Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
Paul once counted himself among the dead and disobedient people of the world. He, however, did receive mercy from God and afterwards preached the Gospel. What was Paul’s authority for his preaching? It did not come from Paul so that he could boast of it. It did not come from Paul’s good luck. Rather it came to him as a stewardship, as something entrusted to him by God.
Paul, then, preached not himself, for his own benefit.; he preached for the Ephesians and for us.
Paul had used to think that God’s word was only for him and for his Jewish people. His encounter with Christ taught him that God’s message is for everyone, Jew and Gentile. He learned that the Gentiles are coheirs with Jews in receiving the Holy Spirit.
God is much bigger than any single group of people. God’s bigness is bigger than the people and everything else in the universe. This was Paul’s discovery. This was also something that the principalities and authorities, the angels, did not know. This is what animated Paul. This was not something to large to believe or too incredible to be true; this was something so huge that it could only be believed. This love of God for us is so huge that Paul had to announce it to others. It is so huge that each of us must be compelled to preach it ourselves.