Thoughts for the Day

* Ancient Ephesus today.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We're going to look at Ephesians on and off, for a couple of weeks. The text is dense, but there are some wonderful things to explore in this amazing letter. Ostensibly sent to the Ephesian Christians by Paul, the earliest documents had the word "Ephesus" omitted, so it could have been a kind of 'round robin' letter to Laodicea and a number of other places. Paul calls the Christians, "saints". The word “saint” comes from the Greek word hagios, which means “consecrated to God, holy, sacred, pious." Today we think of a Saint as being someone who lives a holy and godly life, but Paul's use of it indicates that all Christians are called to live such a life.

Ephesians sets out to teach us what it means to be "in Christ" - we see it used twice, above. For Christians the Church (the congregation, not the building) is the body of Christ, and just as our human body works together with our head to be productive, so we are to work with Christ who is the head of the Church.

But the real key to understanding this letter is found in the second paragraph, above: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Paul is not talking about a future heaven, but about today. As adopted children of God we are daily in contact with God, and in conflict with Satan, that is with evil. Paul is speaking of the spiritual realm that surrounds us and affects our every decision for good or bad. However, Paul equally assures us that we have already been given every blessing, through our Lord Jesus, that we need to live a faithful life.

You might like to say this poem attributed to Saint Teresa of Avila by reading it through once, then a second time substituting "mine" for "yours" where possible, before pondering how it might change your life to act upon these words. Finally offer your conclusions to God:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.