An Ephesian interlude (14): a reflection for Day 24 of Lent
“I,
therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the
calling to which you have been called, with all humility
and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making
every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: there
is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your
calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
(Ephesians 4.1-6,
NRSVUE)
It’s a dream as old as the first empire – to
have one world, with everyone united with a single common
purpose, worshipping the same God(s).
But how to unite the world? Sadly, even today, the answer is usually the
same as it’s always been – conquer
it! The typical strategy – in the time of Paul,
as in our own day – is for one powerful nation to impose itself on others,
thereby “liberating” or “civilizing” them.
This is precisely what the Romans claimed they were doing as they
steam-rolled their way around the Mediterranean world and “pacified”
uncooperative peoples and then Romanized them (while appropriating most of
their money and resources “for the good of the empire”). Sound familiar?
The New Testament offers a radically
different vision of a united world, as well as the means to achieve it! It all starts with the story of the Feast of
Pentecost (cf. The Acts of
the Apostles, chapter 2). Jewish pilgrims from all over the Diaspora
have gathered in Jerusalem for the feast, and as they crowd into the Temple
courts, they hear a group of Galileans speaking in all of the different Diaspora
languages! This is a reversal of what
had happened at the Tower of Babel, the moment back in Genesis when God had created
different languages in order to prevent the builders of the Tower from
collaborating, and therefore putting an end to their prideful project of “reaching
to heaven” (cf. Gn. 11.1-9). God’s plan had
always been for there to be one humanity, united in love of the Creator; however,
human sin (including the first of the deadly sins, pride) caused that plan to
go off the rails. Through Jesus and the Holy
Spirit – “poured out” on the disciples at Pentecost – the Creator’s plan of a
humanity united under God is getting back on track.
Remember John Lennon’s song “Imagine”
(1971)?
“…Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join
us
And the world will live as one”
John Lennon’s dream – though he probably
didn’t see it this way – was actually the dream of God that we find in the Bible. One humanity, living in a
world of peace and justice – that’s the Creator’s plan! As we read the book of Acts, we discover that the members of the early Christian community shared
all of their possessions with each other, so that no Christians in Jerusalem were
better off than any of the others. Everyone’s needs were taken care of (cf. Ac.
2.44-45; 4.32-35). Sadly, as Lennon mentions in his song, those who claim to
follow God often prove to be part of the problems of this world, as opposed to
part of the solution. We are called to
be “saints”, i.e. holy people (Rom. 1.7; 1 Cor. 1.2). Saints are proof that genuine humanity is
possible, and beautiful. You know a “holy
person” when you see one (cf. Eph. 1.1).
Also, we are part of the “catholic” Church. “Catholic” means “according to the whole”, i.e.
“universal”. We belong to the Church
that is for all people, regardless of ethnic background, gender, social
status or any of the other things that cause people to gather into “tribes” or
subcultures, clubs or special interest groups.
The “one, holy, catholic and apostolic”[1]
Church of Jesus is the place where EVERYONE belongs. That’s good news! What we see in the story of Pentecost is
“unity-in-diversity” – through the work of the Spirit, people who speak
different languages are enabled to communicate with each other, with the goal
of forming one new people of God, filled with the Father’s Spirit and loyal to
God’s Son, Jesus.
As Paul writes his letter “to the
Ephesians”, he makes the same point. The
Spirit is the source of our unity, which we must work hard to preserve – not only
at the local level (hard enough!), but also at the universal level. All of Jesus’ followers belong together! How do we unite the Church (and then the world)? Answer: through humility, gentleness and patience. That’s as about as
anti-imperial as you can get. The
kingdom of God has no place for self-aggrandizing schemes of
uniformity and “conquest”. The Church is
called to be a sign to the world (and those who think they run it) that there is a new way to be human, characterized not by tyranny, bullying and
manipulation, but rather by self-giving love, care for the weakest and most vulnerable
people, and self-sacrifice. The members
of the Church of Jesus are, quite simply, God’s new, single, united-yet-wonderfully-varied
humanity. That’s Paul’s
(God’s) vision of the Church! Would you
like to join it, so all the world may live as one?
[1] From the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (4th century AD). Commonly referred to as the “four marks” of
the Church. Cf. Ephesians 4.4-6, 11-13;
cf. also Eph. 2.19-22.
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