“Best is Yet to Come”
“Best is Yet to Come”
Ephesians 5: 8-14
Ephesians 5: 8-14
Back in the 1970s, there was a popular play out entitled Man of La Mancha. It was based on a Miguel de Cervantes story of Don Quixote. Don Quixote is a man of adventure and romance but he’s also a medieval knight who is quite neurotic. He charges windmills and gets into some strange exploits as he travels the Spanish countryside accompanied by his servant Sancho Panza. On one occasion the chivalrous knight meets a barmaid at an inn named Aldonza. Aldonza is also a prostitute on the side. At the inn she has a lot of admirers who validate her in her lifestyle. “Aldonza” means battler. She’s loud, contentious, and hardened, even jaded by the demeaning self-destructive way men treat her. She’s true to no one but herself.
But the poet knight senses something else in Aldonza – something beautiful. He sees virtue within her and affirms it over and over again. Then he gives her a new name – Dulcinea – meaning sweet and pleasant lady – associated with a new life-script. At first, she utterly denies it. Dulcinea, a lady. She knows she is a woman, but not a lady. She had long ago compromised her integrity and faithfulness to God. Her long-time script, her current way of living is overpowering. She writes off Don Quixote as a wild-eyed fantasizer, but the knight is persistent. He makes continual deposits of unconditional love and gradually it penetrates her calloused heart. The positive affirmations enter deep into her psyche and strike a chord – connecting with her nature as a child that had long been suppressed by the power of the dark side. Ever so slightly she starts to respond. Little by little she begins to change her lifestyle. She believes and acts from her new paradigm to the dismay and even anger of the men and others around her. But it’s not long before the old scripts begin to get the best of her. She reverts to her old ways, but it’s then that Don Quixote on his deathbed calls for her and sings to her that beautiful song “The Impossible Dream.” Lovingly, he looks into her eyes and whispers, “Never forget. You are Dulcinea.”
What is Don Quixote urging her to do? - to change the trajectory of her life. Now it’s from light to darkness – going the way of the fallen human nature and descending deeper into sin. So, instead he beseeches her to move from darkness into light. Did you know that distinguishes us as at odds with the people of the Bible. Let me ask you: Which comes first – the day or the night? I’ll bet now that if I asked each one of you, your answer would be: Night comes when the day is over. That’s what most people would say and that's how the world sees it. Day leads into night. It’s the way of Aldonza. But it’s not how God sees it.
Please think with me for a moment. If the day leads to night, then everything goes from light to darkness. Everything gets darker. Everything is in the process of darkening and so the way of the world. We go from day to night – from youth to aging, from strength to weakness, and ultimately from life to death. Right? From day to night is the way of the world, but it’s not the way of God. How did the creation begin in the first chapter of Genesis? “Then was evening and there was morning.” The day began with the night – night and then day. In God, it is the night that comes first and that’s why Passover begins with sunset. Do you see the huge difference? The world moves from day to night and so, the Aldonza’s, the children of the world live from day to night. But the children of the light, the Dulcineas, live from night to day. They are born in the darkness and move to the day. And for you who are God’s children that is to be the order of your life. You are to go from darkness to light, from weakness to strength, from despair to hope, from guilt to innocence, from tears to joy, and from death to life. Every night of your life will lead to the dawn. Is that the way that you see it? We are not to see ourselves as fading into the sunset but instead live according to His sacred order of time.
Indeed, as I reflected on all of this, it’s the same life changing understanding that St. Paul was trying to get across in today’s lesson from the book of Ephesians. We hear him describing their downward trajectory from light into increasing Aldonza darkness in the second chapter.
“ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live
when you followed the way of this world… All of us also lived among them at one
time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.”
But here’s where there came the great change of trajectory:
“Because of His great love for us God Who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ
While we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace that you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realms.”
God was in the process of transforming those people into His Dulcineas, the sweet and pleasant lady, the Bride of Christ. He gave them His Spirit to change their old life scripts. At length, He flooded them with a long list of spiritual blessings which they had inherited through faith. They are adopted sons and daughters of the God of the universe and thus spiritual billionaires.
