Interpretation

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Ephesians 1:1523

Garrett Andrew
Interpretation 2014 68: 190
DOI: 10.1177/0020964313517535
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Ephesians 1:1523

Interpretation: A Journal of
Bible and Theology
2014, Vol. 68(2) 190191
The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0020964313517535
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Garrett Andrew

First Presbyterian Church, Albany, Georgia

Email: garrett@1stpresalbany.org

There is no reason that anyone in your church, having heard a sermon on Ephesians 1:1523,
should leave without the sure and certain hope that, as a church, we believe God will win the contest of history. Now, perhaps there is no reason to make it sound so grandiose, or perhaps there is.
I am writing this the week after George Zimmerman was acquitted, and questions of justice for
Trayvon Martin have saturated social media while traditional media floods the airwaves with pundits who cannot seem to find a way to stop talking. You are reading this when people may have
moved on from this moment the way we always move on, and perhaps there is some other issue that
has come up; there always is. Tragedy is never far from our doorsteps. Justice, even if it is an
unpopular topic in some churches, is never a word God is fearful of using. And in the midst of it all
we gather huddled together, hoping that we still might hear a word from Godhoping that as the
tragic and the unjust appear to rule the worldthat above every name that is mentioned there sits
Christ who is head over all things.
Eschatology is not in vogue, I fear. However, it is time it makes a comeback. This little passage
like much of the Bible is rooted in the hope that God will one day bring forth something so completely new that this world of dividing walls (Eph 2:1114), this world of the broken down and beat
up, this world of days when hope unborn had died (James Weldon Johnson, Lift Every Voice and
Sing), will come to an end. How can we believe that? is a question that must be given voice.
There is no amount of reason that can convince our scientifically minded folks, but we are also
made of heart and gut and faith and can say, Because we believe in the power of God that raised
Jesus from the dead and seated him in the heavenly places, we also believe that God is at work
making all things new!
The eschatologically-focused church is not a church that while doing nothing awaits a time
when God comes to make everything right. It is a church that realizes it is an alien on this planet,
in this country, in the communities in which our individual churches reside, and yet also recognizes
itself as a resident alien. The church is not a storage house for those passing through this life while
waiting for their pie in the sky, or for that moment of some strange pre- or post-millennialist
tribulation. It is a place of those called by God for the greater good. What does it mean to have faith

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in the Lord Jesus? A more interesting question might be how could others have heard of our faith
in Jesus without us telling them? Does our love for all the saints inspire others to thank God? Do
we have the eyes of the heart that allow us to know the hope to which we have been called?
Perhaps it is time to embrace fully post-modernity and stop running away from the rich language
of our tradition and instead utilize it, watching as God not only births hope in our churches but also
uses us to bring hope to a world weary of the many travesties that saturate it. I have heard Trayvon
Martins parents lean on their faith as they sat shocked. The African-American tradition of
Christianity has always been better at utilizing the language of eschatology. For those who long for
justice and have experienced over 400 years of agony at the hands of those motivated by pride,
prejudice, power, and the greed that power always brings as a companion, Scripture proclaims that
Christ is greater than all those powers that would oppress them.
There is no need to run away from the language that Christ is the ruler of all. If we want to join
Jesus on the side of the oppressed, then we must acknowledge him as such. Our voices can by
grace announce the reign of Christ. Our feet can through grace sow the seeds that announce the
kingdom of heaven is still at hand and is coming soon. Because God has planned for such a kingdom, we can add our voices not only in dissonant witness to what is, but also with strong assurance of what will be.
The power of declaration this passage makes regarding Christs place of authority in the created
order is the foundation for all fights against injustice. President Obama commented in a prepared
statement following Zimmermans acquittal, but we are a nation of laws, and a jury has
spoken. While this may be true, that does not mean God has stopped speaking. There is still a
name above all names, there is still a power that is greater than all powers, there is still a Ruler who
has all things under feet, and that Ruler is the final word.
There is something going on as you are reading this. Look on Facebook or Twitter, pick up a
paper if you still get one, turn on the newsit does not matter which flavor of cable news is for
you, there is a story of someone trampling on another; there are stories of corporate greed and
political ineptitude; there are stories within your own congregation of underemployment and unemployment, of true worry for the future and even more true worry for the present; of bills that pile up
and modern-day debtor prisons called credit agencies. Sometimes it appears that the world is truly
done, that there is no hope to be had, that God has lost if God ever was.
Yet, Eph 1:1523 tells us a different story. It tells that when Jesus appeared most defeated, God
raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule
and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age
but also in the age to come (vv. 20b21). That will preach! That is gospel! God will not lose and
so we can live out the hope to which God has called us. Go tell the good news, because in these
days we all need to hear it, and maybe someday someone will thank God for us in her prayers.

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