Today’s blog uses the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:

HOSTAGES MURDERED BY TERRORISTS AT GAS FACILITY

EPHESIANS 3: 1-11

This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for^* Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—²for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you,³and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words,⁴a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.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.

7 Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.⁸Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,⁹and to make everyone see^* what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in^* God who created all things;¹⁰so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.¹¹This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,¹²in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.^*13I pray therefore that you^* may not lose heart over my sufferings for you; they are your glory.

Ephesus-one of Paul’s new communities

The writer of this letter, who is not St Paul but one of his disciples writing in his name, doesn’t move his argument forward very quickly, but rather circles round its main point again and again, adding detail as he does so. In this passage he again focuses on his view that a united humanity has been from the start God’s purpose. God’s revelation to Israel has been simply a stage in his plan of revealing himself in Jesus Messiah to all humanity, as the God of all, loving all men and women equally.

I sometimes wonder how an educated and sceptical Roman citizen might have taken the news that the God of some remote barbarians had humbled himself to accept Romans! Might he not have interpreted this letter as evidence that the notoriously arrogant Jews had humbled themselves to recognise that any true God had to be a universal God without favourites?

We need to remember, especially in the case of St. Paul and his disciples, that their letters give us the Christian story from the perspective of Jews moving from a nationalistic to a universal faith. They very nearly ascribe to God the shift of concern which they themselves are making. The good thing here is the admission that in fact God has not changed – the coming into existence of a humanity united as one family under God has always been the purpose of creation.Now his messengers have caught up with his purpose and are announcing it to all nations. The riches of Christ are boundless in the sense that they are not limited by race or place.

An important but easily missed aspect of the message is that it has to be announced not just to people but to “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”. Who are they? They are the representatives of the dominant earthly powers, the political and cultural forces that control human beings. They are to be faced with the secret purpose of God, which will depose them and liberate human beings. The growth of communities that welcome all people as equals and reject all prejudice is a sign that the reign of these “authorities” is drawing to an end. In its own quiet way, this is a revolutionary statement. The author thinks that these communities under God will challenge not only the nationalistic nd racial prejudices of his world, but also the transnational superpower of Rome.

How hopeful all this sounds on a day when we are reading of the cruel and unnecessary murder of oil workers in Algeria. Hardly a day passes at present when there is not news of killings motivated by prejudice as well as greed, lust for power and all the more usual motives for evil actions. This is especially wicked when the prejudice is fuelled by religion. We do not need to be as innocent as Richard Dawkins who thinks that prejudice would vanish if religion was abolished. We can admit that prejudice is wilful and grows from the human heart. But people of faith need to acknowledge that bad religion can fuel prejudice especially if it fails to purge expressions of prejudice from its holy books or denigrates the place of reason in human affairs.

All claims that God favours one race, one faith, one nation more than others are false; and when we are condemning the prejudice of another faith or nation, we should look very carefully at our own. The Letter to the Ephesians is wonderful evidence that men and women of faith can journey beyond their origins into the common-wealth of creatures which God desires.

Mark 2:13-22

Jesus Calls Levi

13 Jesus^* went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.¹⁴As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

15 And as he sat at dinner^* in Levi’s^* house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting^* with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him.¹⁶When the scribes of^* the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat^* with tax-collectors and sinners?’¹⁷When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

The Question about Fasting

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people^* came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’¹⁹Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.²⁰The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

21 ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.²²And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’^*

The Hamas approach to collaborators

One by one Jesus tackles the prejudices of his nation and religion: against collaborators with the enemy (tax collectors); against “sinners” those who show no respect for Torah or Sharia; and against those who neglect the pious customs of religion. The old religion with its prejudices is like old clothes or old wine. New cloth is for new clothes and new wine needs new wineskins. The new content of faith demands a new form, Jesus says.

 Notice that Jesus is not changing religious customs because he thinks they’re outdated or unfashionable; or because he wants to appeal to the “youth culture”. His changes are necessary. If the religion is no longer saying the same thing it cannot keep its old customs. The demand for women bishops in the Anglican communion is not because as is sometimes said, “It’s the 21st century!” but rather because the church has changed its doctrine about women and asserted their complete equality with men. It should be clear about this so that those who say they are upholding an old custom can be seen as upholding sexual inequality.

Jesus demonstrates the robust integrity of action and speech required to represent God’s love in the world.