Daily Lectionary Readings for October 26, 2010 – Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

As part of my own daily devotions I am posting my own paraphrases of the the Daily Lectionary here on my blog (along with a short reflection on one or more of the readings and a related quote for the day).

Ephesians 5:21-33
Submit yourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is head of the wife
even as Christ is head and Savior of the Church, his Body.
As the Church submits to Christ,
so wives should submit to their husbands in all things
Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the Church
and gave himself up for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the washing of water with the word,
that he might present to himself the Church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one ever hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the Church,
because we are members of his Body.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and shall cleave to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.

This is a profound mystery,
but I am saying it refers to Christ and the Church.
In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself,
and the wife should respect her husband.

Psalm 128:1-5
Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the produce of your hands;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.

Luke 13:18-21
Then [Jesus] said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?
To what shall I compare it?
It is like a grain mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden,
and it grew and became a great tree,
and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches.”

Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of flour
until it all was leavened.”

Reflection for Today from Luke and Ephesians

The key for interpreting Ephesians 5:22-33 is Ephesians 5:21.  This passage is all about mutual submission to each other, not the husband lording it over his wife, since there is only one LORD in the lives of Christians (and as far as I know he doesn’t wear pants and has as his bride the Church).  The Psalm compliments the reading from Ephesians.  Any man who fears (read reveres) the LORD and walks (read lives) in the way of the LORD is not going to try be a god over his wife.

Quote for Today
“When I say ‘hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come,’ I should be adding in my mind the words ‘in and through me,’ and so giving myself to God afresh to be, so far as I can be, the means of answering my own prayer. And when I say ‘thy will be done,’ I should mean this as a prayer that I, along with the rest of God’s people, may learn to be obedient.” – J. I. Packer