Yet, St. Paul has been around for a long time, and He knew how easy it was for believers to wonder, like an Aldonza, about the new identity. Just how authentic is it? Always there would be the danger to revert – the powerful pull to switch back to the downward spiral of light to darkness. Regarding the whole Greek and Roman world, St. Paul later terms it, “this present darkness.” And for good reason. In Athens, for example, a temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was built on the profits of prostitution. In Corinth, many of the temples were run by priestesses, who were in fact, sacred prostitutes. Cicero, the great Roman philosopher, argues with great eloquence that young men should be allowed to visit prostitutes. Moreover, in Ephesus itself, the temple of Artemis (Diana), one of the Nine Wonders of the World, was served by many prostitute priestesses.
Great was the darkness, and in response, just prior to our lesson, St. Paul completed a list of behaviors all of which were given from negative to positive and thus characterize those whose trajectory was from darkness into light.
Don’t lie, instead tell the truth.
Don’t let your anger lead to sin, instead deal with it.
Don’t steal but instead work and be generous.
Don’t speak in an unwholesome way, but instead seek to edify.
Don’t be bitter and unkind, but instead be compassionate and loving.
Don’t be obscene about sex, but instead be thankful for it.
That great switch in trajectory – from darkness to light – and Paul assured the Ephesians through his promise of praying that God the Father would enlighten the eyes of their heart to know they had a special calling. With the Holy Spirit’s power, they would not dim out, but instead walk as children of light.
The challenges were very real for those Aldonza’s in Ephesus to make that switch from darkness to light. Nor are they any less daunting for us today where there appears to be an increased darkening in our very sensual and troubled culture. We are Dulcineas but sometimes everything around us seems to murmur the opposite. If I get cut off waiting on the phone, or my internet gets messed up, I want to pound my fist. I tell my wife I need 6G though there is none. How often do I fall prey to looking the wrong way, or to greedy motives, or entertain thoughts of hurt or pride that makes it hard for me to forget and forgive?
Yet, by faith all of us are enabled to believe and live out the impossible dream. St. Paul offers us this promise: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.” Yet let there be no misunderstanding. We’re caught up in the midst of a cultural battle between the spiritual forces of light versus the darkness and there’s no middle ground. It’s about manifesting the fruit of the light – goodness, righteousness, and truth rather than the selfish and fruitless deeds of darkness. It’s played out around us as we positively affirm others that they are children of the light – urging them to stop believing the lies they believe about themselves. It’s speaking the truth in love – calling a spade a spade when it comes to the works of darkness rather than compromising our values in the name of tolerance. It’s letting your light of grace shine so people can see that there’s something better than the murky soap opera environment around them. In this way there is the work of the light that drives out the darkness – like the sun flooding in when you open the drapes in the morning. That’s our God-given trajectory – from darkness to light going way back to the first day in the book of Genesis – from weakness to strength, despair to hope, guilt to innocence, tears to joy.
In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul declares that God predestined us as Dulcineas, His children of great worth before the foundation of the world. To emphasize this truth, Ian Pitt-Watson, a professor at Fuller Seminary, once preached a sermon with one point: “Some things are loved because they are worthy; some things are worthy because they are loved.” Pitt-Watson began with examples of things we love because of their inherent worth – gorgeous models, gifted athletes, brilliant scientists, priceless works of art. Then he mentioned an object of no intrinsic worth that was greatly loved regardless. He told of his daughter Rosemary’s rag doll – dirty, thread bare but the most precious of her possessions. Like Linus with his blanket, Rosemary could not bear to face life without her doll. When the Pitt-Watsons relocated from Scotland, Rosemary chose just one article – her rag doll. When she misplaced the rag doll in the airport, Rosemary became so distraught that the family considered postponing the flight. Found at last, the doll had magical powers to calm the little girl. It had little worth in itself, but much worth in her eyes.
Then, Pitt-Watson proceeded to make a biblical application. God’s love, thankfully, is not based on our intrinsic worth. It comes by grace, a priceless gift that bestows worth on the most unlovable object. Indeed, it’s that same gift St Paul offered to the Ephesians who were once dead in transgressions and sins. This loving grace is best seen at the cross where the one greater than Don Quixote, Christ, the Prince of Peace, came for us Aldonzas, contentious, rebellious mankind. To show how great is our worth, He gave His life for us, redeeming us by His blood so that the once impossible dream would come true through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit within us, and, in the meantime, we would never forget. We are Dulcineas. Believe it. The best is yet to come.