Eucharistic meditation, August 14

Ephesians 1:7, 13-14: "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. . . In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."

In Ephesians 1, Paul blesses God for forgiving our trespasses and delivering us from the reign of death. But, as we've seen, he is also blessing God for the larger story that has been decided before the foundation of the world and which he will bring to pass through Jesus and His Spirit. It is a story that arises from God's own character, a story that includes the exaltation of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit, and will conclude with all things summed up in Jesus Christ to the glory of the Father's grace.

This big story is a re-enactment of the big story of Israel, now on an even grander scale. The story of Israel was the story of Passover, Exodus, and Inheritance of the land. And when Paul tells the story of Jesus here in Ephesians 1, he reverts to language of Israel’s story. We have "redemption" in Christ, that is, deliverance from the slavery of sin and death. This redemption comes through His blood, the blood of Jesus, the true Passover Lamb. Having been redeemed through blood from the Egypt of the world, we are promised an inheritance, the inheritance not only of Palestine but of the world, of all things in heaven and on earth, because whatever belongs to Jesus, belongs to us.

For Paul, our inheritance is not merely future. We have the Spirit as the "pledge" or "down payment" of our inheritance, the beginning of our inheritance now, and the promise of a full inheritance in the future. And that is the significance of this meal as well. It is a sign that we have already entered into our inheritance, and that the earth and all its fruits belong to us because they belong to Jesus. We are the people of the new exodus, for Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, and our Father has given us a good land flowing with milk and honey, so that we may eat and drink and rejoice before Him.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, August 14, 2005 at 08:00 AM

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