By Steve Hall
The descendants of Abraham became the beginning of a great nation. But all did not go smoothly. For four hundred years we hear nothing of these people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet, during these years the patriarchs were remembered, as was their God. In fact, He became known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and as the years passed, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became slaves.
Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 2:12-22
Psalm 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14
Luke 12:35-38
The passage from Ephesians that we hear this morning flows from something Paul says just a few lines earlier in his letter, and that earlier statement seems important to Paul’s overall message. He says:
“But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
In other words, Paul is telling the Ephesians, ‘you have been chosen.’ We hear the same message when he writes to the Thessalonians, and there he states it plainly.
“For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you.” (I Thessalonians 1:4)
That word is important throughout Scripture. ‘Chosen!’ What weight does the word carry?
As you know, the story begins in Genesis, the Bible's first book. There we find the account of Abraham. God makes himself known to Abraham and promises him several things. His descendants will be as numerous as the sands on the seashore. From him will come a great nation whom God himself will establish in their own land. Through this nation all the nations of the world will be blessed. The promises remain relatively quiet during the years of Abraham, Abraham’s son Issac, and Isaac’s son Jacob. Then we hear of Jacob’s twelve sons, of Joseph sold into slavery and rising to prominence, and of the entire tribal family moving to Egypt during years of regional famine.
Then silence. Total silence.
For four hundred years we hear nothing of these people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet, during these years the patriarchs were remembered, as was their God. In fact, He became known as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and, as the years passed, “The descendants of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong; so that the land was filled with them.”
They became the beginning of a great nation. But all did not go smoothly:
“There arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the sons of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war befall us, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” (Exodus 1:7-10)
So the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became slaves. Their burdens were heavy. They were oppressed, and hard service made their lives bitter. But even after four hundred years, God remained faithful.
“In the course of those many days the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:23-24)
Once more the story proceeds.
Moses is saved from an infant death, raised in the royal court by Pharaoh’s own daughter, but forced to leave Egypt after killing a slave-master. Then the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob comes to him and sends him back to Egypt as a messenger to the royal court. You know the details of that extended confrontation as well as its conclusion with the death of all firstborn among the Egyptians.
The Hebrews leave Egypt. Guided by the Spirit, they journey (in a rather roundabout way) to the land of promise. On that journey, we first hear that they are ‘Chosen.’
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the Lord loves you, and (because He) is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
But being chosen came with an obligation, an obligation repeatedly affirmed in the Scriptures: “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” The obligation wasn’t just a reciprocal arrangement; it had a purpose: the Chosen were to bear witness to what life could be like under God's guidance and presence. So for twelve hundred years God worked to form these Chosen into the people they were meant to be. They were never perfect in following the Law, but they finally, and firmly, grasped the truth God so often spoke to them through the prophets: I am God; there is no other.
All of this set the stage for what we might call ‘act 2’: The Coming of the Savior, the Messiah. So when they took Jesus to the Temple for circumcision, the holy man Simeon, who had been promised he would not see death before he saw the Messiah, acknowledged God's promise from so many years earlier.
“Simeon took him (Jesus) up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.’” (Luke 2:28-32)
At last we come to the climax of the story. The Savior has been born. He will teach. He will show God’s presence and wonders. He will live among us. He will be crucified. He will rise again. In him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And so we reach the end of ‘Act 2.’ Act 3 then begins. It takes us immediately into the time of the Ephesians, the Thessalonians, and so many other peoples who were not originally among the Chosen.
“Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the Blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one Body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.”
It’s Act 3, and we are players, for we have been chosen. As the Chosen, we also have both obligation and purpose. Broadly, the obligation and purpose are the same as before. We carry forward the mark of those of whom God can say: “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” As before, we have a purpose: to bear witness to what life can expect when lived under the guidance and presence of God. But both obligation and purpose are different now, even as both remain the same.
The obligation is revealed in the Gospel. Our God has lived and died as a man among us. He has risen from the dead by conquering death. He is now Lord and Savior, the incarnate realization of the Father’s ancient promise. The purpose is revealed in the teaching of the Apostles, specifically in Paul's words. In this same letter to the people of Ephesus, their purpose and ours are revealed.
“He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:9-12)
We need little more to say. The Father’s purpose is ours; he has given it to those of us who are his Chosen: TO UNITE ALL THINGS IN HIM (IN CHRIST), THINGS IN HEAVEN AND THINGS ON EARTH. Contentment and satisfaction in our faith are not an option.