One night at dinner, my daughter said to me, “Daddy, my teacher said the ‘S’ word.” “Really?” I asked, “Was it an accident?” Thinking of how easy it is for profanity to come flying out of my own mouth if I stub my toe or break something unexpectedly. “Maybe she just slipped or something. That happens you know.”
“I don’t know.” Ali said. “But she said it.” Beth was smiling. “You better ask her what the word was.” Ali leaned over and whispered “She said, ‘stupid.’”
Oh. That’s right. When the kids heard the teacher muttering “I am so stupid” after doing something, some thought that she had said a “bad word.” ‘Stupid’ is a bad word to some people. Because it’s considered a bad word, we often avoid it. And that is probably appropriate. But to other people it’s just a coarse description.
Well, today I am going to talk about another “S” word. It’s considered a “bad” word to some. It’s considered demeaning, derogatory, oppressive and archaic. Most of us never use it around the house, nor would we ever talk about it with anyone else. It’s the word, “submission”.
Now granted, that the idea of submission has been used in harmful ways. It’s often been used by stronger people to make weaker people do their bidding. It’s been used by religious leaders who wanted to claim God’s authority to do what they wanted without being questioned. It’s been used by abusive or oppressive men who wanted their wives and children to give in to their demands.
But the Bible actually teaches and models a way of living where submission is part of a wiser, more interconnected, more mutually dependent way of living. To submit to another person is to voluntarily “sit under them”, to voluntarily give them authority in your life, or to accept the influence of another person. In the Bible, we learn that the Christian life is a life of freedom, but a life of freedom that comes through choosing to live interdependently with each other as we live completely under the authority of our Lord.
Ephesians 5:21 describes how people who are filled with the Spirit of God live: “And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (NLT)
That is the biblical understanding of submission: Mutual submission to each other as an expression of our complete submission to Christ.
This week in our Lenten study on taking the “gentle yoke” of Jesus, we will be exploring together the “communal spiritual discipline” of “sitting under” by looking together at Luke 10:38-42. When Jesus arrived at Martha and Mary’s house, and Mary sat down at Jesus’ feet. As we begin this discussion, let me ask you to consider these questions:
• What does it mean for you to sit under, to “submit to another” Christian, to accept influence from someone else as part of your acts of reverence for and devotion to Christ?
• Who has God put in your life that you need to listen to in order to hear Christ?
• Who has God put in your life that you need to learn from in order to grow in Christ?
• Who has God put in your life that will remind you that what you are so concerned with is not as important as you thought?
• Who has God put in your life that will continue to lead you back to the feet of Jesus?
Will pick up this discussion tomorrow by looking at the first of three aspects of the communal spiritual discipline of “sitting under.”
