Body AND Bride

I am continuing a meditation that I started yesterday, which got a little side-tracked.  The verses I am reflecting on come from Paul's letter to the Ephesians 5:25-33 NIV:

[25] "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her [26] to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, [27] and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. [28] In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church--- [30] for we are members of his body. [31] “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” [32] This is a profound mystery---but I am talking about Christ and the church. [33] However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

While these verses are often read and understood as pertaining to the husband/wife relationships, this morning I am want to focus on the mystery that Paul describes as profound.  The idea that we are part of the Church, His wife, and also a part of His Body.  This is a difficult concept for us to understand, especially in our present day weak thinking about marriage, as something, more often than not, temporary and subject to written agreements and not a spiritual reality.  Paul is using the marriage covenant and original Genesis teachings to try and help us understand the church and our relationship with Christ. 

The idea that we can be separate, yet one, both bride and a single body, is really pretty radical.  I have a hard time even knowing where to start, but thinking about my own marriage is helpful.  The whole subject of submitting, which Paul covered in the previous paragraph often gets in the way of this deeper mystery.  The idea is that we can care for one another as we care for our own selves, is essentially what Paul is conveying here.  There is a sacrificial component to loving others to the degree that you think of them as you think of yourself.  

We struggle with this idea because of our independence and will, and frankly because of our selfishness.  It goes against our own flesh and sense of self, to sacrifice our own wants and needs to serve someone else's wants and needs, especially when it is done with no ulterior motives. To love someone sacrificially and unconditionally is the invitation we have in the place of marriage. We are invited and called to think of our unity, our oneness, as more important than our individual sense of self!  We are called and invited to think about our "body" as one being.

That just hurts my flesh even writing that statement.

Now to delve deeper into the mystery Paul is addresssing, we put this same thinking into the context of our relationship with Jesus, as our spouse and He who with which we are one body.  My brain is hurting right now... thankfully we have the Holy Spirit who helps us even in our unknowing (see Rom 8:26).  

If I understand Paul here, our invitation as a member of Christ's body is to consider ourselves one with Christ.  He loves us, is going to feed and care for us, as His own body!  We are part of His body, made one with Him.  In the same way that we are invited in our marriages to embrace oneness,  sacrificing our own needs and wants for the greater one body, we are invited to embrace our part in the Church, in His Body.

Church is not supposed to be just something we do  1-2 hours a week, some club we belong to, it is supposed to be a living breathing representation of Christ's own body here on earth, and each of us a part of it.  Our invitation to be part of His Body, beloved members of His wife, the Church, and as such, part of Him. This deep spiritual mystery should affect our deepest ideas of self.  

Wow, I just need to stop and let that rumble around in my mind and spirit!  

Lord, I know this is a profound mystery!  Help me to better understand and better experience this reality!  So often I struggle to get past my own selfish perspective, my own wants and needs!  Help me to grasp this sense of belonging and oneness, to better understand how You love me and care for me as part of Your Body and Bride.

Amen!