Today’s first reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is often viewed negatively. Yet to understand it let us look at the background. Paul is giving specific recommendations to the members of a new Christian community, recently converted from paganism. The recommendations are simple and clear: do not get drunk, be filled with the Spirit, speak psalms to each other, sing and make music, always give thanks, and be subordinate to each other. Then he expands on that way of life as lived out in the marriage relationship between husband and wife.
Those words are difficult for a culture that has as its center individuality and personal egoism. It is difficult to yield to God’s will let alone another person’s will or to take into consideration the opinion of a whole community. Paul’s words to wives form one short paragraph while his message to husbands is much more extensive, demanding, and specific. I guess he knows that men do not like to yield to women, to other men, nor to a community of faith.
That word subordinate is so hard for us to swallow. Even if we change it to surrendering, yielding, submitting, we still do not like the word or the idea. We all prefer to defend ourselves and fight the other. This yielding of our will, of very selves, to the other, whether it be God, a husband, a wife, another person, or the local faith community, is the little mustard seed that Jesus mentions in the Gospel today. Living subordinate to the other (God or another person) or surrendering ourselves to the other is the beginning of conversion and the beginning of faith. Over time that small, hesitant, initial surrendering becomes strong faith.
Take time to image how your marriage, your family, or our local faith community (parish) would be if we all really lived each day yielding to God and to each other. Imagine the huge impact of such a faith community on the surrounding neighborhood. That is the change from little seed to big tree!
Brothers and sisters:
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Image: https://www.danielwestfall.com/journal-entries/luke-1318-21-the-mustard-seed-and-the-leaven