We have an inheritance because we are the adopted children of God, the brothers and sisters of Jesus, the Son who was sent to redeem us from our sins. We who have believed just as Paul and the apostles believed. Just as the Ephesians who believed the Good News and were baptized into Christ Jesus.
This is the promise this is why we have hope. This is why we can make it through the difficulties that life hands us.
And as sons and daughters we have responsibilities as well as rights. Eternal life is the right; following in the footsteps of Jesus is the responsibility.
This means carrying out the mission to spread the Good News, working for justice and loving others as he loves us.
The letter to the Ephesians is about the church and its mission to make the Good News known. The church, the people of God gathered together as one is more an instrument to accomplish the mission than an institution.
As Paul says in his letters, the church is the Body of Christ with Christ as his head and it is by working together using all the gifts of the Body that we are called to bring God's plan of salvation to the universe.
God's plan is for unity: Unity within the community with no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, unity because we are one in Christ Jesus, one in faith, with one Lord, one Baptism.
Paul prays for us and invites us to be imitators of God as his beloved children and to live in love with one another. This was the commandment given to us at the Last Supper by Jesus as he called us friends.
And with his gift of salvation, we are now more than friends; we are his brothers and sisters.
