33. We’ll hear the words, “Wives, be subject to your husbands…for the husband is the head of the wife” (vv. 22–23), and some of us will have some kind of visceral reaction that may or may not cause us to appreciate the Apostle Paul more or less than we already do. We’ll be challenged to look honestly at ourselves and differentiate between pride and righteous indignation. We may find ourselves questioning long-held assumptions about gender roles and God’s intentions at creation. What a day it will be. J
When I read vv. 22–23, I have a physical reaction. My back gets straighter and stiffer, my jaw sets, I don’t smile, and a part of me wants to hit something. I react to the sound of these words as if they were written by a privileged man intent on keeping the hierarchy intact. I hear in these words the deep voices of those who’ve told me my gender disqualifies me from being called by God to preach. I feel in these words the hands of those who’ve treated my body like its only purpose was for their consumption. These words make me angry, and it’s hard to appreciate the man who wrote these words.
But what did Paul actually write?
On Sunday we’ll be confronted by an apostle who empowered women, who entrusted the teaching and preaching of the gospel to women, who invited women to embrace metaphors of athleticism and of the warrior, even though these were culturally only appropriate for men. We’ll be confronted by an apostle who challenged men to name their privilege and use their power to lift up those society declared beneath them. We’ll examine the apostle’s use of feminine metaphors in his instructions to men. And we’ll all be reminded that being a servant carries no shame, but is, instead, the high calling of every Christian.
As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to read the whole passage for yourself. Read the words out loud so you’re not just thinking them, but you’re hearing them as well. Are there things in here that make you angry? that make you sad? that excite you? Why do the words have that effect on you? For myself, this passage of Scripture forces me to confront an ugly truth: I don’t want to be a servant, at least not the kind of servant that’s treated like they’re a servant. I can talk about the holy call to servanthood until I’m blue in the face, but the moment someone starts treating me like a servant it’s a different story. There is sin in me that causes my impassioned reaction to these words in Ephesians 5:21–33. And that sin must be confessed and handed over to God if I am to be able to truly hear His word in Ephesians this week. I invite you to pray through your own reaction to these words. Are there things you need to confess and give to God so that you can hear His word?