When God Brings Everything Back Together
The overlooked promise in Ephesians that reframes how we see pain, purpose, and hope.
Welcome to this Sunday’s Reflection, a look at one verse in Ephesians that just might change everything.
If you could choose just one verse that reshaped your view of God and the world, which would it be?
It’s a bold claim, I know, but for me it is right there in the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, hiding in plain sight:
“He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”’
It makes me stop, reread it, and think… wait, hold on — what?
Unity?
To all things?
First, a tiny bit of Greek for those of you who like nerding out to those kinds of things. The phrase “all things” is the word pas in Greek, which translates literally as… all things. (Yes, I know – you thought I was about to unveil some deep, hidden mystery here. Instead, it just means what it says. Everything, all of it.)
God’s Big Plan: It Brings Him Joy
So, according to Paul, God is up to something. Something involving… everything, and He’s doing this because it brings Him pleasure. That’s right. Pleasure.
Apparently, God is a pleasure seeker, just not the kind we usually talk about. What is this pleasure-fuelled mission?
Paul says God’s plan is to bring unity. Other translations offer phrases like:
• to sum up
• to gather up
• to recapitulate
• to bring to a head
The Greek word here is a beauty: anakephalaiossathai. This is the only place in the entire Bible where this word is used. And yes, you would absolutely destroy your friends in Scrabble with it. Here’s the breakdown:
• Ana = again
• Kephalē = head
To anakephalaiossathai is to bring things back together under one head. In maths, it’s a term for summing things up. In storytelling, it’s about retelling.
Retelling the Story, But Better
Think of a story you’ve told a thousand times. Maybe it’s that camping trip, you know the one.
It rained nonstop, the tent leaked, squirrels ate your food, and your little sister got sick from eating too many snacks. At the time, it was miserable. But years later, when you tell it? You include all the miserable bits. In fact, you lean into them.
The rain wasn’t just rain; it was torrential, biblical, end-of-the-world type rain. Your sister didn’t just feel a bit queasy; she “projectile-vomited all night in a tent that was basically a sieve.” And now? It’s hilarious.
It’s the best story of the worst weekend ever. The worst parts… became the best parts.
That’s what anakephalaiossathai does.
It doesn’t erase the pain, the sorrow, or the chaos. It retells the story in such a way that all those scattered, broken bits are drawn together under one heading, in Christ, and the result is something new. Something whole. Something redeemed.
All Things Mean… All Things
Back to Paul.
He doesn’t say some things. He doesn’t say church things.
He says all things.
He doesn’t just mean spiritual things. He includes heaven and earth.
Why no limits? Why no boundaries? Why so radically inclusive?
Because this is what God is about. This is what brings God pleasure. It’s not just Paul. Look elsewhere:
Peter, Acts 3: “Until the time comes for God to restore all things…”
Paul again, Colossians 1: “God was pleased… through Christ to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
And Jesus, Matthew 19: “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things…”
Do you see the pattern? Restoring. Reconciling. Renewing. Retelling. Bringing it all back together.
The Hope Behind the Headline
What does “all things” include?
Your broken heart?
Your grief?
Poverty?
Abuse?
Racism?
War?
Fractured relationships?
All of it.
All things.
This is what God takes pleasure in doing.
This is what God is about.
This is what God is up to, right now, in Christ.
He’s bringing it all back together under one head. Retelling the story, and when God tells the story again, the worst parts might just become the most beautiful.
The best bit? If God is not finished with all things yet, then He’s not finished with you either.
Thank you for reading today. I hope you have a gentle and restful Sunday.
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