Do you obey your husband?

'Because you're here!'

I led Zac's bible study last night on Zoom and when I began I said I was nervous. Sean asked why.

He's not usually in Zac's when someone else leads; that's partly the point of sharing leadership, to allow him to take time off. But he was there last night.

During the day I'd been in two minds. When I was feeling confident I'd say to myself, 'I hope Sean stays so he can see how good I am.'
When I was feeling less so (most of the day) I'd say, 'I hope Sean doesn't stay and see how bad I am.'

Which makes Sean sound like a monster, which he most definitely isn't. Quite the opposite he is the most encouraging ad supportive person you could hope to meet. But I normally get a bit anxious when I lead as it's not my natural position and my anxiety was increased last night. 

But it was fine. I think. I don't know of course. In fact it probably wasn't. I'll probably never be asked to lead again. Which is fine.

But did you know that the word 'obey' doesn't occur in scriptures in relation to wives? Only children and slaves. The word used instead is submission and when you read what can be considered a contentious passage about wives submitting to husbands, the whole emphasis is on mutual respect and love. And, actually, far more is asked of the husband in the relationship.

The apostle Paul gets a bit of a bad press sometimes (from me too) especially in regard to his attitude to women but his choice of words here would have surprised the Jews at the time, who regarded women as second class and expected them to obey. So he's not all bad.