When, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is about to ascend, he leaves his disciples with this promise: I am with you always, until the end of the age. Since all power has been given to him, Jesus will be able to work through them, because he will dwell in them and they in him. And so, Jesus commissions them: Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. The power they have will be Jesus’ power, transferred to them, the power of his love at work in them. This power is in each one of them because they are one in him and he is in them. They have but to wait, as we hear in the Acts of the Apostles, for the promise of the Father, baptism with the Holy Spirit, before they head on out to fulfill this commission. As he ascends, Jesus will leave an imprint of himself on their hearts, remaining there for all time, until the end of the age, that they might be his witnesses, to the ends of the earth.
What does salvation mean to us? Paul wishes for the Ephesian community that the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened, that they might know the hope that belongs to his call. This wisdom, this revelation, is the openness to knowing God better and being drawn into his life for all. We are called to hope for something down the road that is different from our expectations; we are called to new hope for the future. Like the disciples, we too have to be open to the Spirit at work in us, guiding us. We must come to Jesus, open to being ruled by his love for us. For God fills everything in Christ and therefore God fills each of us as a part of the Body of Christ, with the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way. We share in a collective faith, a collective hope, a collective call from Jesus. Our openness to that faith, that hope, that call should bring us to joy, as Psalm 47 proclaims, for if we truly believe that he is with us always, we will proclaim his good news to the ends of the earth!
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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