“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22)

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25)

God’s gifts come in all sorts of packages. Think about Adam; the first gift God gave him was the gift of life. Adam was then given a garden to take care of; and from it, he received the gift of daily food. But then God gave Adam a very special gift fit just for him, a wife. God personally made her and then brought Eve to Adam. God blessed the gift of marriage, the gift of a husband, and the gift of a wife. It was very good.

On the sixth day of creation, God established the vocation husband and wife. Each a gift to the other to be cherished and loved. Each loving one another with the kind of love that is selfless and self-giving, the kind of love that has the other’s best in mind. God was pleased, he was happy, and he blessed them. 

So, when we hear the words, “wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,” they are an invitation to love another in the same self-giving manner which marked the first marriage of creation before the Fall. These words call out to love another with the same kind of love that we ourselves have been love with. 

After all, isn’t this how Christ has loved us? Jesus humbled himself by becoming a man. Jesus submitted himself to his Father’s will even to the point of dying on a cross. Jesus loved us selflessly and sacrificially by laying down his life for us. 

Out of this love that Jesus has for us, we are set free to love one another – wives are free to love their husbands. This sort of love is radical. It flies in the face of our current culture, but isn’t that the nature of the Gospel? It offends our inborne tendencies to take care of us first and try to get what we deserve. Grace throws us and the world on its head. It frees us from focusing on ourselves. It compels us to ask, “how can I serve another?” This is the kind of love God is working in us. This is the kind of love a God-given marriage is built upon. God is the giver of all good gifts, and the gift of a husband and a wife is most certainly a gift to be treasured. May our Lord grant us the grace and working of His Spirit to love one another as Christ has loved us. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

“Christ the Savior, Christ the Servant, Be Your life in us displayed.” (Christ our Human likeness Sharing” LSB 847 st.1)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

 – Pastor Darrin Sheek