He has overcome the world!

I’ve been offering reflections on Ephesians 1. Here is the complete text again. I highlighted the part I wish to consider today:

[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead . . . (Eph 1:17-20) 

And from today’s Gospel (Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter):

                In the world you will have trouble, but take courage. I have conquered the world. (John 16:33)

Notice how all of this flows from the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is the power Paul refers to in Ephesians. That is also what made it possible for Jesus to say “I have overcome the world.”

That is the power we can draw upon whenever we have to lift ourselves up from episodes of sin and failure. That is the power we can draw upon when we suddenly become aware of a weakness of character that we had never noticed before—for example, when we suddenly understand just how selfish we can be at times—or controlling, or prideful, or cynical or contemptuous or . . .

This reassurance that Jesus gives his disciples--that He has overcome the world--will not do them any good at the moment when the world seemingly gets the better of Him, when He is crushed by the force of evil in the world, when it seems as if all the good work He had done on earth was for nothing.

No, it won’t do them any good at all, until He is risen from the dead and shows Himself to them. And, of course, the absolute demonstration of this power will be on the day of Pentecost when they will receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the day we are praying for and which we will celebrate this coming Sunday.

How about those moments and times when we experience near annihilation by the force of evil in the world or in our lives? What must it be like to be a homeless person or a refugee without a country? What can help us when we are crushed by the knowledge of just how much craziness there is in the world these days, or how many innocent people are suffering because of the hatred or greed of others?

What can help us? Perhaps the revelation we have received about the intensity and unlimited scope of God’s power, God Who raises from the dead. Perhaps the revelation that in the course of time, all will be set right. Consider, for example, the Song of Mary that the Church sings every night at Vespers, the Magnificat which speaks of the total reversal of the misery in the world:

He has shown the strength of his arm.

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of His servant Israel (substitute your own name)

for He has remembered his promise of mercy . . .

Sometimes when I chant this canticle, it seems to me as if Mary is singing it from heaven at the end of time and describing what will have already happened in our world.

Take courage today. Remember who you are and what has been done for you. Hope in what will be done for you. And at all times, times filled with joy or times filled with disillusionment and emptiness,

be at peace.

God bless you.