Readings:
Ezekiel 37
Ephesians 5-6

Ezekiel 37

This chapter begins with Ezekiel being taken to a valley filled with sun bleached bones. These bones represent the dead-in-sin Israelites that are now in exile because of their multiple sins. God tells him through this vision that he will restore the people and bring them back to life in the land they were promised.

Then there’s another oracle that’s given to him that involves two sticks, representing the two kingdoms that split after Solomon, being made one. This seems to be a messianic prophecy to me, because it’s not just about restoring them to their land, it also mentions a new and eternal covenant. We know that was inaugurated by Christ.

Ephesians 5-6

Paul urges his readers to imitate God, and the best way we can do this is through loving unconditionally and also forgiving unconditionally. It’s hard, but anything worth doing can be hard.

Paul also urges the Ephesians, and us, to give up the vices and habits they had before coming to faith. He gives a list of things common among pagans in the ancient world, and really it’s not too different from what many of us struggle with today. We might say we aren’t idolatrous like they were, but even though we might not have shrines to Baal or Apollo in our homes we engage in idolatry all the time. He says that someone who is covetous is an idolator. Desiring things above God is to make them an idol. We all do that from time to time.

He also lists some things as “impure” and says they shouldn’t even be spoken of, much less committed. The fact that he’s speaking to members of the church, people he calls brothers, and says they’re in danger of not entering heaven due to these sins of they’re is no repentance means that Paul is teaching you can forfeit your salvation through mortal sins.

Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

CCC 1861

Paul calls on proper ordering in family life between husbands and wives, and children and parents. Wives are to be subject to their husbands, not as a slave and master relationship, but as the body is under the head but they function together indispensably. The head and body are connected and don’t lord their respective roles over each other but work in unison for the task at hand. He also commands husbands to love and nourish their wives like Christ loved the church. This means that a husband’s role is to love to the point of sacrificing himself for his bride and to care for her as he would his own body. This is a far cry from how marriages were viewed in the ancient world, where a wife was little more than a slave, but here she’s elevated to the role of a loving parter.

He also addresses slaves and masters, and while this may be shocking to us, this was an everyday situation in the ancient world. In fact, through most of human history, and in almost every culture, there was the institution of slavery. This was just a fact of life, and so Paul tried giving some Christian advice inside of this institution that he didn’t have any illusions of changing any time soon.

Finally, Paul instructs them to guard and cloth themselves with the armor of God. We are in a spiritual battle, so we must fight with spiritual weapons and use spiritual armor. The devil is real, and he wants to destroy us, but through God and his graces we don’t need to be afraid.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Ezekiel 38-39
Philippians 1