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Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time Ephesians 5:21–33
Today’s reading is not easy for many people today.
Saint Paul speaks about wives and husbands.
He speaks about submission.
He speaks about love.
And many hear only one word:
submission.
But the passage begins with a wider call:
Be subordinate to one another
out of reverence for Christ.
This is the key.
Paul is not simply repeating the customs of his time.
He is bringing Christ into the household.
He is asking:
What happens when marriage is touched by the Gospel?
What happens when husband and wife
look at each other
through Christ?
Paul uses two words.
To wives, he speaks about submission.
To husbands, he speaks about love.
But both words are placed inside the mystery of Christ.
Submission is not slavery.
It is not humiliation.
It is not fear.
It is not losing dignity.
For a Christian,
submission means a love that listens,
a love that trusts,
a love that does not live only for itself.
The Church loves Christ by listening to Him,
by receiving His word,
by following His way.
Then Paul turns to husbands.
And here his words are even stronger:
Husbands, love your wives,
as Christ loved the Church
and gave Himself up for her.
This is not power.
This is sacrifice.
This is not domination.
This is the Cross.
A Christian husband does not ask first:
What can I receive?
He asks:
How can I give myself?
How can I protect?
How can I serve?
How can I love in a way that gives life?
Christ loved the Church
by giving His life for her.
This is the measure Paul gives to husbands:
self-giving love.
Paul says that marriage points to a great mystery:
Christ and the Church.
This means that Christian marriage is not only a private arrangement.
It is a sacrament—
a visible sign pointing to an invisible reality.
A husband and wife represent Christ and the Church.
They are called to become one flesh,
united by love.
This is not easy.
But it is possible.
With God’s grace,
marriage can become a place where Christ is visible.
A place where love does not remain a feeling,
but becomes patience,
service,
forgiveness,
and fidelity.
So today, let us pray for all Christian couples.
May husbands love as Christ loves.
May wives love as the Church loves Christ.
May families become places
where the Gospel is lived,
where love gives itself,
and where Christ is seen.
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition,
copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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