Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Rev. Brent Gundlah
“Bread”
First Reading (Ephesians 4:1-16/Common English Bible)
Gospel Reading (John 6:1-21/NRSVUE)
Just a few weeks ago, on a hot and humid Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas, Major League Baseball held its annual Midsummer Classic, the 94th All Star Game. I have enjoyed watching this particular game for as long as I can remember, and this makes sense because, as most of you know, I am a really big baseball fan. The MLB All Star Game is, by far, my favorite sporting event of the entire year, and the reasons for this are twofold: first, the game is always played during the week of my birthday; and second, it’s fun to watch baseball’s best players do what they do.
Yet, I must admit, there is something kind of strange about the All Star Game. While it is, admittedly, great to see the greatest players from the American and National Leagues all lined up along the baselines during the introduction ceremony, these are really “teams” in name only, groups that are assembled for a one night only celebration of individual achievement. This seems odd in what is ultimately a team sport, one whose lengthy regular season plays out over six months and more than 162 games.
Major League Baseball has tried like heck to convince us that it really does matter which “team” wins the All Star Game — most recently, by basing home field advantage for the upcoming World Series on the All Star Game game’s outcome (thankfully, they’ve since thought the better of that ridiculous idea), and by making the players on each league’s team wear the same uniforms instead of their individual teams’ uniforms (I wish they’d think the better of that ridiculous idea too). But the truth is that the All Star Game really doesn’t matter.
Sure, there’s probably a little bit of American and National league pride on the line but, let’s be honest, the players are there primarily to show off what they can do as individuals. There is generally no shortage of either talent or ego at the All Star Game, and it is kind of tough to build any kind of a sense of unity around ego. The managers are left to try to cultivate some kind of team spirit, which is no mean feat when the hubris is so high and the stakes are so low.
But what about when teamwork really does matter — say, for example, in the church? Do we actually play well together when the stakes are much higher than they are for an exhibition baseball game? Are we capable of using our individual talents for the benefit of something bigger than ourselves — specifically, for furthering God’s reign in our world? How well do we, as a body of believers, really do unity?
These are the questions posed by the writer of the Letter to the Ephesians. Biblical scholars agree that the letter is written sometime in the late first century — as the church was really beginning to organize itself — though it is not so clear that it was actually written by Paul. Whether it was or wasn’t, though, the letter speaks to some real and important issues that Paul and his fellow leaders in the early church confronted throughout their mission and ministry, and they’re ones that we continue to encounter in church life today.
Unlike most of Paul’s letters, this letter to the Ephesians doesn’t seem to be directed toward any a specific church or set of churches. It is more generally aimed at communities of Christ-believers throughout the region of Asia Minor known as Ephesus. These churches consisted mostly of Gentile converts to Christianity (even though it wasn’t actually called Christianity at that point).
These cities around Ephesus were happening places — they were large and cosmopolitan, and pretty diverse. They were inhabited by people from all sorts of religious backgrounds and social classes, people with a wide variety of jobs and skill sets, natives as well as people from elsewhere who were using their talents to bear in community life. And, at first glance, none of this seems problematic.
But the New Testament letters (even those not written by Paul) are generally written with a real sense of both urgency and purpose. So, if our author here feels compelled to remind — even to beg — their audience to act with humility, gentleness, patience and love, there’s a better than average chance that they were actually doing the exact opposite.
It is here amongst all of this diversity and seeming conflict — amidst certain people’s trickery and craftiness in deceitful scheming (which sounds like a whole lot of fun) — that the writer of Ephesians beseeches listeners to work together to lead a life (note: not separate lives) that is truly worthy of their collective calling — one aimed at maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The writer’s main point here doesn’t seem to be a very complicated one — at least on the surface, anyway. Perfect unity is the very nature of God (as exemplified by the concept of the Trinity — you know, that whole God/Jesus/Spirit thing). And striving towards unity here on earth is the mission to which we are ultimately called.
Just in case this is unclear, the author tells us not once but seven times in just three lines how essential unity is: “There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” But the real genius of this part of the letter lies not in its ability to simply state (and restate over and over again) God’s affinity for oneness, that resides in a few other places.
First, is the call for us to actually do something — to act with all humility, gentleness, patience and love — to make every effort to foster and maintain unity. The point here is that such a way of being requires real work on our part — and sometimes quite a lot of it. Unity does not always come easily for us human — and yes, I mean even in the church.
But this does not mean that we need to agree with each other all the time about everything. The challenge of being human and living into God’s call for us lies in respecting our diversity,
in working through our differences,
in not believing that we always have all the answers,
in cherishing the people and the world around us,
in understanding what hard work this all is, and choosing to do it anyway, because God has always called us to find unity across our diversity.
And God provides the perfect example of this kind of life for us in Christ — as the writer of Ephesians reminds us, Jesus truly understands how tough it is to be human — “He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended.” What they’re sayin is that Jesus has been here, he gets it, he’s seen it and he’s done it as one of us. And God’s clear expectation is that we will do it too.
Second is a recognition of the complex magnificence of God’s grace — the idea that while God’s gifts to us may be diverse and specific, they are also universal in the sense that everyone has them. Ephesians underscores this very basic and unbelievably important point — that “each of of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” When the author goes on to name important church roles such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as gifts, the list is meant to be illustrative rather than exhaustive. These are, of course, important gifts to church life, but they are not the only important ones. We all have gifts that matter here — each and every one of us.
These gifts are important because they “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” — they are not the means by which we seek to assert our superiority over one another; they are to be used to work towards unity in God’s name. These gifts are not about us as individuals; they’re about God and God’s grace — but they come through us. We do nothing to earn them — God freely gives them to us; they are blessings, not merit badges. That is what grace is all about.
But this idea that each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift carries with it a great deal of responsibility. Living into this gift is a lifelong process, not a single act, it’s; it’s about loving your neighbor, not about individual achievement. I mean I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure that God doesn’t have an All Star team.
Because you each are a gift and you each have a gift. So figure out what that gift is and do something with it to serve a greater good. Help others to discover and unlock the full potential of their gifts. Do these things for your sake, for our sake, for God’s sake.