The Descent into Triumph

The Descent into Triumph--March 30, 2017

“Therefore it is said, ‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’ (When it says, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)” (Ephesians 4:8-10)
Hmmm… seems like a lot of up and down, with all this “ascending” and “descending” business. Maybe even more than in the stand-up/sit-down rhythm of a Sunday at a Lutheran church.

So, here’s what I wonder: clearly Paul thinks he is hitting on a really important point here. He’s quoting a line from the Old Testament, and he’s trying to explain it to us at the same time, and he is building up to making a bigger point. So if I can’t quite wrap my brain around what he’s so excited about at first, can I at least make the effort to see what has got Paul all fired up?

This is a little like one of those times when a friend recommends a movie or a book to you, or raves about a song or a musician to you, and even if you don’t understand at first why they think you would like it, you are willing to give it a try to see why it means so much to them. If you’ve ever been there—if you’ve been the one holding the book, or the DVD or CD they gave you (but you didn’t ask for)—and you have made the effort to see why it’s so appealing to someone you respect, then use the same skills here with Paul. Why is he so excited about this saying he quotes with all the ascending and descending in it?

Okay, first off—Paul is quoting, or rather loosely paraphrasing, a verse from the psalms. Psalm 68:18 reads, “You ascended the high mount, leading captives in your train and receiving gifts from people…” In its original setting, the verse in Psalm 68 is about God’s power and might as God’s presence goes up to the Temple mount in Jerusalem. It’s part of a whole psalm about God’s victory and God’s vindication—how God was strong and powerful in the past, and how God has defeated all the threats posed to the people of God, whether enemy armies, wild animals, or natural disasters.

Now what’s at first surprising is how fast and loose Paul seems to be playing with that verse from the Psalms. He’s done a fair amount of rewording, and he has even reversed the image of God “receiving gifts from people” to “giving gifts to his people.” And for that matter, Paul makes the reference to this Psalm while he’s talking about Christ, and specifically seems to be thinking about Christ’s death (the “descent into the lower parts of the earth”). That seems a little strange at first, since Jesus’ death doesn’t seem very… victorious.

Except… maybe that is exactly the point. Paul sees Jesus’ death as the victory. He connects Jesus’ “descent”—as in, his burial in a tomb—and the great victory of God, because it’s there at the cross and there in the tomb where God defeats the power of death once and for all. It’s the cross that makes it possible for God to reconcile and restore a world full of outsiders to himself—ending their estrangement by leaving it nailed to the cross. Jesus’ death is what God’s victory looks like, in the end. God chooses to work through what seems weak, what seems foolish, what seems tragic, in order to accomplish his purposes. Paul makes the connection here so that we will see the way God triumphs: not in a show of strength, but in a moment of surrender.

That’s just it: this is what’s worth giving Paul a second, or third or fourth, chance to listen and consider what he is trying to say. In the end, this is Paul’s way of saying that God’s great victory is what looks like utter loss at the cross. It’s what Frederick Buechner calls “the magnificent defeat.” This is how Jesus wins—he swallows up death by dying, and he captures captivity itself by dying as a prisoner captive to the whim of the Roman Empire. At first blush, those seem contradictory, but as Paul sees it, the Scriptures have been hinting at this amazing upside-down kind of victory all along. It’s just a question of whether we will sit with the Scriptures long enough to let their truth speak.

Gracious God, work through our weaknesses like they are precious gifts, as you worked through Jesus’ weakness unto death to bring us all to everlasting life.