Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2
I’ve watched at least my share of the Olympics over the last two weeks. In the Olympics we see a truly glorious display and celebration of human achievement. We watch acts of almost unbelievable grace and strength and skill. Records fall. Often we see graciousness and nobility, human beings at their best. (Sometimes not so much maybe in the graciousness department.) The Olympics really are a testament to the best that human beings can be.
Particularly in the midst of so much wondrous human achievement, we all need to be reminded of our need for God. It really is easy to forget. Even for those of us who are a very long way from any participation in the Olympic games, it is easy to forget how little and how helpless we are on our own. Without God.
In today’s collect we pray: Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right. Did that prayer catch your attention as it whizzed past in this morning’s liturgy? We pray to always (always!) think what is right.
The secular, godless world can be a moral world. There are many good people in it. People who may not profess faith in God, but who nonetheless strive to do what is right. But to think what is right! I’ll be the first to admit that I only very limited control over my own thoughts. I’m not a trained psychologist or therapist, but like most clergy, I have sort of a peripheral connection to the therapeutic world. It’s my understanding that one of the basic tenets of psychotherapy is that thoughts and feelings just are. They appear within us unbidden, beyond our control. Thoughts and feelings are not “morally” good or bad, they just are. We are encouraged to face them, own them. And then, people who strive to be morally good try to learn how to act upon their thoughts and feelings in ways that are “good” or appropriate. For example, no matter what you may be thinking or feeling about your sports opponent, or the referee in your match, you can choose to act with sportsmanship or nobility. That is what the psychologically mature and moral person does. He or she tries to do what is right.
Yes, but. What about the Christian? We are called also to think what is right. That takes more than moral conviction and a good therapist. It takes God.
This week’s epistle reading from Ephesians is full of moral advice. Paul is giving moral advice to the relatively new Christians in Ephesus. It prompts us to ask: What is Christian moral living? What are Christian ethics?
I read a commentary on this passage by a Lutheran scholar, Mark Tranvik. (Read the whole piece here.) He writes:
Our passage contains a lot of moral advice that can be found in many places in the ancient world.
In that sense, there is nothing "original" in this text. However, the wealth of moral instruction does not mean the Bible is simply "moralizing" its readers. The key difference lay in the motivation for the morality. Most commentators agree that Paul's framework for his ethical instruction is baptism.
Interwoven throughout the letter to the Ephesians are many references to death and life (2:1, 5), putting away the old self (4:22, 25) and being marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit (1:13, 4:30). In other words, instead of simply being exhorted to do good works, the community is continually reminded that it has been engrafted into the body of Christ and that its hope is grounded in Christ's present and future redemption. The result is a life lived in love, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ (5:2).
So Paul is talking about more than just doing what is good. Christians have been transformed by Christ, and look for that redeeming transformation to continue. I love his phrase “engrafted into the Body of Christ.” When a tree is grafted, the two parts share the same sap, the same roots, the same life. They become literally inseparable. Through baptism we are engrafted into the Body of Christ.
I can think of at least two implications of this. One is that we are given the potential to “channel” Christ. I’ll come back to that. Second, we have been made part of something bigger than just ourselves.
We are part of something bigger than ourselves. As Paul says, we “are members one of another.” For example: In Ephesians, Paul says thieves must give up stealing. Well, duh. Everybody knows it’s morally wrong to steal. To take something that is not yours by rights, that you did not earn. To take something that belongs to someone else is morally wrong. No question. But here’s the interesting thing. The prohibition against stealing in Ephesians is not to ensure that each person may retain and possess what is rightfully theirs. The point of honest work is to provide for those who are in need.
To be engrafted in Christ through baptism means being literally responsible for others.
To be engrafted in Christ also means having the potential to channel Christ. You know what people mean when “channel” is used as a verb. It often has paranormal connotations. The dictionary definition is “to serve as a medium for a spirit.” To be the medium through which a spirit acts, is known, is heard, is felt. That’s really not bad theologically. For Christians this is not something we conjure up in a séance, it comes through the communion we have been given in Christ. In a sense we really can channel the saints. As we share life in Christ, we can tap into their faith and witness. And, as engrafted members of the Body of Christ, we can also, at least in part channel Christ.
Today’s passage from Ephesians concludes with familiar words we hear each week. “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.”
Or, as we actually heard it from Ephesians: “Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Be imitators of God. A bit more from Tranvik’s commentary:
This section concludes with the ultimate exhortation: be imitators of God (5:1)! Here is where there is a true break with the typical virtue-vice lists of the ancient world. A standard has now been set that transcends all human morality….
Our culture's interpretation of love might be said to be at war with the biblical understanding of agape. Commercials and conventional usage suggest that love is largely a romantic feeling produced by the right combination of clothes, physical conditioning, smile and make-up. In other words, love is dependent upon being lovable.
This is the exact opposite of agape love which reaches out and extends itself to the most unlovable. As Martin Luther once said, it is characteristic of God's love that it does not find its object but it creates it. The point may seem subtle but Luther is saying we cannot make ourselves worthy of God, though we often try to do this. Rather, our relationship to God is based on nothing other than God's decision to love us in Christ. Or as Paul stresses, agape is rooted in Christ's act of giving himself for us (5:2).
In the secular world, love is dependent upon someone or something being lovable. Love is generated because an object is lovable. God’s agape love begins with the one who loves. Love is generated in God’s desire to love.
Much has been made of the success of American women in these Olympics. And one phrase I’ve heard is “strong is the new beautiful.” Part of me wants to cheer and say, about time. But this is still the secular culture’s way of looking at things, of saying that attractiveness or value is all dependent upon the object of our attraction.
Tranvik concludes:
Paul highlights the effects of this love as well. We now inherit the status of "beloved children" (5:1). Our task then is to take this love to the neighbor or "live in love" (5:2) as Paul says. Perfect imitation of this love is not possible. God's word of forgiveness will always be relevant (4:32). But the love of Christ dwells in our hearts as well (3:17).Be imitators of God. Channel Christ. Agape your neighbor in the same way that Christ agape’s you.
Agape your neighbor. Not because he or she is lovable. Not because he or she is beautiful or strong or right or noble. Agape your neighbor because God has chosen to love them. And we can and should channel God’s agape love.
We can’t do it without God’s help. We can’t do it without being engrafted into the Body of Christ. And, of course, we can never fully be God in the world. Humility and the never ending yearning for reconciliation, renewal and guidance are also a part of being engrafted into the Body of Christ.
In the collect we pray: “Grant us the spirit to think and do always those things that are right.” It’s actually the spirit that we pray for. Grant us the spirit. Grant us Christ’s spirit. Grant us Christ’s spirit within us. Help us to surrender to that spirit. So that we may be mediums for the Spirit of Christ to speak, and think, and act in the world.
Channeling Christ’s agape love. That’s Christian ethics.
