The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with contemplation of the gifts of Christians who have provided foundations for our study of Christ and our relationship to His mission.
Key to knowledge
The reading from the Letter to the Ephesians declares our spiritual blessings in Christ and how the Father’s Plan of Salvation is fulfilled through Christ.
* [1:3–14] While a Pauline letter usually continues after the greeting with a prayer of thanksgiving, as in Eph 1:15–23 below, Ephesians first inserts a blessing of God for the blessings Christians have experienced, as in 2 Cor 1:3–4 and 1 Pt 1:3–12. The blessing here, akin to a Jewish berakah, is rich in images almost certainly drawn from hymns and liturgy. Many ideas here are also found in Col 1:3–23. Certain phrases are frequently repeated, such as in Christ (Eph 1:3, 10, 12) or in him (Eph 1:4, 7, 9, 11, 13) or in the beloved (Eph 1:6) and (for) the praise of (his) glory (Eph 1:6, 12, 14). Some terms like chose (Eph 1:4) and destined (Eph 1:5) reflect Old Testament theology (Dt 7:7; 9:4–6; 23:5) or Pauline themes (redemption, Eph 1:7, 14; grace, Eph 1:6, 7) or specific emphases in Colossians (forgiveness, Col 1:14). A triadic structure is discernible in Eph 1:3–14: God the Father (Eph 1:3–6, 8, 11), Christ (Eph 1:3, 5, 7–10, 12), and the Spirit (Eph 1:13–14). The spiritual blessings Christians have received through Christ (Eph 1:3) are gratefully enumerated: the call to holiness (Eph 1:4; cf. Col 1:22); the gift of divine adoption establishing a unique spiritual relationship with God the Father through Christ (Eph 1:5; cf. Gal 4:5); liberation from sin through Christ’s sacrificial death (Eph 1:7); revelation of God’s plan of salvation in Christ (Eph 1:9; cf. Eph 3:3–4; Rom 16:25); the gift of election and faith in Christ bestowed upon Jewish Christians (see note on Eph 1:12, we who first hoped in Christ); and finally, the same gift granted to Gentiles (Eph 1:13, you also). In the Christ-centered faith and existence of the Christian communities the apostle sees the predetermined plan of God to bring all creation under the final rule of Christ (Eph 1:4–5, 9–10) being made known (Eph 1:9) and carried through, to God’s glory (Eph 1:6, 12, 14).1
Psalm 98 praises the Judge of the World.
* [Psalm 98] A hymn, similar to Ps 96, extolling God for Israel’s victory (Ps 98:1–3). All nations (Ps 98:4–6) and even inanimate nature (Ps 98:7–8) are summoned to welcome God’s coming to rule over the world (Ps 98:9).2
In the Gospel of Luke, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards Jesus as He identifies hypocrisy in withholding knowledge of the Scriptures.
* [11:51] From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah: the murder of Abel is the first murder recounted in the Old Testament (Gn 4:8). The Zechariah mentioned here may be the Zechariah whose murder is recounted in 2 Chr 24:20–22, the last murder presented in the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament.3
Sr. Candice Tucci asks where might we find the foundation for our courage to speak out to both civil and religious authority.
These times when there is clearly a need to point out hypocrisy, and to restore balance, harmony, justice, Peace, the foundation of a country, or the Gospel truth may be something to consider. “The Lord has made His Salvation known.” It is ours to live up to it! Or will it be WOE TO US? Let us pray again these words of St. Teresa with confidence to obtain courage and peace of soul, that our God, in Christ Jesus, together with the Holy Spirit, is with us.
