PUT ON THE NEW SELF

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

Being the capital of the province of Asia, Ephesus was one of the great cities in the classical world. With a good harbour, Ephesus was an important cultural and trading centre that became famous for the temple of Artemis, considered one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, for its library and a large theatre. In Ephesus, Artemis was celebrated mainly as the goddess of fertility and childbirth. We should not be surprised that this milieu greatly influenced the Christians living there; they were continuously being pulled back to the old ways they had vowed to abandon. 

On this matter, Paul advised them: “I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live.” These words must be applied to us since we live in a similar situation. The Olympic games taking place in Paris are a clear reminder of that. The opening ceremony was an affirmation and proclamation of pagan values set forward against Christian values. The golden bull represents the false god that the people of God chose to worship turning their backs on the true God, the living God who has set them free. Abandoning God to worship idols, humanity falls into all kinds of degradation and corruption. And they brought back the bacchanalia, festivities in honour of Bacchus (Dionysus in Greece), “the god of wine, fertility and ecstasy”.  Like in the old bacchanalia, chaos, confusion and disgusting behaviour are apparent. In an act of mockery, they used the Last Supper to represent the feast of the gods. It is good to remember that in Rome, during the Republic,  in 186 BC, the bacchanalia were forbidden by the Senate.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul spells out what our attitude must be: 

“You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.”

Our old self and behaviour must give place to a new way of thinking and behaving. We must acquire a new self, according to God’s design. If we remain faithful to God, the world will hate us, because they prefer darkness to light.

In the same letter to the Ephesians, Paul warns us:

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Ep 5:3-5).