Mutual Submission or Me First?

Submission to the head of the house in a dysfunctional relationship is where many people found themselves in the past. The Father was the Head of the House and the Mother and Children were in his hands. He had the authority and sadly, in far too many families his word ended all discussion. This dysfunctional model was reinforced by the words of St. Paul in Ephesians 5:21.

Yet because Paul  and Barn “aba”  were set apart (Acts 13:2) to minister, to have authority as parents for new born children, Paul as the spokesperson lamented saying.  

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?

As new believers they could not see Paul as their Mother, the Bride of Christ. Nor were they ready to understand what Paul meant by Galatians 2:20.

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Consequently in a misogynist world new born Christians had difficulty understanding what it meant to honour their father and their mother and to understand the sacrifice their elder brother, the Forerunner, made submitting himself to imprisonment and subsequent entombment when Salome outed him and requested his head be put on a commemorative plate as the TEACHER OF ISRAEL — as if the Prophet MOSES had come back to life! (Mark 6:15)

Make no mistake. The Rabbi called John is the Forerunner and the Teacher of Israel who became Jesus, a high priest forever, when he entered the inner sanctuary. As Paul says.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Yet new born Christians need to be baptized and discipled to be ready to see and understand the Forerunner as Jesus Christ the Son of David, the Son of Christ the everlasting Father (Isaiah 6:9) because according to John’s Gospel the Forerunner’s name was John. He was the one baptizing sinners and religious leaders, rebuking them saying.

“You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him. The Bride belongs to the Bridegroom!” (John 3:29)

Keeping John 3:29 and Galatians 2:20 in mind, make no mistake. It is the Bride and the Bridegroom with faith in the Son of God and his teaching who call sinners to repentance to unite and sustain the body [the family of God] to honour their father and their mother so that—

it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth (Ephesians 6:2).

Me first is how many people want to live in the world. Eternal life and the idea that one’s soul can come back to life and be reunited with loved ones here on earth seems like nonsense or science fiction. Modern people want to live and enjoy this life and believe it is the only life they have. They want to be free without the responsibility of dealing with undesirable family issues or the negative consequences, such as hurt feelings or quarrels that come from being in a covenanted live-in relationship that is rooted in the commandment—

to love God with one’s whole heart, mind and body and to love your neighbour as yourself.

Yet as Paul points out the blessings and positive consequences of being in a mature “face to face” relationship are to know fully, and be fully known—to love and be loved (1 Corinthians 13:12).

In the words of Nat King Cole, a great Jazz Singer, husband, father and friend—

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”

Submission–Positive or Negative?