Homily: Ocotber 29, Tuesaday of the Thirtieth week in ordinary time (Subordination)

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 "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord."

I chose this phrase to preach, knowing it might meet with some resistance, even rejection from some of you. When this same passage appears in Sunday readings, there’s even an option to use a shorter form that would avoid these verses.

Why?

Because the teaching of subordination is hard to accept, and the preaching of it is even harder.

Being obedient or subordinate to someone is challenging, even if under authority. And to expect a woman, especially a modern, independent and self-assured American woman, to be subordinate to her husband, is like declaring war.

This resistance is not just in spousal relationships. Sometimes, it seems like the only “person” who obeys my commands perfectly is my phone – Google Assistant. ‘She’ is most obedient, ever ready to satisfy and please, always responds politely and would do whatever I ask, and without delay.

Google Assistant sounds like the perfect subordinate wife prescribed in today’s first reading, doesn’t she?

We might be inclined to argue that this teaching is no longer relevant to today’s cultural context. But I think this teaching is timeless, applicable not only in St. Paul’s time but in every era.

One of the essential principles of interpreting the Bible is to “interpret Scripture as a whole.” Reading just one or two phrases can leave us with incomplete understanding.

The crucial context here is ‘out of reverence for Christ’ and ‘subordinate…as to the Lord’.

The focus is not on ‘me’, not on the person I am subordinate to, but on Christ. God came as man, subordinate to the law, and allowed men to do unto him as they wished. He died unjustified, so that we are justified. He lived for love and died for love. When we see His sacrificial love on the cross, it draws us to the same obedience.

It is taking on a humility that is beyond ourselves, only with God’s grace can we overcome our own arrogance and pride. The perfect model of humility is the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“Be humble like Mary so that you can be holy like Jesus” said Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

A wife can be lovingly obedient and subordinate to her husband if she sees and accepts him as God’s chosen pathway for her to attain sainthood, to reach holiness.

So, if we continue the reading, St. Paul goes on to add: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church.”

If we see Christ in our relationships, in our vocations, then subordination is simply love in its highest, self-denying, life-giving form, the same way Jesus died for the world.

Subordination, out of reverence for Christ, is not having less of ‘me’, but it’s having more of Christ.

Amen.


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