There’s a call to battle in today’s scripture. I don’t know how your Christianity goes but mine moves from reassurance to challenge and back again. Sometimes the Faith is like a hot bath you in which you can soak up the love of God. Other times it’s a cold shower bracing you for action – and that was my feeling when I looked through the lectionary readings for the 11th Sunday after Trinity in Year B of our three year cycle.
In the lectionary the Old Testament reading is always chosen to illuminate the Gospel. I wonder if you spot these connections week by week? Beat the preacher to his game! No rewards for seeing today’s connection – it’s pretty obvious isn’t it? Joshua’s call for the tribes to choose the Lord over against other gods is paralleled by Peter’s pledge of allegiance to Jesus in John 6.
Both passages are about the need for decidedness in the face of the revelation of God, the Old Covenant revelation through Moses and Joshua and that provided in his flesh by Jesus. In the Old Testament reading there is a decided unanimity. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord says Joshua and the people say: far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. In the New Testament Gospel reading there isn’t unanimity but division. We read many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him so that Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Christianity is assurance and challenge. It unifies but it has always been a divisive business.
I wonder what you make of the Ephesians passage? Here the Christian is described as a soldier putting on armour to stand against the wiles of the devil. Here the division is more acute as St Paul launches into a reminder of the resources granted to believers in spiritual conflict. I want to pay particular attention to this passage because it contains some very helpful teaching for us as Christian disciples.
First though a word about the devil. Its part of orthodox Christian faith to believe in the devil but he’s never highlighted in the formal creeds. Historically the Church has been reserved about the devil and at times forgetful of him. C.S.Lewis wrote of two opposed errors, forgetting him and overplaying him. The devil if father of lies. His only power is that of denying what is true and luring us with his wiles to forget what’s true to mistakenly serve ourselves.
Perhaps the best way to see what’s at stake in Christian spiritual warfare is to go directly into our second reading and look at the armour of God.
10Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Truth and righteousness – our belt and breastplate. You could say truth and integrity, what God is and what we are becoming. If we are in a war with the devil it is a war that has past its decisive point. It is a mopping up operation. God who made us free and saw evil powers threaten our freedom came himself to break those powers by the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. Facing up the power of sickness, he provides healing. This means that the truth that is his – our belt – becomes ours – the breastplate of righteousness and integrity. As Christians we stand against anything that says ‘you’re on your own’, anything that exaggerates the powers of evil.
Twenty years ago I worked among the Amerindians of Guyana. The forest people believe in many evil spirits, above all what they call ‘kenaima’. A youth around 18 was fishing one day and felt kenaima attack him from behind. The evil spirit is said to go up the rectum. Whether it was a physical attack by the demon or psychological I do not know. What I can tell you is that when I came to his hammock the life was literally ebbing away from him and his family were planning where his grave should be. To be attacked by kenaima was a death sentence without respite in the old village religion.
We encouraged the youth to put his armour on and prepared him for the Sacrament of Anointing and Holy Communion. Adapting words from St. John’s first letter we bid him believe: ‘Jesus in me is greater than kenaima’. Most of the village gathered into Church and the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for a prayer vigil for the boy during which a priest took Holy Communion to him. A vigil of prayer and praise to God continued all night as the boy’s strength returned. The next Sunday he was with the Music group playing the guitar at the Eucharist.
Whether this was a demonic attack or entrapment in a wrong way of thinking the truth of Jesus was seen to set him free. I am convinced that his right understanding of Holy Communion as bringing the power and presence of Jesus right into him saved his life. Have you ever seen Holy Communion as a healing? Well, of course, it is - the Psalmist says that in the Lord’s Presence there is the fullness of joy, health to our bones. If you really believe Holy Communion is what it is - a meeting deep down with the Lord - you can expect the sacrament to make a difference. Isn’t that why the Church gives us those last words to say as she invites us to the Sacrament, ‘Lord I am not worthy to receive You but only say the word and I shall be healed’?
The sacraments are part of God’s armour – but back to God’s word!
15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
Do you put your shoes on day by day with the thought that you’ve got some good news of peace to carry to someone? I don’t always, but it’s a good thought, faithful to scripture. The good news of God’s love brings peace and where people are chronically anxious and agitated they have slipped from the truth by the devil’s wiles so to speak. The scriptures today talk overall of a call to conflict but moist times the warfare of Christians is against wrong conflict isn’t it? Pouring oil on troubled waters.
16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Faith is trusting in God's word, that he will provide for our needs and protect us from the evil one. In our human frailty we often find it difficult to fully trust and believe God but, as it says in Hebrews 12:2 that God is the author, "perfecter" and finisher of our faith so we can and should ask him for the completion of our faith. Putting on the armour of God daily in our prayer time is one way of doing this. It’s like the prayer of the man in Mark 9:24: Lord I believe, banish my unbelief!
I don’t know if you’re a Star Trek fan, but think of the analogy of a starship's electromagnetic shield and our faith. When the starship's shields were at 100%, the enemy torpedoes were unable to damage the ship. If the ship lost power, the shields failed and the torpedoes were free to wreak havoc on the disabled ship. When we start believing lies, our faith shield's power source is damaged, allowing the enemy's fiery darts to hit us.
We lose this power by believing in unforgiveness or holding to lustful images we see in passing – so many of those around – or swallowing the subtle arguments for letting the needy find their own resources. The devil is a great source of convenient thinking!
17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The helmet is our assurance with the whole church that God has called us and saved us. Someone saw me the other week in the village and said ‘Oh it’s Father John – I didn’t recognise you in your cycle helmet!’. Personally I find the discipline of putting that helmet on tedious, but so also do I find my daily prayer time and the discipline of putting on the armour of God. Being a Christian is a matter of both assurance – knowing you’re on the Lord’s side and he on yours – and discipline – it doesn’t happen automatically! The military images we’re using today are unfashionable – I even had to rescue the old hymn on Ephesians 6 banned from our new hymn book – but they are a good reminder. If we follow these disciplines people may not recognise us, to come back to the helmet, but they will recognise Christ in us.
Our Sword is the word of God, as I hope I am demonstrating – we need to be nourished at two tables, that of the Sacrament and that of the Bible. The Eucharist has these two tables in effect – but one of them we can go back to day by day through bible reading.
Lastly 18Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.
To recap we are called to speak out our Christian faith to ourselves day by day by putting on the armour of God. This armour is the belt of truth, the breastplate of integrity, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of the assurance of salvation and the sword of our equipping from the bible. All of these help us as we pray and receive the sacraments.
Let’s reflect now for a moment on how much we’re dressed for battle today and ask the Lord to further equip us for the struggles of life through the power of this Eucharistic meal of word and sacrament.
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