Colossians 3:18-21

Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Today’s verses constitute a classic difficulty to many modern people.  That is because they read these verses as modern people do and not as ancient people did. What is thereby overlooked is the fact that Paul is once again reflecting the orthodox Christian belief that the family is the image of the Trinitarian God and that every member of the family has a dignity intrinsic in that fact.  In ancient Mediterranean culture, men alone were regarded as having a fully human dignity.  Women and children simply did not count in popular opinion.  That is why the disciples were so astonished when Jesus welcomed Mary of Bethany as a disciple and blessed little children.  Here, Paul also defies convention by addressing women and children as moral agents.  Moreover, he has no reproving words for the women or children, only for the men. Women are already doing what is fitting in the Lord, as are the children. Men, however, need to be reminded to not be harsh and to not provoke.  But the great thing is the point of this moral instruction: it is nothing less than the fact that man and woman together, in their mutual love from which proceeds still more love and fruitfulness in the form of children, are the very image of the love that is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is to participation in this awesome reality that the family is ordained.