2018 Sunday after
Theophany
The last few
weeks have moved by quickly this year with the way the Sunday’s have
fallen. Since we have celebrated our Lord’s Birth and his Baptism, I think it is a
good time to take a step back and look at how our own lives should be different
because of these feasts. We have to ask
ourselves if we are allowing these feast days to change us? Or are we just remaining
the same people that we were at the start of December. Have we become stagnate
in our faith?
In the Letter to
the Ephesians, St. Paul is giving us answers to these types of questions, he is
reflecting upon how his life and every that of every Christians is different
because of our encounter with Jesus Christ. We have to broaden out our view a
bit and look at the larger context then the passage we have in today’s reading.
(4:7-13) A good place to begin is with Paul telling the Christians in Ephesus:
“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and
depth, and to know the love of Christ
which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do
far more abundantly than all that we ask
or think.” (3:17-20)
He is reminding
all that it is because of love that God sent his Son into the world at
Christmas. This love in action, is also the context of our salvation. We are
set free from bondage to have the love of Christ dwelling within us. This most
make us ask, am I putting that love into action, if not, then why? God has sent
his Son in order that we may have the “fullness of God” dwelling in us. This is
what our baptism is all about, a door way or a path for the “power” of God to
be at work in his people. This word “power” is the same word that we get the
word “dynamite” from. When we think about faith in this context, it changes the
way we look at it. God wants his dwelling within us to blow up, to explode,
like dynamite, into a mighty love at work in our lives. He even tells us that
when we ask for this faith, it will exceed and do far more than what we have
even asked for.
Paul, then teaches
us how to accomplish this commission:
“walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience,
forbearing one another in love, eager
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 that
belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
(4:1-7)
Here he gives as
a game plan, a battle plan, to live as active and faithful baptized Christians;
through a life centered not on ourselves, but upon Christ and others. We have
been called, now we act with humility, not greed. We are to be meek and not
proud. We live through patience, allowing love and care to shine through in our
actions. In other words, to live very much like Christ himself lived. I know
patience is a great weakness, maybe even one of the greatest for many of us. It
is something that I struggle with daily. I have five kids and trying to get
them out of the house in the morning can and often does, greatly test my
patience. But I know that God is trying to get me to grow and become a more
patient person through these daily tests. One thing that I have seen and
learned as a parent, is that kids by correcting one another, will show you how
you sound and look when you correct them. If all we do as parents is to yell
and shout, then that is what we will see and hear from them as they interact
with one another. This also goes for their friends outside the home as well.
There are better and more fruitful ways to train up children then like this.
Patience is a difficult virtue, but it is something that we must strive to
achieve. And yes, I agree whole hearty with Paul, that it is only by grace that
we can accomplish this task. He then goes on to point out that we are all one
family in Christ through our baptism, and this calls us all to a certain way of
living. One of peace and love, not of fighting and quarrelling. Look at how
many of the problems we face daily would be totally avoided if we treated one
another like family, and in the same manner that we too desire to be treated. I
know this is all hard, therefor Paul gives us the awesome news that God has
given us the grace we need to do this. The problems arise we put a wall
up between God, stopping his grace from flowing to us. When we put ourselves
ahead of God and others, the result is that grace is shut out, and we waste the
measure of grace that has been given to us. God, though Jesus, has done his part,
now we must do our part as well.
As we continue our
journey through Ephesians, St. Paul goes own to complete this picture of why
and how baptismal grace has been given to the world as a gift:
“to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all
attain to the unity of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (4:12-13)
These ministries
that Paul is talking about could be anything involving Church, family, or work.
We are all called to be ministers of Christ in all that we do. The more that we
reveal his love and mercy, the more we show forth God and not ourselves. Think
about how we should behave in our church families and communities, not as gossips
and busybodies, but as people of faith growing together, encouraging one
another in Christ. This works in our family lives as well. If we get up in the
morning and snap at our spouse, how might that day go? Not very well indeed.
But when we start the day with kindness and joy, this we help us greatly going forward
in the proper direction all day. We can even put this into action at work. If all we do at the workplace is to try to get ahead at any cost, not caring
the least for who we step on. How do you think our coworkers will look at us if
we behave like that? They will say, wow he is a nasty person, or she sure is spiteful
and hateful. Let us think about others at all times and how we are interacting
with them. Often it hurts to put others first but sacrifices come in many forms when we open ourselves up to God. Paul
then explains, the more we practice this way of living, the more we help
God build and grow the body of Christ. As we do this, we will become mature in Christ
and the Holy Spirit will work in us all the more, leading us along the path that God has
chosen for us. Then Jesus, who was sent into the world, may reach his full
stature in each of us. Let is not tell him, no Lord, but always, yes.
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