Saturday 25 October 2008

Background

This is not as complicated as it looks! 1st century Jewishwriters liked to use odd verses from the Hebrew Scriptures to helpmake a point - in this case a line from Psalm68 (verse 18) which the writer misquotes (not as uncommonas you might think!) He is wanting to talk about God's gifts toGod's people (although Psalm 68 actually speaks about the people'sgifts to God, but never mind), and gets sidetracked into a briefdiscussion about Jesus 'ascending' to heaven and 'descending' tothe dwelling place of the dead. But the real point here is thatChrist has provided the Church with everything it needs in order tofulfil God's calling.

This familiar list (there are similar ones in Romans and 1 Corinthians)describes various activities within the Church that together enablethe Church to grow into what God intends for it - which is theunity talked about in the previous verses in Ephesians.

A united Church is a mature Church, which has grown out of the kindof petty debates about doctrine that provide the excuse fordivisions within the Church. And a mature Church functions like ahealthy body with all parts functioning properly. The image of theChurch as a body is one that Paul liked because it appealed equallyto Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) and suggested something truly'alive' and purposeful. The purpose, of course, is to demonstratewhat "unity in love" looks like in real human relationships.

The title for this week's readings is 'A Gospel of Redemption' andthat is what we've been exploring. The 'good news' of the Christianmessage is that we can be redeemed, or set free from anything andeverything that stands in the way of our becoming truly maturehumans as God intends, which means sharing a relationship of lovewith God and with our fellow creatures.

This may involve us in "speaking the truth in love" to challengethe prevailing culture of our day - whether in the Church or thewider society - but that is the only way for us to grow up.

To Ponder

To what extent is the image of the 'body' isstill a helpful one for us today, given the problems many peoplehave with their own 'body image'?

Can you think of any examples of what it mightmean to "speak the truth in love" today?

In a culture that idolises youthfulness, whatpositive images of 'maturity' can you think of? Does the Churchcome across as 'mature' or just 'old'?