I spent much of my life unsure what the Resurrection was about. Saint Paul knew that I wasn’t the only one, so he wrote the letter to the Ephesians, declaring
“the exceeding greatness of [God’s] power in us believers, according to the working of the might of his strength, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead, and seating him at his right hand in heaven” (1:19-20).
Three things to notice:
- This work has an effect: the Resurrection of Jesus and his Ascension into heaven.
- This work is at work in us too.
- This isn’t just any work, but a “powerful” and “mighty” and “strong” one. The point? This is God’s great work in the world, the main answer to “what has God done?”
God works with one pattern: first in Christ, now in us. Everything is “summed up” in Christ—as if he is the thesis statement of an essay, and we’re the example paragraphs that follow (1:10). The broad lines of the pattern are clear: When we were “dead in sin,” God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heaven (2:5-6). “With Christ” is the key. This pattern starts at Baptism, launching us to our place with Jesus in heaven.
In the meantime, the work isn’t on hold, but rather makes us grow more and more into the pattern of Christ. Paul says it clearly at the end of his letter: “From now on, put on power in the Lord and in the might of his strength” (6:10). Then he elaborates: “Put on the full armor of God so as to have the power to stand against the trickery of the Devil” (6:10-11). This “full armor” includes all the goodness and virtue that we strive for in this life. Though the image is of clothing—something on the outside—this armor becomes more and more part of us. Like a good soldier, we grow accustomed to our armor, growing in strength along with our comrades.
The last and most important point? This is God’s work in us. He works it because he wants to, because he chooses us: We are “marked out beforehand according to the purpose of the one who works all things by the determination of his will” (1:11). It is his generosity, his favor, his desire: “you are saved by grace” (2:5, 8).
All of this, beginning to the end, is the pattern of the Resurrection at work in us. We rise from the dead every day, so long as we stand firm in Christ. And our hope is not discouraged, for he is “powerful beyond all to do more than we ask or understand according to the power at work in us. To him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations of every age. Amen” (3:20-21).
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Photo by Thays Orrico on Unsplash
