In the rush of the metropolis (even a couple of thousand
years ago urban life was not relaxed) we seldom pause to consider what is
actually important. As we live among the
demands of city life (even two millennia ago the city was a ruthless
environment) we can be so conditioned by the prevailing culture that we can’t
imagine a different way of urban living.
But the writer of our letter does.
The previous sentence of this letter to the city-dwellers
was a prayer that they would know God.
That may have left us a bit breathless: space for God in an aggressively human world? Now he keeps praying for them to know more, to
be enlightened.
This is not the Western enlightenment of merciless
materialism.
He wants them to find the “riches of God’s glorious
inheritance in his holy people”. The
wealth that he wants for his readers is nothing to do with markets or
economies; it is not about possessions or position or progress. Rather he longs for them to discover the transcendent
things that God will give them. And,
even more unlike the materialist vision, these gifts are given communally – to
the collective of those who belong to God, not to individuals who somehow achieve
more than others.
Nor yet is it the Eastern enlightenment of dedicated
detachment.
He wants them to experience the “hope to which God has
called them”. Hope for our writer is not
an unreliable wish, but the certainty of something that is coming. This confidence-for-the-future does not
originate in a cosmic mechanism of reward for those who eventually achieve the
criteria. Rather it is available to
everyone, immediately. It has nothing to
do with a desire to be absorbed into the universal; it is living in confidence
that God will bring about the things he has promised, and that people can
participate.
Not even the Southern enlightenment of mystical
manipulation.
He wants them to realise “God’s incomparably great power for
those who believe”. This is far removed
from the chosen individual undergoing arduous ascetic training in order to
achieve supernatural control in the unseen world. This power is not vested in us at all; God is
the one who is powerful. However God is
involved in each of our lives (great privilege!) enabling each one to live a
more fruitful life, a life that matters.
Our writer is expecting that astounding things will happen
in the lives of those who choose spiritual life through Jesus. We could contemplate this sentence our whole
lives and not get bored!
The
Bible: Ephesians 1:18-19
http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/online-bible/?translation=niv&book=ephesians&chapter=1his level 2011-2013
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete