How would the world be different if everyone knew that God’s “plan for the fullness of time,” was “to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth”?
How would you, as one who has already set your “hope on Christ…live for the praise of his glory” knowing full well that it is Christ’s plan to stretch his arms wide and gather together all creation?
In other words, how would you, one of God’s faithful servants, live your life differently if you remembered daily that God’s plan is to gather together all creation?
When asked a question along these lines, one young woman responded with a giggle, “I guess that I would have to forgive my sister for being a jerk.” She was giggling because her sister was standing right next to her. For the record, her sister was also giggling.
For these sisters, answering the question was somewhat of a joke, but here is the thing about jokes: they reveal truths that we keep hidden just under the surface. One of these truths is that resentment is real and it keeps people at arm’s length.
I know of numerous siblings that have not spoken to one another in years because of one family incident that happened one time at the family reunion…well, you can tell the story because you probably have an example of it within your own family.
Maybe, we have never fully realized that our unwillingness to forgive is also our unwillingness to acknowledge God’s desire through Christ to gather us all up.
Maybe, we are like the ice cream man who doles out scoops of Chocolaty Fudge Delight without the delight…without a smile. The man has forgotten that ice cream is not a basic nourishment that simply needs to be doled out in the way that stereotypical, Hollywood lunch ladies slap food on student's plates, but rather is happiness in a cone that makes lasting memories.
When we forgive it is like we are offering that ice cream with a sweet smile, and in doing so, we go a long way in sharing that vision of happiness and togetherness that God holds dear.
After-all, God’s desire from the beginning of time is the same desire that led my grandmother to invite all of the divorced, former spouses of the family to the family Christmas dinner, without warning anyone beforehand. She wanted to make certain that no one was forgotten. Believe you me, no one was forgotten that day.
That was a Christmas dinner none of us will ever forget. But, in the same way, neither will we forget the end of time when Christ gathers everyone and everything together. It will be a banquet of the once divided, but again united. Hopefully, the faithful will not be surprised as they glance around the table and see who is sitting there since the lid on the mysteries of God’s heart have long ago been cracked open by Christ and we have long been able to peek in and see God’s very heart. Hopefully, we would have long been about the business of gathering all together.
How would you, one of God’s faithful servants, live your life differently if you remembered daily that God’s plan is to gather together all creation?
One thing that has stopped me every single time that I have studied this verse is reading that Christ’s intention is “to gather up ALL THINGS in him.” Now, I know that the verse is intended to be welcoming to the outsider, to the gentiles, so that they may also feel adopted as one of God’s own people. But, authors can choose to write whatever they want. They can choose any word that they desire. This author chose a word that not only includes all people, but also includes all “things.”
Again, I ask: “How would you, one of God’s faithful servants, live your life differently if you remembered daily that God’s plan is to gather together all creation?” How would you live your life differently if you realized that God truly, truly cares about everyTHING in creation; not just people?
In my college religion class days, I read an author, Sally McFague, who tried to shift our eyes to see our natural world in a different way. Rather than seeing a tree as an object that we can just use, she encouraged us to try viewing it as a subject? You see objects are things that we can manipulate and do with however we please. A subject, on the other hand, is a someone or something with real life and real presence. You cannot simply dispose of living subjects without any thought or concern.
Here is a way to try to help you understand. In warfare, it is easier to shoot a faceless, evil enemy. If, for instance, you give your enemy a demeaning nickname, it is easier to pick them off one by one. If you make your enemy an object, then it is easier to do with them whatever is necessary.
But, if your enemy stumbles in front of you and the photograph of their 2 year old daughter falls out on top of the mud and rests right next to the female soldier’s trembling face, then, all of the sudden, your enemy becomes a person…a subject…and it is no longer easy to do with them whatever you please.
Sally McFague suggests that every living thing that God has made (plants, animals, and all) are living subjects, and are not dead objects. She points out that God desires to gather it "all things" together in one redeeming act for all creation. As I already pointed out, the Bible could read that it was God’s “plan for the fullness of time,” was “to gather up all people in him.” But, the Bible does not say that. The Bible reads: “to gather all things in him.” That is no mistake.
How would you, one of God’s faithful servants, live your life differently if you remembered daily that God’s plan is to gather together even those fellow creatures and plants outside of our walls in nature?
Does it make a difference to know that God cares deeply about those subjects of creation also?
Does is make a difference that God plans to redeem and restore them to fullness of life in addition to us?
One thing is certain, you are an adopted child of God. You were chosen for this adoption through Jesus Christ, simply because God desired to hold you forever. That is the same comforting good news that a parent provides a child when they gather the child into their lap and promises to never, ever let them go.
You were chosen to be a part of a holy family “in Christ before the foundation of the world,” a family that was created “to be holy and blameless before him in love.” In other words, you have been adopted into love.
You are a part of a family of love that forgives and you have been forgiven.
You are a part of a family of love that does not forget the suffering or the stranger, because love also sees them as a family member.
You are part of a family of love that sees all in creation for what it is: beautiful beings created by God so that they may enjoy God's gift of life.
How would the world be different if everyone knew that God’s “plan for the fullness of time,” was “to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth”?
How would you, as one who has already set your “hope on Christ…live for the praise of his glory” knowing full well that it is Christ’s plan to stretch his arms wide and gather together all creation?
In other words, how would you, one of God’s faithful servants, live your life differently if you remembered daily that God’s plan is to gather together all creation?
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