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;God alone suffices.4
Don Schwager quotes “The key of knowledge that opens the kingdom of God,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"We consider that the key of knowledge means the law [of Moses] itself, and by faith in him, I mean justification in Christ. Although the law was in shadow and type, yet those types show to us the truth, and those shadows depict to us in many ways the mystery of Christ. A lamb was sacrificed according to the law of Moses. They ate its flesh. They anointed the lintels with its blood and overcame the destroyer. The blood of a mere sheep could not turn away death. Christ was typified under the form of a lamb. He endures to be the victim for the life of the world and saves by his blood those who are partakers of him. One might mention many other instances as well, by means of which we can discern the mystery of Christ sketched out in the shadows of the law. When speaking to the Jews, he once said, 'There is one that accuses you, even Moses, whom you trusted. For if you had believed Moses, you should have also believed me, because he wrote of me' (John 5:45-46). 'You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me' (John 5:39). Every word of divinely inspired Scripture looks to him and refers to him. As it has been shown, if Moses speaks, he typified Christ. If the holy prophets that you name speak, they also proclaimed to us in many ways the mystery of Christ, preaching beforehand the salvation that is by him." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 86)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Ephesians 1:1-10 comments that for both Romans and Jews, adoption was a life-altering, life-saving act. It was a change of fortune and a profound rescue from a bad future. So for Paul’s readers, both Jews and Greeks, Paul’s words about spiritual adoption would have had many different connotations.
Jews would have thought about God’s covenant with Israel that rescued them from slavery. They would have thought about how the Scriptures extolled the one who cares for widows and orphans. Greeks and Romans would have thought about the complete acceptance given to a legal adoptee—his past erased. From every angle, Paul was trying to help his listeners understand that through Christ, we experience a whole new life. We don’t just receive the “inheritance” of eternal life; we get to live as forgiven, grace-filled sons and daughters right now. We gain a loving family in the followers of Christ around us. We get to participate in the “work” of our Father to fill the earth with his goodness. We are freed from the slavery of sin and death.6
Friar Jude Winkler examines the Letter to the Ephesians as one sent to various communities. It has different vocabulary and theology than earlier letters of Paul. We are predestined before time to be part of God’s plan. Friar Jude looks at the hypocrisy of the religious authorities of Jesus time not sharing the knowledge from Scripture.
Peter Edmonds SJ, tutor in Biblical Studies at Campion Hall, notes there are three more letters to communities which make these experts hesitate about whether they were really written by Paul rather than by someone of the ‘Pauline school’. The longest of these is the letter to the Ephesians.
This is clearly from the world of Paul, but the fact that it goes beyond the Paul we have met so far has led to queries about its authorship. In Romans, Christians look forward to a share in the resurrection (Romans 6:5); in Ephesians, they are already sitting in heaven (Ephesians 2:6). In 1 Thessalonians (2:15), there are obvious distinctions between Jew and Gentile, but in Ephesians, the wall between them has been broken down (Ephesians 2:14). At best, Ephesians can be regarded as an introduction to the world of Pauline theology.7
Franciscan Media writes about Saint of the day, St. Teresa of Avila that the gift of God to Teresa in and through which she became holy and she left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer.
Her writings, especially the Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, have helped generations of believers. In 1970, the Church gave her the title she had long held in the popular mind: Doctor of the Church. She and St. Catherine of Siena were the first women so honored. Ours is a time of turmoil, a time of reform, and a time of liberation. Modern women have in Teresa a challenging example. Promoters of renewal, promoters of prayer, all have in Teresa a woman to reckon with, one whom they can admire and imitate.8
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Jesus’ social program is a quiet refusal to participate in almost all external power structures or domination systems. His primary action is a very simple lifestyle, which kept him from being constantly co-opted by those very structures, which Fr. Richard (and Paul) would call the “sin system.”
Jesus knew the destructive power of what Walter Wink wisely called the “domination system.” [2] These systems usually wield power over the poor, the defenseless, and the outsider in every culture. When he does take on the temple system directly (Mark 11:15–18), Jesus is killed within a week. Contrary to history’s interpretation of Jesus’ practice, he did not concentrate on personal, “flesh” sins nearly as much as the sins of “the world” and “the devil,” but few of us were taught to see him that way. In fact, Jesus is always forgiving individual sinners, which was a problem for the righteous from the beginning (Luke 7:34). In contrast, I do not once see him “forgiving” the sins of systems and empires. Instead, he just makes them show themselves (Mark 5:8) and name themselves (Mark 5:9)—as did Desmond Tutu in South Africa and Martin Luther King, Jr. in America.9
The preachers and prophets of Christian history give us a guide for navigating tension with power structures as we seek knowledge and understanding of our mission.
References
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