The Dreaded “Subordinate” Verses

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Today's reading from the Letter to the Ephesians includes the famously difficult lines about wives "being subordinate" to their husbands. I find it very interesting that the lectionary actually gives the presider the option of deleting or excising these particular lines. This option may make it easier for the homilist. However, anyone who is a regular church person or who uses the Scripture on a daily basis knows that these lines are there. They cannot simply be ignored.

In this particular instance, the problem lies in our understanding of that English word. The word "subordinate" has connotations from our work a day world that make it odious for people in relationships. If you are someone's subordinate at work, you have to take orders from that person, follow that person's direction or risk losing your job. This is hardly the kind of relationship that fosters a good marriage. It is also not the meaning that St. Paul has in mind. The Greek root for the word that we translate as "subordinate" is the same as the word that we translate as "love" in the verse that follows hard on its heels, directing husbands to love their wives.

If this is the case, we have to understand what loving someone means. In terms of the Gospel preached by Jesus Christ, it is rather straight forward. Love means that we put the needs of the other person before our own needs, as in the love that Jesus has for us. He sacrificed his life for our sakes. He so loved the Father that he obeyed the Father's will. He loved the world so much that he allowed himself to be sent, as one like us, in order to save the world. He practiced what he preached; namely, he became the greatest by making himself the least. He became the master of all by becoming the servant of all. He subordinated his needs and his will for the sake of our needs. If husbands and wives have this kind of love for one another, they will each make themselves subordinate to one another. Husbands, love your wives; wives, love your husbands. Finally, then, we also have to remember that the statement is made in the context of Christ and the Church. Jesus Christ loves the Church; we, the Church, love Jesus in return. We are subordinate to Christ.

Rather than deleting these verses, let us plumb the depths of their meaning and make it part of our daily lives as faithful followers of the Lord Jesus.