To
the woman he said: “I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain
shall you bring forth children, yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he
shall be your master.” (Genesis
3:14-16)
We reflected on the pangs of
childbearing in Part Ten. Let’s now focus on the rest of this passage: “…yet
your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master.”
The marriage of husband and wife is an
image of God’s covenant with his people, as illustrated in many Scripture
passages. Specifically, God made flesh--Jesus Christ--is the bridegroom, the
Church is his bride. (See Ephesians 5:31-32, Revelation 19:7).
The bride’s urge to be one flesh with
her husband images the Church’s urge to be one flesh with Jesus Christ. This
union takes place in Holy Communion, when the bridegroom’s flesh and blood
mixes with the bride’s and they become one--that’s where the marriage is
consummated. We begin to participate in the nuptial union of the Lamb and his
bride spoken of in Revelation 19:7 every time we receive Holy Communion.
But what about the husband being the
“master” of the wife? Remember that the New Testament completes the Old
Testament, they are a unity. Reading the quote from Ephesians we mentioned in
its broader context will shed some light on this verse from Genesis. Speaking
to married couples, St. Paul writes this in Ephesians 5:21-32:
Be
subordinate to one another out of
reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to
their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the
church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be
subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath 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 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 be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and
the church.
What does it mean for a wife to be subordinate to her husband as
the Church is subordinate to Christ? Reflect on the relationship between Christ
and his Church. Jesus said he came not to be served, but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28) Jesus made the ultimate
sacrifice for his bride, so that she may have life. In other words the master
does not lord his authority (Matthew 20:25-26), but serves. (“Whoever wishes to be great among you shall
be your servant.” Matthew 20:26. “You call me teacher and master, and rightly
so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your
feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:13-14)
This is the kind of “master” Adam is to be for Eve, the kind that
Jesus will be for his bride. This is what all married couples are called to be:
Be
subordinate to one another out of
reverence for Christ.
