For the rest of the month, we’ll be making our way through
the St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians is the most eloquent of the
letters attributed to St. Paul and contains rich theological passages. In a
way, Ephesians is to the epistles what John is to the Gospels: the most
mystical, profound, and universal of them all.
Paul probably wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and
Philemon from prison in Rome around 60 or 62 AD. Ephesians seems to be
addressed, not simply to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, but to all the
Christians in that region. It’s a sort of encyclical, a letter meant to be
circulated to the churches in the region of Asia minor.
Paul spent about three years in Ephesus, longer than
anywhere else after beginning his missionary work. The investment of time in
Ephesus was strategic: it was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire, numbering
about two hundred thousand people, it was a center of commerce, the capital of
Asia minor, and was famous for its large and beautiful temple to the Goddess
Artemis, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Besides worshiping Artemis, the Ephesians had temples to Caesar and an
assortment to other deities.
In this letter, Paul is going to argue that Christ is bigger
than all these false gods. Christ is the main focus of the letter: who Christ
is, what he has done for humanity, how he calls his followers to unity, how
Christ’s followers become beloved children of God, and therefore must live holy
and righteous lives, how the members of the Church form the body of Christ, the
Church, of which Christ is the head.
Again, Ephesians is a beautiful, rich letter, that you would
do well to read in one setting sometime in the next few days, in order to get a
sense of the whole letter, and what Paul was trying to accomplish in writing
it.
We heard today the opening of the letter, Paul greets the
Ephesians in a greeting which we continue to use 2000 years later in our
celebration of mass: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul then offers fervent praise to God for his generosity toward
those redeemed by the blood of Christ.
He reminds the church, you have been chosen by God. You and
I brothers and sisters have been chosen, destined, by God himself, to live a
holy life. A people who do not give in to the profane ways of acting and
thinking from the surrounding culture. The way we act, the way we speak, the
way we treat other people is to be different. Although, each of us have our own
shortcomings, we have been chosen to make Christ known by the way we live: in
our joyous singing, in our lifting up our hands in praise of God, by our
charity towards others, through our sharing with others the good news of God’s
kindness and love, in our quiet meditation, and humble prayer on bended-knee.
Reflect deeply on what it means to be chosen by God, and
cooperate with God’s grace to become worthy of that great destiny, for the
glory of God and salvation of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment