Higher Things Homily

 

Higher Things Thursday Matins

"Who Am I?" - Portland, Oregon

July 25, 2024

Text: Eph. 5:22-33

            In the Name of Jesus X.  Amen.

            “Wives, submit to your husbands”… the world has already stopped listening.  “Wives, submit to your husbands”… I once, literally, had two husbands high five one another in the pew at the reading of this Epistle.  Well, they were joking…  I think.  I hope. 

            Both reactions miss the point.  This isn’t about the battle of the sexes.  This isn’t about who’s the boss.  And the world, by the way, has no ears to hear this.  And neither would you, unless God had given such ears to you, ears of faith to hear His Word.  Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord (v. 22).  AND, husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her (v. 24).  A profound mystery is revealed to us here: This is really about Christ, the Bridegroom, and his holy Bride, the Church.  And Christian marriage is the embodied proclamation of this mystery to the world. 

            You know how it happened in the Garden.  It is not good for the man to be alone.  God put Adam into a deep sleep, and from Adam’s side, God formed the woman, Eve.  And it is God Himself who marched her down the aisle, brought her to Adam, a gift for him, a helpmeet corresponding to him, a wife, a bride.  And so it shall be, from here on out: A man shall leave his father and mother, and be united, cleave, unto his wife.  And the two shall become one flesh.  And it is all a beautiful foreshadowing and depiction of how it is with Christ, our new Adam, and with His Church, our new Eve. 

            God put His Son, Christ, into a deep sleep… the sleep of death.  And from His spear-riven side, by blood and water, in chalice and in font, God formed for Him, a Bride.  From Jesus’ giving of Himself into death on the cross, He brought forth the Church, a people to be His own, His beloved.  You.  Sanctified.  Cleansed from every stain of sin and shame by the water included in God’s Command, and combined with God’s Word.  Presented, now, to the crucified, but risen Bridegroom, radiant, clothed in splendor, holy and without blemish, no spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

            So, the question… who am I?  And who are you?  My whole identity, now, as a Christian man, and as a husband… your whole identity, now, as a Christian man, a Christian woman, regardless of marital status…  your whole identity as it comes to bear on all your ordered relationships, your vocations… comes from that.  The cross.  The font.  Identity is not something we choose, or create for ourselves, but it is received, as God’s good gift.  It is given us in Baptism, where we are incorporated into the identity of Christ, and His Bride, the Church, folded up into that reality, and given to be the embodiment of that reality in the world. 

            And so, yes, Christian wives submit to their husbands, receive their husbands’ self-giving, not because of some inherent inferiority on the part of women, but that they may be the living icon of Holy Church receiving the self-sacrifice of her Bridegroom, Jesus, submitting to Him in faith and love.  And yes, Christian husbands love their wives, even if it means the death of them, that they may be the living icon of Christ’s saving, self-giving love.  It is a proclamation to the world.  Beloved, do not be scandalized.  Rejoice.  Your Bridegroom loves you.  He laid down His life for  you.  He is risen and lives for you.  And now, behold… the Table is set for the Feast.  Already the guests are taking their place.  And the strains of the distant nuptial song steel upon the ear of faith.  Christ Jesus comes to claim His Bride.  Christ Jesus comes to make you His own.  That is why we are gathered here today.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.