Woe to complacency! · Ephesians 6 Ministry

Woe to complacency!

Woe to the Complacent.” After this admonition it goes to describe what complacency looks like. They drink lavishly, they stretch comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs, and improvise music…they are enjoying the good life, and in the good life, they have found their comfort. They grow complacent in their comfort. To them, God offers this warning, “Woe.”

What is the object of a good life? That’s the question at the heart of today’s readings… What is the aim of a good life? For the complacent — it is time. The wealthy want more of it, they want to savor it, they want to prolong it as much as they can. They want the pleasures of life to last. They want to throw luxurious parties, and spend their waking days basking in their own comfort and glory. But, when the day comes to an end, when their time has come, they will have already received their reward.

The Gospel offers a similar warning: Jesus offers the parable of the rich man who enjoys the fruits of a good life while the beggar, Lazarus, suffers outside. The rich man was dressed in fine linen, dined sumptuously, enjoyed the comfortable life, while poor Lazarus starved with dogs licking his sores. At the end, they end up in opposite circumstances and we can hear underneath a similar warning: “Woe to the complacent in Zion.”

One of the lessons offered today is to remember that life has an aim: an aim to live well in love. Victor Frankl said it best when he wrote, “The salvation of man is through love and in love.” In other words, we were not made by God to simply enjoy our own independence free from worries. We were made for communion, we were made for love. Frankl’s point was simple: contemplation of our beloved can be the sweet refuge we find even in the worst misery, and if love is our refuge in misery, then salvation comes from love, in love. Love moves the heart beyond its own circumstances into a shared life. We were made in God’s image, to love, and it is through love that we, men and women broken by sin, are saved. As we come closer to our Savior in love, we also see that God inspires us to love: “Love one another, as I have loved you”, Jesus commands.

The opportunity was there for the complacent man, to see the need of another, to render service in love, to find meaning and purpose beyond his own self-interest and comfort, but he was blinded by his creature comforts. He was self-absorbed in his own After his life is over and he must render an account for how he lived his purpose, he will have nothing to say except, “have the beggar serve me one more time: send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue.”

Here is my plea: make today a turning point in your life… if I may borrow a phrase. Make today an opportunity to dig down deep in the heart of your existence and find God’s purpose for your life in love and in service; for these will be your salvation. Salvation will not be more sunny days on a beach, it will not be to have a fancy new car, or a larger TV, it won’t be to travel the world and store up plenty. It will be to serve, it will be to love, it will be to give of yourself. Love is our salvation.

In the words of St. Paul, “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called..”

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