Trinity Blog

⁵In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: ⁶that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.  Ephesians 3:5-6

I am not much of a follower of the British Royal Family.  I do not hang on every word or report that the media provides about who is upset with each other and who said what.  But I am fascinated by the supposed order of succession.  I am intrigued by who is next in line after the queen and then who is next in line after them.  Who is the queen’s heir and the next heir apparent?  Why does it fall through this line and not another?  What happens when one of the heirs rescinds their place and does not want to be heir at all? 

With all this talk and discussion about Britain’s heirs. perhaps then we can understand the meaning of the Epiphany of the Lord a little bit more, when the great revelation of God is that Gentiles have become fellow heirs of Israel.  Israel was God’s chosen people, a people he nurtured, protected, and established as a nation with a space and time in human history.  But the great secret which was hidden in former generations and now revealed by the Spirit is that Gentiles are now also fellow heirs of Israel.  Instead of Israel being the heir alone of God’s Kingdom, now Gentiles are included also.  Instead of the place of Israel falling to a single people much like the British Monarchy, Gentiles are now fellow heirs of Israel.

But an important point needs to be made, Gentile have become members of the same body, we have not excluded or replaced Israel all together.  We are together, we have not succeeded Israel and taken their place.  The text says members of the same body together, not alone in a new body.  Israel and Gentiles together is what the great plan and revelation of God discloses by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  We have no room to conquer, destroy, or persecute those members of the same body.  To do so to the Jewish people would be akin to destroying ourselves.  To damage the Jews would be to destroy ourselves.  To eradicate the Hebrew people, is to work against the God’s work and therefore, the essence of sin and demonic in nature. 

But to be members of the same body is also to share in the promises God made to Israel.  The promises which the psalmist reminds us of in psalm 72.  That God will judge us with righteousness and the poor with justice.  That the mountains yield prosperity for the people in righteousness.  That God will defend the cause of the poor of the people, and give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.  Righteousness will flourish and peace will prosper.  While these were some of the promises, now that the Spirit adopts us as co-heirs, the promises also fall like rain upon us, whom God has chosen.  To live under God’s grace in freedom and responsibility: rightly and in perfect communion.

But the realm of these promises and the location of this fellowship and the place of our inheritance lies not in the world, or in ourselves, but rests solely in Christ Jesus.  The perfect foundation that cannot be eradicated by sin and death.  The perfect realm where no error or weakness can tarnish.  The unrivalled kingdom where no cosmic power, no demonic influence, no human scheme can erode or threaten to undo the work of God.  In Christ Jesus, God has secured his work and his promises against all enemies, chaos and nothingness that seek to destroy God’s creation.  And we can rest secure, not in the ease of our circumstances, the prosperity of our resources, the health of our communities, nor the absence of conflict, but we rest secure solely that we rest in Christ Jesus and therefore under Christ’s protection and rule.

But the means of that protection, lies through the work of the Gospel.  The gospel bears the responsibility to carry the human into the realm of Christ.  The gospel carries the power to transfer a person, even a Gentile person into the kingdom and oversight of Christ.  The gospel carries the burden to find and relocate a community of people from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light.  And for this responsibility, and in this power and under this burden, the gospel summons people to participate.  People like Paul, but more poignantly a community like us. 

Will we answer the gospel’s call?  Will we bear the responsibility to share this news?  Will we be instruments of this power?  Will we bear our burden of the gospel to make disciples and heirs of God?  May this Epiphany we bear our co-responsibilities with the gospel, may we be co-channels of God’s power, may we carry the co-burdens of the gospel.  May we be the children God has created and redeemed us to be fellow heirs, members of the same body, sharers in the promise, in Christ Jesus, by the gospel, and I would add to God’s glory, Amen. 

¹⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
        ¹⁵ “‘In those days and at that time
                         I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
                         he will do what is just and right in the land.
        ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved
                         and Jerusalem will live in safety.
      This is the name by which it^[a] will be called:
                        The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’

The Snow is coming.  Nothing creates a sense of expectation like hearing those fabled words from a professional meteorologist or from a friend that watches the Weather Channel.  How much are we supposed to get?  Do I have enough groceries?  Will we have school?  Do I have gas for the snow blower?  Do we have to travel?  The excitement and trepidation build in our hearts and minds as we prepare for the Lake Effect to interrupt our routines and normalcy.  The concerns and the anxiety increase until the last snowflake has fallen, and the sun shines once again.

Just as it is with coming snow, so too is it with the coming days of God.  We also have a sense of expectation hearing the Word of God and its promises of future action.  ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.’  The promised action of God is coming, it is on the way, it is immanent, and we must prepare accordingly.  The excitement builds in our hearts and minds as we prepare not for a Nor’easter, but for the visit of God.  The status quo of our lives is disturbed and interrupted by the new thing that God is doing, the thing promised to Israel and Judah is almost here.

But what is that new thing that God promised and is almost here?  In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness.  The new thing that God is doing and is almost here is the coming of a righteous King from the bloodline of David, the great King of the Hebrew people.  The name of that coming righteous King from the bloodline of David, heir to his family’s throne and ruler of his people is Jesus of Nazareth. 

But for us Americans and for us Gentiles, the new thing we should be expecting is that Jesus is not just King of Israel, but King of the entire world.  He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.  The King of Israel is in fact King of all creation; and his rule will not be one of tyranny and corruption, but He shall execute justice and rightness in the earth.  No longer a leader or politician seeking to force policies and compliance but a giver of liberty and freedom.  No longer a monarch or dictator seeking fortune on the backs of the masses of people, but a right ruler that lives to empower people to live the True life of loving God and each other.  This is what is coming and what we need to be expecting.

Can we think of any more needed forces in our world at this time that the freedom and security that Jesus can provide over all creation?  In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely.  In Jeremiah’s time of invasion, exile and corruption, the hope offered by the prophet was the balm for the people of the land.  Freedom instead of occupation by the Babylonians.  Safety instead of Monarchial incompetence.  Do we not need the same?  Freedom instead of slavery to sin, death, and the fallen world.  Safety instead of pandemic anxieties, economic inflation, and nuclear intimidation.  This is what God through Jeremiah offers us, a righteous King with a righteous Kingdom.

We are reminded during this Advent Season that Jesus is coming, to execute Justice and Rightness in all creation.  This is the sunrise from heaven that break upon the darkness of our world: to illumine, to cleanse, to correct, and to give life.  Remember these days are surely coming and expect them with Hope.