What is Our Armour for Life?

Looking at the letter to the Ephesians chapter 6 (more than likely written by Paul’s followers) we find imagery for the Christian facing life’s struggles and the power of evil. As one Amy Persons Parkes states, “The armour is no armour. The belt of truth will not repel the sinking feeling in your gut; truth will reveal the vulnerability not conceal it. The breastplate of righteousness does not keep your heart from breaking; rather, righteousness will break open your heart to expose all the ulterior motives and manipulations of self-righteousness. The shoes of peace dare not crush the stones of conflict beneath your feet. Instead, peace will seek out the jagged edges of anger, pain, and fear to pinpoint and overturn the protruding stones violence and discord. The shield of faith neither deflects nor blunts the piercing arrows of doubt and chaos.”

A little more on these images. In our faith we can gather in everything including our misgivings and our thoughts that stray from the path God has set before us. That faith can become for us a cover that has the elements of assurance and hospitality. Leading on from Amy’s statement we can say the helmet of salvation doesn’t keep our minds from going into the darkness of our wounds. In fact we could say the opposite in that salvation unmasks our defences, unsettles our deep seated egos with the threat of integration and healing. The imagery goes on to talk to us about the sword of the Spirit, the guidance of God seen in the way Jesus lived and the scriptures.

Such a sword as your knowledge of what God teaches can change no matter how many days you have wielded her in battle. Yes, she will surprise you with a new twist, a different weight, or an adjusted heft when you least expect it. On an occasional morning when you gingerly pick her up and sift through her pages, you could swear someone else raised her in battle and changed the words in the middle of the night. The armour of God is no armour at all. You might as well come to battle naked, bare, vulnerable, weak, and humble if you would defeat the powers of evil.

Teaching full of such imagery is difficult to get to grips with. Why is this teaching so difficult? We could also say the say about the image Jesus used for eating his body and drinking his blood. Why is it that the images are too hard and stop many disciples following Jesus? Is the image of eating his body and drinking his blood too distasteful? Do they not believe in the message of heaven and eternal life? Or is it because Jesus talks about the manna in the wilderness as lacking something essential to faith? Perhaps the context of life within the synagogue sheds some light.

I wonder specifically if Capernaum’s synagogue which is the city said to be home of the first disciples, including Peter, has something to do with it. Jesus taught there many times, and it is the sight of his first sermon in Mark’s gospel, where he concludes by healing a man racked by evil and unclean. It is the site of many healings, including the servant of a Roman centurion, and a paralytic man who was lowered through the roof in order to get him to Jesus through the. This healing sparks great controversy because Jesus forgives the man his sins, and some say it is blasphemous, for only God can forgive sins.

It seems that the controversy in Capernaum is over law and custom on the surface, but also about authority and power. To abide in Jesus, to eat his flesh and drink his blood, means eating and drinking with lepers, tax collectors, centurions, and those once possessed by demons. It is not just sharing with the ancestors who ate manna in the disciples to the margins of society, and not all can go. Both the image here and that of Ephesians 6 challenge us, yet guide us, as to the way in which we are called to live life. Our power to face life’s struggles, fears and evil comes from our God not from material things. So, can I say with Peter, “Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are God’s holy one”