RBWords

     The first 100 years after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus were times in which the early Christian community struggled to understand the meaning of those events for believers.  The differing portraits of Jesus in the four gospels are examples of this.  St. Paul's ministry and letters represent a completely different approach, not based so much on the ministry of Jesus as on the meaning of his death and resurrection as Paul experienced it.  If we read the gospels in their probable chronological order, we can see how the vision of the community began to widen as non-Jews began to come to faith.  The earliest, Mark, is very different from the latest, the Gospel According to John.  A similar development can be observed in the Pauline letters from 1 & 2 Thessalonians to the "great letters" of Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Galatians and then to the "captivity" letters of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians,and Philemon, and finally to the "pastoral letters," 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus.   Scripture scholars debate the authentic Pauline authorship of certain letters, but in the end, the church has accepted this body of materials as the inspired Word of God.

     The beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians, which we hear in the first scripture for today, offers a beautiful and broad vision of the church as something intended by God from the beginning of time and created as an act of love through the coming of Jesus Christ. "In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth."  The implications of this creative act of God will be unfolded before us in Ephesians in the next few days.  We are part of something that is cosmic in meaning!  Stay tuned!  AMEN