April 30, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Find out what pleases the Lord. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” (Ephesians 5.10; 28-30, 32)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Now that we have read “between the lines” with verses 28, 30 and 32 which said “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their do they own bodies for he who loves his wife has loved himself in like manner for we are all members of one body, that is the ‘body of Christ.’ And this is a profound mystery for I am talking about Christ and the Church.” We know when someone talks about “reading between the lines” they are alluding to a meaning or message that is not overtly produced but insinuated. It is insinuated either to protect the speaker from being accused of something he or she said without saying and was full well intending to do so or it is not literally spoken because everyone understood what wasn’t said to have been said. Paul reveals it with “It is a profound mystery.” The interwovenness of the two images of husband and wife, Christ and the Church, God and His people into one tapestry of truth and wisdom is indeed a mystery. It is easy to understand how it is a mystery because it seems to happen to such a lesser degree. We experience more brokenness in homes, relationships and communities than unity. In today’s culture and climate, unity and freedom are co-mingled with seemingly the purpose of breaking down authentic relationships and lifting up the priority of self. People are so engaged in the pursuit of “me versus the world,” and dare I say “me versus God,” that true community from this perspective seems to be creating more independent islands in the ocean of self-interest than a confederation of states of being aligned with one purpose, one mission, one goal, one prospect, one objective and one body. And I might say, at this point, that while the American Dream as intimated by the Founding Fathers of this nation may have been forthrightly conceived and with an intent to preserve individual freedom from totalitarianism, the extent to which the pendulum of such an ideal has swung is catastrophic. Within the paradigm of such freedom as they envisioned as a right from God was the caveat of balancing one’s desire with “what was right by God.” Is there little wonder then that Paul expressed in his letter to the Ephesian Community of Faith in Christ, “Find out what pleases God!“?

What can we learn then from this pericope of scripture about “what pleases God” if we are reading between the lines? It should go without saying “Following the example of Christ, we should set the tone of respect for others as we should respect ourselves.” The greatest “other” is, of course, God. Showing respect for God by taking care of ourselves, those we are united with in our personal lives, in our personnel lives and in the greater community is key and critical to our life’s success. What it allows is a mutuality of respect to be fostered and enhanced, encouraged and empowered. This concept of “reciprocity of respect” is simply another way of saying what Jesus had commanded “A new command I give to you: love one another.” Such love begins with the concentric circles of experience “self-interpersonal relationships-intrapersonal relationships” at both spiritual and physical levels. The spiritual level is the highest level to which we must attain. We cannot do that without having our relationship in tune with Jesus as the Christ. Why? Jesus as the Christ is both Son of God and Son of man. He is the threshold through which all life passes. He is the “cross” road upon which righteousness hangs in an intersection between God and humanity and humanity with one another. It ought to be evident then that if we are not pursuing the maintenance of our personal and spiritual relationships, then we have not love for self, God or one another. Such personal commitment does not exaggerate our importance but emphasizes the need to find the true balance between God’s word and us. In other words, to be like Christ as Jesus was and is the Christ. I know it is a tall order, mighty ones of God, but it is what God intended and believed for us and in us to do. Jesus affirms that when He taught “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.