Wednesday 22 October 2008

Background

The Church is sometimes so preoccupied with its internalarguments - or even its survival - that it can forget why it ishere. There are many possible answers of course to the question"What on earth is the Church for?" but one fascinating suggestionis made here in the letter to the Ephesians: "through the churchthe wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known tothe rulers and authorities in the heavenly places".

You might think that the primary task of the Church is to revealGod's love to the world, and that may well be right. And the Churchhas not always been very good at that. So what does this other taskinvolve?

The idea of "the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places" wasfamiliar in the ancient Greek and Roman world. It reflects thebelief that behind the 'earthly realities' there are 'heavenlyrealties' - a spiritual world that mirrors the physical one andwhich guides and influences it. For Paul (or whoever wroteEphesians) the task of the Church was to reveal a mystery to thisspiritual world, and thus to influence the more immediate 'rulersand authorities' of this world. And that mystery was that, againstall the odds, Gentiles as well as Jews were now equally part of thepeople of God. Even more mysteriously, this was what God had alwaysintended, despite the familiar history of Israel which seemed toillustrate God's desire to favour the Jews above all othernations.

Of course, a closer reading of the Old Testament reveals a slightlydifferent story: God had chosen the Jews to reveal God's wisdom -this mystery - to the world, even though the Jews had not alwaysgrasped that concept very well, despite the best efforts of theprophets.

But now, says Paul, God has chosen him to bring this good news tothe Gentile world. And the heart of this message is that this newcommon humanity, uniting Jew and Gentile, is revealed in the Churchof Jesus Christ. By living out the truth of this divine wisdom theChurch in turn reveals it to "the rulers and authorities in theheavenly places", and thus shapes the future of the world.

To Ponder

Why do you think the Church is here?

Even if you do not believe in the idea of "therulers and authorities in the heavenly places", how do you thinkthat the ideal of a 'united humanity' in the Church might be ableto influence the 'rulers and authorities' of our world?

What other examples can you suggest of the"wisdom of God in its rich variety"?