Welcome to the twenty-first century, James Waddell! Now some of you may be reading my title and thinking, "Whoa, James - that's a dangerous first post on a blog!" Let me help you relax...I don't mean drama as in trouble, but as in a play, or the theater.
Watching our wedding video again tonight, Ray Van Neste struck me again with his point that Jerilyn and I each "play a part" in acting out the gospel together. His point came from Ephesians 5. But first, let me examine this text, which we've looked at a few times in my class on Biblical Sexuality. In class, we talked about gender roles and equality. Ephesians 5 is used by both major camps, verse 21 by those calling for equality ("mutual submission"), verse 24 for those calling for hierarchy ("submit...in everything"). Looking at the whole passage, however, the point is not what women can and cannot do, but that each partner in marriage has a different way of submitting to Christ in each other's lives: wives by respect, husbands by love.
Not to dismiss this vital and necessary debate (I think we need more practical application of the equality of women while keeping biblical roles), but I almost missed the grace and power of God's call for marriage by thinking on the argument. Then I came home, watched our wedding video, and saw Dr. Van Neste tell a much younger us about how we play parts in a drama that shows off the truth of the gospel. To paraphrase this scholar, whenever people hear about the love of Christ, they should understand it more by how I love Jerilyn; if people wonder about how to react in love to Christ, they can realize the means through watching Jerilyn respect me.
This theater show plays before everyone who can see us and who knows us, as is true of all other married couples, and of how singles treat the opposite gender. The world is watching; God is directing. Therefore, what I think about marriage roles is important. How I act out my marriage, however, (especially when the curtain is up) determines what people will think about Jesus. "On with the show!"
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Marriage as Drama
Posted by waddell crew at 9:44 PM
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2 comments:
Oh we're the boys in the chorus
We hope you like our show
We know you're rooting for us
But now we have to go
Life is a stage and I've never heard nor read it better than you've summed it up son.
You are one smart man.
I believe that all the Waddell boys are blessed with being able to put thoughts into words. I was actually talking about the whole wives subbmiting thing with Danny the other day. I can honestly say that I have never thought about those verses in the way that James does before today. It becomes so much clearer now! Thank you for clearing something up that you didn't even know that was bothering someone! "Now on to Act 23!" (because my birthday is coming up and I'll be 23. It helps if you know what I am thinking when I say random things like that)
Ashley
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