Unity with a Higher Purpose [Proper 13B - Ephesians 4:1-16]

 The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Ephesians 4:1-16

 

Unity with a Higher Purpose

 

In an age of tremendous division and rancor, one might be tempted to revisit the merits of the work accomplished on the plains of Shinar.  Historically, the organizers of said work have been criticized for their efforts.  But, I wonder, in light of our own partisan conflicts and ideological turmoil, if those ancient efforts should not be at least conditionally lauded.

 

Perhaps you remember the story; it is found in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.  In it, all of the world’s people gather on the plains of Shinar and decide to build a city.  Together.  The plans, apparently developed by universal consensus, featured a tower of great significance.  The tower would stand at the center of their venture and their identity.  So impressive was their single-mindedness, that even the hosts of heaven, who had apparently been monitoring this united mass of humanity, felt threatened.  They report back to God, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

 

You likely know the rest of the story: God confuses their language; the people abandon their project; the city is appropriately named Babel; and in the millennia since unity has often been elusive.  In this creative narrative of primordial history, the Bible offers us a brilliant mythological explanation for a world in which there are many tribes and many languages and little agreement.

 

What can be troubling about this ancient story is that is appears that God is offended by unity.  And that seems to contradict today’s passage from Ephesians – a passage that presents very much pro-unity.  The author of this epistle begs his audience to make every effort to maintain unity.  He then proceeds to spout off a formidable lists of ones – a passage that is familiar to us as the opening acclamation of our baptismal liturgy – that liturgy itself a performative act of mystical union.  “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”  This theme of unity, this emphasis on oneness, is the theme that unites today’s passage. 

 

But it is not the only thing that the author of Ephesians values.  Unity is a worthy pursuit, a lovely thing, but in and of itself it is insufficient.  And that is why God cancelled the tower of Babel before it was finished. 

 

In the Genesis story the people were united around a common purpose; an idea brought them together.  Again, a common purpose is not a bad thing; it just depends on what exactly is that purpose.  In the Tower of Babel story, as the tale is commonly known, the purpose is explicit, and problematic.  The people say, “Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.”  The purpose was pride, national pride.  And in this story, as the writer of Proverbs later observes, pride comes before destruction. 

 

Unity, you see, is not enough.  Too often, in the history of our species, humans have united around unholy causes, united by common enemy or destructive pride, to exclude or destroy.  And this is why the writer of Ephesians tempers his hymn to unity with the blessed virtue of humility.  The word “humility” is derived from the same Latin root as the word for soil.  Humble people are then grounded.  That is the opposite of what we see in the Babel story, in which the people intentionally divorced themselves from the ground – physically, spiritually, and metaphorically.    

 

The humility for which our epistle calls is founded on the theological belief that all we possess is divine gift – even life itself.  God thoughtfully and carefully crafted each and every person from the stuff of earth.  God formed each person in the divine image; God animates us with the Holy Spirit; God blesses our lives with underserved, abundant grace.  And to keep us humble, God makes us dependent – on the mercy of God and the kindness of others. 

 

In this epistle God is the Creator, defined not only by the actions in the beginning, but by an active participation in a Creation that is ever in the process of becoming.  God who is above all and through all and in all.  God is the air we breathe and the ground of our being.  It is God who calls us; God who adopts us as members of the household of faith; God who makes us members of the Body of Christ through baptism; God who chooses to love us with an eternal and impossible love; God who showers our lives with grace; God who blesses us with gifts – the most precious being the ability to love and to be loved. 

 

And God does so, God blesses us, forms us, makes us and molds us, for a purpose.  Unlike the builders of Babel, the purpose is not egoic.  God’s purpose is founded on the immensity of God’s selfless, active love.  We were made, and are being made, to be in relationship, to cultivate reconciled relationships that make earth feel more like Heaven and make Heaven feel possible on this earth.  As in the story of the beginning, relationship is the crown of Creation.  God is calling us together – and for a reason: to work together, to manifest God’s love in our world, to heal this broken world with the sweetness of divine love.  We are, after all, made in the image of a God who is Love.  We are growing into the full stature of the Christ who is Love Incarnate.

 

It is such a beautiful calling, such a staggering responsibility, that humility is the only honest response.  God is recreating the world through us, through every act of love, through every word of peace, through every silent prayer, through every harmonious hymn of praise.  God means to work through the Church, this united Body of Christ, composed of diverse persons with diverse gifts, to usher in a divine dream: the reign of God. 

 

There is a reason Jesus prayed so fervently for the unity of the Church.  While God can and does work through us as individuals, God can do even more through a diverse, and diversely-gifted, community of Christians dedicated to the transformative power of love in this world.  When we, as humans, set aside our selfish desires and unite around a common purpose, we can do impressive things.  When that common purpose is love – when love is the reason we gather, when love is the force that holds us together, when love is our mission – then we can make God’s dream for this world come true.