Care and Feeding
Today I want to look at a verse in the middle of that much-maligned passage about husbands and wives, but I’m going to zoom way in, past most of the context, to focus on something I think we often overlook. Ephesians 5:29-30 reads:
After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body.
See how Paul says we do not (should not) hate our own flesh, but should feed (or “nourish”) and care for (or “cherish”) it? He grounds this in nothing less than Christ’s perfect love for His church! This has some incredible implications for those of us who have ever dealt with the vast spectrum of issues with food and body image.
Does Jesus make self-loathing comments about the size of this or that body part? Does He treat foods other than celery as a necessary evil? Does He make hopeful/hopeless remarks about “getting your body back” after having a baby, as if he had somehow lost his own flesh? By no means!
Nourishing means that we gladly receive with thanksgiving the physical food our bodies need, as well as the spiritual food that our souls need, because both of those are given to us by our loving Father. Nourishing means that we aren’t surprised or ashamed at our bodily desires; we know not all of them aren’t healthy, we know all of them have their proper context for fulfillment, but fundamentally we don’t ignore what these appetites are trying to tell us.
Cherishing means that we give thanks for our bodies and accept them as they are, not as we wish they were. Cherishing means we take good care of our bodies, giving them rest when they need rest, affection when they need affection, and purpose when they need purpose.
This, then, is the care and feeding of our physical bodies, which Paul assumes as a given (if I can be so bold) when he’s writing about more complicated matters. Thanks for zooming way in with me. As we zoom back out and return to our everyday embodied lives, let’s not forget that this is in the context of how husbands ought to love their wives... but that’s a post for another day!