PUT ON A NEW SELF

XVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Ephesians 4:17,20-24

I remember that in Mozambique, during the first years of independence, following what they called scientific socialism, FRELIMO had the political goal of creating a new society and a new man. To achieve that, they were intent on destroying the old social and political structures, which they classified as oppressive. For a human being to be completely free, he must be made anew. However, that project was no more than a dream and the effort to implement it brought even bigger oppression and exploitation. Religion was denounced as obscurantism, thus being considered an obstacle to progress, which should be removed. Considered part of the colonial inheritance, Christianism should be put aside as something alien that had served the only purpose of justifying the colonial oppression.

Society is seen as the field in which a continuous and many times fierce struggle takes place. It is the struggle between the oppressed and the oppressor. In classical Marxism, the proletariat would rise against the bourgeoisie and create a new society in which the means of production would belong to all (the State) and be at the service of all. However, all the attempts at implementing this ideology have been a complete failure. The communist experiment in the Soviet Union, in China, Cambodia did not bring freedom, justice and development, but oppression, exploitation, enslavement and poverty. Despite that, the Marxist ideology that interprets and analyses society as a continuous struggle between oppressed and oppressor continues to thrive and to inspire many social and political movements. Some groups consider themselves to be victims of a society that is structured at the service of their oppressors. That society must be destroyed to create a new one, where equity may reign.

The proposal of creating a new man who would usher in a new society sounded very appealing, and with its goal of establishing a free and fair society, without injustice and exploitation, it brings to memory many Christian themes. In his dialogue with Nicodemus, Jesus said that we must be born again (Jn 3:3), that is we must become a new kind of person. However, according to Jesus, for us to be born again, we must be born from above, that is, from God. Paul speaks the same kind of language: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2 Co 5:17).

In this Sunday’s second reading, Paul calls on the Ephesians to “put on the new self that has been created in God’s way” (Ep 4:24). Paul is not speaking about social, economic or political policies to bring about a revolution and create a new society. Paul speaks about a personal relationship with Christ, who fills us with His Spirit and transforms us from within, to become children of God. The Spirit who is poured upon us enables us to give up “our old way of life” and to “put aside our old self”, in which we had become slaves of our “illusory desires”.

As Christians, we cannot “go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live” (Ep 4:17). Our lives will become full of meaning and purpose if we follow the way which we learnt from Jesus Christ. And Paul speaks of a “spiritual revolution”, which will take place when we allow ourselves to be moulded by Christ.