August 25, Ordinary 21B (Ephesians 6:10–20)
Gird yourself with the T-shirt of righteousness, the backpack of faith, the hoodie of salvation.
It’s back-to-school season, and many children (and some adults) are laying out their wardrobes with care. New blouses and slacks. New polos and shorts. New backpacks and hats. And of course, new shoes. New shoes are the most important part. Just ask Alexander in the beloved children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, who chooses “blue ones with red stripes” but when the store is all sold out is forced to accept “plain old white ones.” Alexander’s mother may buy the white shoes, but he gets the last word: “They can’t make me wear them.”
It makes me think of Ephesians. This week’s reading contains one of the best-known metaphors in the Bible. The Christians of Asia Minor, to whom the letter is addressed, were all too familiar with military clothing. Roman soldiers were a ubiquitous presence, and at their hands Christians experienced regular harassment. It is tempting to read the armor of God as a call to arms, yet the author of Ephesians is clear: the warfare he references is spiritual.
Modern American perceptions of “this present darkness” may tend toward the apocalyptic, a result of Frank E. Peretti’s 1986 runaway bestseller of the same name. But this is a limited perspective. “Spiritual forces of evil” are present in mundane human life. Racism, sexism, homophobia, greed, destruction of the environment, lack of concern for human life, failure to do the good that is within us—these are forces of evil, from the classroom to the boardroom. Faithful Christians need to gird themselves against them.
