Welcome to the Foundations Daily Podcast this Thursday. As we move through the book of Ephesians, we come to Chapter 6. Our focus today will be verses 1-9, and the theme is ‘Equality in Christ – at home and at work.’

REFLECTION

If you are listening to this podcast, and you are a parent, then depending on how your week, your day, your night or even your last hour has been, you may want me to just repeat verse 1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right,” over and over again for the next 5 minutes, so you can get your children to listen to it for themselves later on! I am a parent of 3 children myself…….believe me this option is SO tempting! I have found writing this podcast incredibly challenging, knowing that this week at least 2 of my children have undoubtedly felt exasperated by my words and actions.

However, before we look more closely at verses 1-9, we need to understand the context into which this letter was written and delivered.

Firstly, Paul is writing into a cultural setting where there was a clear hierarchy of importance within society and the home: men exercised total authority over all members of their family. Secondly, slavery was a normal accepted part of everyday life. Slaves were seen as members of the household and lived closely alongside families. And finally, whilst slaves were afforded few rights, they could earn money and many were skilled or well educated. For example slaves could be accountants, teacher or physicians. In this sense it can be helpful to view the master/slave relationship as similar to that of an employer and an employee.

With this background knowledge it is easier to see why Paul’s writing is so radical and counter-cultural.

The first thing to note from this passage is that Paul directly addresses children and slaves. By addressing them first, and even addressing them at all, Paul bestows honour upon them, and instantly raises their status. The same is true in the passage yesterday, where wives are spoken to before husbands. Throughout Ephesians, Paul has repeatedly written that all people can have a relationship with Jesus, have an equal right to citizenship and inheritance in God’s kingdom, and that Christ’s great desire is to see his people united as one body. Now in Chapter 6, he brings these ideas quite literally ‘close to home.’

The New Testament letters were most likely read out in homes, because this is where the early church gathered, so children and slaves would have been present when these words were first read. I like to imagine that, by the time whoever was reading this aloud got to verse 9, that you could hear a pin drop.

It is perhaps hard for us to fully appreciate the power and impact that these words would have had upon many of those in the room.

But what about us today? Have we really received or understood the power of these words? That no matter what our age, our gender, our level of education, our status or position – all people have access to the God of heaven, through Christ’s death on a cross and his resurrection from the grave.

Perhaps in our past people said we wouldn’t amount to much, perhaps we feel like we come from the wrong side of town, or maybe we feel our level of education doesn’t qualify us to contribute at small group. Jesus sees none of this, believes none of this, and wants us to know that we are all equal members of the body of Christ, and have an important role to play within it.

However, once we do believe this……then we have to live this.

To paraphrase, Paul is saying, “You know I said that you should make the most of every opportunity to reflect the light of Christ and to find out what pleases the Lord……well, are you doing that in your home? What about in your relationships at work? Is your home a model of God’s kingdom where everyone has equal standing before the Lord,