Where it All Ends Up!
Ever wonder how human history, not to mention the final destiny of the planet we inhabit ends up? Surely Jesus Christ is just one of the many greats. Right? I mean, Christianity can’t be the end all, the final word for humanity. Or is it? Check out these three versions of something Paul wrote to the Ephesians (1:10).
He (God) purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfilment in him. (PHILLIPS)
He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. (The Message)
He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (NIV)
This idea of everything being “consummated in Christ” or being “brought together and summed up in him” or being “unified in him” is the translation of one very long Greek word (anakephalaiōsasthai). Told you it was long! Paul uses it here to describe the final cosmic reconciliation and unity that will some glad day be achieved only through Jesus Christ. He’s the organizing center of everything everywhere (i.e., heaven and on earth). He is the One who will make all the parts work together in harmony as they were originally intended. He gathers everything together into one unified whole with him at the epicenter.
The only other time this king-sized term is used in the New Testament, by Paul again. In Romans 13:9 he says that all the commandments are “summed up” in this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Neighbor love summarizes everything God requires.
Think there might be a connection between the two? It’s all going to wind up with Christ as the center of it all. He’s the point of everything. He’s no afterthought, no mere cog in the machine, or one of many. The grand scheme of things all comes back to him. He’s the hub around which everything revolves. But in the meantime (especially in these particularly mean times), what God requires of us is simple: Love everyone as we love ourselves. On our way to the consummation of everything in Christ– love.
Love is what we do now in anticipation of the universe finding its center in Christ. When we love our neighbors, even the ones we don’t much like, it points back to Christ and mysteriously furthers the unity of everything.
Notice I said “neighbors” because that’s what Paul said. And he said it because that’s what Jesus said. And when Jesus said it, he told a story in which a typically despised, cult-following, mixed race Samaritan outdoes the most respected religious leaders of the time in neighboring a half-dead Jew on the side of the road.
So, neighbors aren’t restricted to the people living next door. Your neighbors are everyone, especially those with whom you have nothing on earth in common. If you think hard enough you might be able to come up with that kind of “neighbor.”
So, to sum up. It’s all gonna come down to Jesus! He’s always been the hub of the universe. He’s where and how it all ends up! But before that time when he brings all things together in him, what is it we have to do? What do we do in anticipation of the summation of it all? Begin today loving our neighbors near and far.
