Taken from Psalm 128:1, the fear we are talking about is not the same fear as running from a bear. It is more than that. It is perhaps more like “respect” than fear. One respects the Lord by avoiding things that displease him, for fear of becoming detached from his promise.
Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 5:21-33
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Luke 13:18-21
It’s like this... When I read the first reading from the 5th chapter of Ephesians, it felt like one of those readings you might hear as part of a wedding ceremony. Lots of “husband and wife” stuff. So I checked it out by Googling “Bible readings for weddings.” It turns out there are a LOT of choices for a wedding that are preferred over today’s reading. Today’s verses are rarely in anyone’s “top ten” list. I found them included in some very long collections, but always far down near the bottom of the list.
Maybe Paul’s intention wasn’t directed at weddings. It was time for a context deep dive. Today's reading came from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. The Ephesians were residents of Ephesus, a prominent port city in the Roman province of Asia (modern-day Turkey), known for its bustling trade, diverse population, and the grand Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The church in Ephesus was established during Paul’s second missionary journey. He left Priscilla and Aquila to continue teaching, then returned on his third journey and stayed about three years, ministering in the city. He taught in Tyrannus' lecture hall, reaching both Jews and Greeks, performed miracles, and baptized new believers.
The city’s prosperity and strategic location made it a key center for commerce and culture, and an important hub for the spread of Christianity. As is common even today in cities that cater to tourism, vendors made and sold souvenirs. Many Ephesians were involved in the idol-making trade, particularly related to Artemis worship. Tensions between the new Christians and the local craftsmen, led by Demetrius the silversmith, eventually flared up into a near-riot. An Ephesian official defused the situation, reminding the angry crowd that laws against rioting would have immediate, dire consequences for the rioters. (see Acts 19:23-40)
Paul wrote the Letter to the Ephesians much later while in prison in Rome for the first time around AD 60-62. After being arrested in Jerusalem and appealing to Caesar as a Roman citizen, Paul was transported to Rome. Acts 28:16 states, “When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.” This indicates that Paul was under house arrest, allowing him some freedom to preach and teach.
The letter wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment creation; Paul had lots of time to develop a narrative, what he wanted to say, and probably went back and polished his thoughts for meaning and clarity. Our reading comes from the fourth of five principal divisions of the letter, “Daily Conduct, an Expression of Unity” (Ephesians 4:25–6:20), which is an exhortation to “put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” [Ephesians 4:24]
This portion of the letter was further broken down as:
Daily Conduct, an Expression of Unity
• The Rules for the New Life
• Duty to Live in the Light
• Wives and Husbands
• Children and Parents
• Slaves and Masters
• Battle against Evil
• Constant Prayer
The first reading today was a section directed towards Wives and Husbands [Ephesians 5:21-35] and starts out with “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This means placing yourself under another’s authority — not because the other person deserves it, but because of Christ’s example and command. It calls for humility, self‑sacrifice, and mutual submission in all relationships. Paul explains that wives should align themselves under their husbands as the church does under Christ; similarly, husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church. It is a point of mutual respect and support, a “unity” to strive for.
Paul gives several examples of this unifying respect and subordination, specifically comparing it to the need for the church (all of us) to be subordinate to Christ, just as Christ has in return loved us.
Paul sums up the relationship between husband and wife by recalling the verse from the creation of the first husband and wife, Adam and Eve, in Genesis 2:24, stating :
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. [Ephesians 5:31]
There is a unity there, a singularity as between the Christ and the church. Paul assures us that this is “a great mystery”, then reiterates that “each of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband”, as a final reminder of expected behavior in one’s daily life.
You may wish to study Paul’s other writings on Daily conduct in Ephesians. He had a lot of time to think about what he was going to say.
The Responsorial Psalm, from Psalm 128 has a “word meaning” issue, too. The response is from the first half Psalm 128:1
Blessed are you who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. [Psalm 128:1]
The fear we are talking about is not the same fear as running from a bear. It is more than that. It is perhaps more like “respect” than fear. One respects the Lord by avoiding things that displease him, for fear of becoming detached from his promise.
The Gospel is relatively short, but long enough for Jesus to present not one, but two parables on what the Kingdom of God is like.
Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt 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 wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” [Luke 13:18-21]
In both parables, Jesus asks a rhetorical question along the lines of, “What is the Kingdom of God like?” If Jesus had been asked this question directly, these answers might seem unfulfilling, a bit short on details. Instead, he answers his own question by pointing out, in the guise of a parable, the facts that his ministry of the good news of God, the Way, as it will be called in the Acts of the Apostles, despite its humble beginnings with the baptism of Jesus, the wedding at Cana, and the naming of the Apostles, the growth of the number of followers (5,000 in one place!) can be compared to the mustard seed growing to a size big enough to be a dwelling place for “the birds of the sky.”
Similarly, the expansive geographical growth into new regions that have only heard about miracles, healings, and the teachings of Jesus is like a small amount of yeast completely leavening, or causing to rise, 3 measures of flour. My sources tell me that makes enough bread for 60-100 people. MMMmmm, hot bread… But I digress. The important point is that the yeast leavened “the whole batch of dough.” No missed parts. Everything (everyone) was affected. The Kingdom of God is for everyone.
This is almost exactly what the church would later see in places like Ephesus, where Paul visited to start the church, then returned later to help it grow locally and spread beyond its borders throughout Asia, Greece, and Rome.
Similar parables were recorded in Matthew 13:31–33 and Mark 4:30–32. Jesus used these parables to illustrate the future promise of the kingdom of God, both in size and breadth or completeness of coverage. These parables seem to have been a common, often repeated part of Jesus' teaching. It is not the “whole story,” not the deep dive into what the Kingdom of God is. It’s a prediction of growth and encouragement to stay on course, continue with the good news.
Four chapters beyond today’s Gospel reading, a question of timing for the Kingdom of God gets asked:
Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” [Luke 17:20-21]
[stunned silence]
Didn’t we know that all along? That the Kingdom of God is here; our job is to do our best to spread it around?
Pass the bread, please!