(Part Two)
In Monday’s First Reading (Ephesians 2:1-10), Paul introduces the idea of Christ as the head of the body of the Church. Having Christ as its head gives unity to the Church, with its individual members playing different, yet equally important roles. Paul’s way of developing this idea unfolds through a review of the variety of the blessings that Christ bestows on the Church. Some are to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, and so on, but all are to contribute to “building up the body of Christ” in “a unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God” and reach maturity “according to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).
The surrounding verses to this passage recount ways in which the growth that God intends could be stunted by childishness and by living no differently than Gentiles who have not been incorporated into the body of Christ. Those who still “live in the futility of their minds” are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God by “the hardness of their hearts”.
In the final portion of the letter (Ephesians 4:25–6:24) Paul turns his attention to the daily conduct of Christians. Read out of context, this passage is sometimes misinterpreted as being a benighted imposition of Paul’s personal opinions on the Church. Many today believe that his recommendations should be consigned to the sphere of anachronistic advice that modern Christians can and should ignore. Read in context, however, the message here is challenging, but crucial, for authentic Christian living. In fact, Paul’s introduction to it has the spirited nature that it does precisely because he understands how challenging it will be to live as true Christians: “Put off your old nature that belonged to your former way of life…, be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
The details are as bracing as they are illuminating. “Be angry,” he begins, “but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger so as to give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27). Some cultures, admittedly, find any expression of anger as an embarrassment, but Paul understands that even anger is one of God’s gifts. It is a bodily passion that gets us worked up about the wrong of injustice, and as such God made us to have it, and yet not to be ruled by it. Paul’s clear instruction is to put even our just angers under the direction of a mind that wants to reflect Christ in all things. By directing us to deal with our anger before sundown, Paul gives us eminently practical advice. There are to be no long-held grudges, or even the disproportionate resentments that come from giving the devil the chance to work on us overnight!
After giving similar instructions about such hard emotions as bitterness and wrath, Paul turns, in his fifth chapter, to the sphere of attraction, desire, love, and marriage. He warns us against any form of impurity, greed, drunkenness, and covetousness. His teachings on marriage, in particular, bring out the implications of Christology for morality that have been prominent throughout this epistle.
Husbands and wives are to be mutually submissive to one another, out of reverence for Christ. Wives are to obey their husbands as the Church is to be subject to Christ. Husbands are to love their wives and to be ready even to die for them, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. It is hard to imagine a text in which Paul makes more clear the rootedness of morality and spirituality in the life of Christ and the Church. His additional comments about the way in which the New Adam sanctifies and purifies his bride by his sacrifice for her on the Cross evokes a memory of the way in which the Old Adam failed to do that for his bride and instead joined her in sin.
The sixth chapter applies the root-image of Christ as the head of his body the Church to other domestic relationships, those between parents and children as well as those between the heads of households and their servants. Christians are to think of themselves as “servants of Christ, doing the will of God from their hearts” and “knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive again from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:6-7). We are to trust not in our own strength, but in the strength of Christ. Paul then develops this point by meditating on the image of putting on the very armor of God, to be able to withstand the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11-20).
Over the next two weeks, as excerpts from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians are read during the Mass, let us take some time to reflect on Paul’s words and try to absorb what Paul is trying to teach us.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!