A Meditation on Ephesians 2:1-10

There is a principle that historians, sociologists, and political theorists call “the law of conservation of religion,” which recognizes that human beings are fundamentally religious beings, whether they like to acknowledge it or not. We have to serve somebody, we have to be loyal to something, so even as Christian faith declines in Western nations, “religion” lives on, and the results are not pretty. The secular-religious life takes the form of love of nation, love of political movements, love of government, or even love of something as undeserving of religious affection as soccer. The law of conservation of religion is not just a theory, it is the lived experience of the Western World over the past several hundred years. Its fruit is most evident in World Wars and genocides, and it explains why we live in such an intensely divided time in our own nation.

As skepticism about the claims of Christian faith overcame Europe following the Enlightenment, the devotion once reserved for God was given to other things, primarily nations. The love of God became the love of France, Germany, Belgium, or England. After destroying and piecing together countless lives and buildings across an entire continent two times, Europeans know all too well the dangers of disordered affections for nations, but this disordered affection was not replaced with the love of God as it once had been. Church historians and sociologists argue that it is now love of soccer that grips that continent as a replacement for love of nation. Soccer is a sport with its own hymnody and rituals, referees dress like priests in clericals. Is it any wonder so many Europeans struggle to find meaning in their lives?

We can not point a finger in judgment of others for this situation as similar shifts are taking place in our own country. The past year in America has seen no shortage of religious activity, in spite of the fact that many churches are closed, with some even closing permanently. Religious devotion in the United States is chiefly directed to politics on both sides of the political aisle. On one side of the political spectrum, this shift is visible in the rallies and gatherings of one side of the political spectrum, which feature a kind of tent-revival spirit without any references to Jesus, or evidence of His work in the lives of those who lead it. We see on the other side elaborate public liturgies and confessions for the sins, both real and imagined, of a nation.  We live in a deeply religious nation, but the religion of our nation amounts to nothing more than giving eternal weight to temporal matters. Is it any wonder we are so divided?

How can Christians escape the absurdity of this situation, one which is bound to get worse before it gets better? What way has God given us in Jesus Christ to resist the temptation to place our ultimate hope and loyalty in all of the wrong places? I believe a close examination of our New Testament reading for this Sunday from Ephesians Chapter 2 is instructive for the church in resisting the temptations of both the left and the right.

You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-2). There was a time when each and every one of us was tethered to the futile patterns of life in this world as enemies of God. Our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with the spiritual powers that grip human beings such that they demean, destroy, and ultimately murder one another. Consequently, our call as Christians in response to our situation begins with prayer and worship.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5). BUT GOD. There are no sweeter words to the ears of broken people like us than these two words, but God. What follows these words is always good news, and the good news in Ephesians 2 is that God loved us when we were his enemies (yes, His enemies!) because He is rich in mercy, reviving us when we were dead. This good news explains how it is we are saved, but it also gives Christians their marching orders for conquering the world: love your enemy (yes, your enemies!), even to the point of dying for them as Christ died for us.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:9). The life you have with Christ, the benefits you enjoy in Him which make it possible for you to see the world as you see it, are not of your own doing. You are not responsible for your life with Christ, you do not get any credit for it. Your life with Christ is an underserved gift, and you may have it because someone you considered an enemy once prayed for you, cared for you, or showed you the love of Christ. The myth of the self-made man is a lie; our lives are not our own doing, but a gift. How can we then hold it against another who has not been given this tremendous gift? Are we willing to belittle and demonize, even kill, another image-bearer because they do not see the world as we do, which is the result of God’s free gift to us? If so, we have failed to grasp all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

The question I pose in this reflection is one that needs far more attention than I have given it. As complicated as it may be to navigate our own time, the only answer we have to it is the same answer the little ones in our Sunday School give when they think they do not know the answer: Jesus Christ the Son of God, the gift God has given us when we were still His enemies.

Fr. Matt