The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, October 12, 2025
The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, October 12, 2025
There’s no escaping God. Of course, most of us realize this: If God is to be God, there must be no refuge from his presence. Centuries before the Apostle Paul preached these words to the people of God at Ephesus, the psalmists of ancient Israel were already teaching this reality through their laments. Take, for example, Psalm 139, which laments, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” The psalmist continues by enumerating the various places of hiding: Heaven, Sheol, Dawn, the deep sea, the intense darkness—none of these are without the presence of God. Paul captures the extent of this all-encompassing God in saying, “over all and through all and in all.” There’s no escaping God!
And that’s a good thing. Paul expresses the unity of this “one God and Father of all” by providing preparatory assertions: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism….” We miss a vital expression of the one God and Father’s Lordship if we only consider the word “Lord” in its Latin form, which gives us the English word “dominate.” Lord and Lordship then come as words demanding our respect for God’s sovereignty, our submission to his power, and our acknowledgement of his reign. What we miss in emphasizing the human responsibility is the responsibility the Lord bears for those given into his care. In the household of the Lord, the children certainly should fear, love, and trust the one Father of All. But in return, their Lord… that Father of All… cares for them, bears responsibility for them, and looks after their well-being.
The declarations, “one faith, one baptism,” inform us twice over of our “one Lord’s” care for us. First off, this Lord provides faith. This faith is not some mere human emotional vagary. No, it is an act of God for faith to take hold of you… for faith to possess you… for faith to draw you into the embrace of the “one God and Father of all.” What’s more, this Lord gives you a historical event, baptism, so that you don’t need to wonder whether your Lord has taken hold of you. Instead, in the face of doubt, you can assert, “I have been baptized!”
Table Talk: Speak of times when you have tried to flee from God.
Pray: Heavenly Father, grant that I may be comforted in the knowledge that you are always everywhere and at all times present. Amen
Ephesians 4:1-6 (ESV)
I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.