Sunday, January 22, 2006

All in the Family

All in the Family

21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. 24 Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27 so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind--yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. 33 Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.

Eph 5:21-33 (NRSV)

I’m not the biggest fan of professional sports.  I seldom watch pro football, unless it is the Super Bowl.  Once in a while, I may watch a baseball game or a NASCAR event or a golf tournament.  And usually, I watch them for the noise value so I can take a nap.  It is not that I dislike sports I just don’t find much entertainment in them.

However, there was an event that caught my attention this week in the NBA.  Everyone recalls the melee at a pro basketball game last year.  A number of players got into a brawl with fans during a game.  Subsequently, several players were fined and I believe are still awaiting trial for assault and inciting a riot.

We all flashed back to that event when Antonio Davis of the New York Knicks went in to the stands during a game against the Chicago Bulls.  Davis spotted an altercation of some sort involving his wife and left the game to go to her assistance.  Even now the specifics of the event are still open to interpretation and discussion.

As a result, Davis was suspended for five games and fined heavily.  I have no gripe with the actions of the NBA in this case.  They were applying a rule that was established to prevent a repeat of the brawl of last year.  However, I do applaud Mr. Davis for his actions; they demonstrate a relationship that illustrates Paul’s words in the passage above.

Christian spouses are challenged to demonstrate a love and submission to one another as husband and wife that echoes the love Christ shows for the church.  Husbands and wives are to honor, cherish and protect one another.  And to quote from Paul; “husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies.”  Antonio Davis demonstrated that type of love.
Perhaps people of faith need to keep their eyes open and observe the examples of God’s model for us in the world.  Not everything that happens in the NBA or professional sports is good or worthy of imitation.  But devotion to family, even over devotion to one’s profession and the sport, is something to be commended to all persons.  For when we submit to one another out of love for Christ, we glorify the Lord our God.

Merciful Lord, thank you for good examples of family life in the world around us.  Encourage and build us up in our relationships with family and friends.  Keep us ever mindful of the love we are to show to spouses and how it is to be modeled on your love for us.  Grant, O Lord, eyes that see and ears that hear your voice when it speaks to us.  This we ask in the name of Christ the Lord.  Amen.

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