(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
We have begun a series of readings from the letter to the Ephesians. We shall use this series in most weekdays Masses for the rest of October.
The letter shows some contrasts with the letter to the Galatians. Paul seems to have known the Galatians more personally. In Ephesians, we have an exalted Christ, the almighty ruler of the cosmos, whereas Christ in Galatians is seen more as the One who led by example through suffering and death to glory. In Galatians we may have perceived some anti-Jewish sentiment although Paul was Jewish, but Galatians begins in the Jewish style with a lengthy prayer, Jewish in style, of blessing God, which took up the readings for yesterday and for today.
Those who have studied the letters of Paul have noticed these differences. They have surmised that Paul wrote Galatians, but someone else wrote this letter. The letter shows an understanding of Christ and the Church that fits second-generation Christians more than first-generation ones. Scholars now understand that Ephesians was written after Paul’s death. None of this is to say that this letter to the Ephesians is not a valid part of the Bible. It comes to us with the authority of the apostle even though the apostle himself did not write it.
This may help us understand the thing about generations. I lived through the days of the Second Vatican Council. I experienced firsthand the need for reform and experienced the fruits of that reform. Many of you belong to that generation that saw the move from a liturgy in Latin to a liturgy in the vernacular. Those under the age of sixty-five have little if any memory of those first days. They have not experienced the changes that I have. They have a lesser connection with the Council.
We can see this also in the world of technology. I grew up with radios that plugged in and without television. I grew up with 78 rpm records and the beginnings of 45 rpm records. I knew nothing growing up about tale cassettes, CDs, DVDs, smartphones and many more advanced technologies.
Our perspective on the world has changed and our perspective on the Church has also changed. With that, our perspective on Christ and God has also changed. Similar things happened in the ancient world. Galatians shows an earlier perspective and Ephesians shows a later understanding. Both Galatians and Ephesians have much to say to us in our technological world about the importance of Christ.
The one crucified and the one at the head of the cosmos is the same one and only Christ. The Christ of Galatians and Ephesians is the same Christ as that of the Second Vatican Council and of the post- Vatican Council era. We are as much in alignment with Paul now as were the Galatians and Ephesians.