Proper 16: Epistle, Ephesians 5:22-33                                        

Ephesians 5:22-33 

In our day and age those who love the Bible know that they may well hear some “push-back” when they get to the latter part of Ephesians chapter five. After all, that’s where wives are told to submit to their husbands. And even if you’re a woman who understands biblically what that means, there are plenty of wonderful ladies out there who have yet to be introduced to the concept.

Laying immense responsibility on the husband as it does, my focus today is to get us to look for a moment to the real reality (like that?) behind the marriage issue. “As Christ loved the church.” A phrase within a context that shows the rationale for what every husband should be to his wife. But let’s not rush to that. Let’s take to heart what Paul points to at the end of the passage.Verse 32, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church…”

Christ and the church is a love relationship first and foremost. If it wasn’t, Paul wouldn’t have set it forward as the ideal marriage. But look for a moment at what the husband does for his wife. The husband gives himself (in death) for his wife. And in that, he brings cleansing by water and word. This isn’t merely pointing to Holy Baptism, but that it is by baptism that the cross-work of our Lord gets delivered to His wife, the church. The result? The wife is spotless and presented to the husband in SPLENDOR. What an amazing word. The work of the husband brings the dear and treasured wife to a place of holiness (other-ness, one-of-a-kind-ness) and life without blemish.

What is most profound about this? The wife (church) simply receives.. It is all done for her. And all that is accomplished for her is given to her.  Does this not picture a husband that a wife would follow, nay submit to? It does make me want to be a much better husband to my wife. But even before that, it turns my eyes to the Bridegroom of the Church. Jesus is worth the gaze .