To each job is attached a list of tasks. When a request does not match the list, some people shrug their shoulders and refuse to do so. A legitimate position in the workplace, but not in the Kingdom of God.
“It’s not my responsibility”, we sometimes hear people say in response to a need. In some cases, we do not have the capacity to perform the tasks related to a position, and it is better to leave it to those who have the expertise. But let’s face it, sometimes we can also use this excuse to be lazy and selfish. Yet when we agree to serve God outside our areas of expertise, we set ourselves up for promotion.
That is what happened to David. Here is what his fellow citizens said of him when he ascended the throne: “In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns” (1 Chronicles 11:2a NIV). Although he was not officially the head of the people, he took care of those entrusted to him like a good shepherd. In the New Testament, certain people are given the title of deacon, with the responsibilities that go with it. But all Christians were encouraged to practice the same tasks, even without having the title. We don’t need to be ordained pastors to take care of our brothers and sisters!
In the same vein, a man does not need to wait until he is a husband to be a protector and a provider for women. There are limits: certain responsibilities and pleasures are only permitted after marriage. But it is good for a man to develop respect for a woman even before he receives the responsibility of marriage. As men, if we look to all women as an example of our future wife, we can practice caring for, respecting, and protecting them. If we are not interested in marrying a particular woman, we should not be disrespectful to her. “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity” (1 Timothy 5:1-2 NIV). And a single man who is gentle and protective of all women stands out much more than rude and dismissive men.
Women also do not need to bear the title of wife to put themselves at the service of men. The woman must reserve herself for marriage on the sexual and emotional level, but it is not forbidden for a woman to practice her heart of service by taking care of the men around her. The attitude of the princess to be conquered is not the image of the woman of Proverbs 31. It is moreover the generosity of Rebecca towards the servant of Abraham which opened the way to marriage for her (Genesis 24). There is no longer any need to give birth to a child to exercise our maternal impulses: several children around us can benefit from the love of a woman without her being their mother.
Finally, it is also not because we have a title of authority that we cannot do the tasks of our subordinates. The manager of a store must be ready to return to the tills, and the director of a nursery must be ready to change diapers, like Christ who washed the feet of his disciples. To love our neighbor, protect our brothers and sisters, support the members of the body of Christ: these are the tasks that are not exclusive to one title.