The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Your Easter Eulogy

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

If we have been crucified with Christ, we can confidently hope that we will also rise with Him. Jeff discusses the concept of an 'Easter Eulogy', examining Ephesians 1:3-14 to explore the spiritual inheritance and blessings Christians receive through Christ's resurrection. Jeff offers insights on how this inheritance can provide hope and encouragement, especially during challenging times. Snippet from the Show  "All of the inheritance that Jesus has given us comes as a result of his suffering, death, and resurrection." Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together and living as activated disciples. This is show 426, your Easter eulogy. Hello, my dear friend. Well, this is the week we've been looking forward to all year. long, and that is the Holy Week. And we love it, this Holy Week, where we really enter deeply into the Lord's passion. I love it. We call it a Tritium also, you know, Thursday, Friday, and the Easter Vigil. And I do hope that you get a chance to attend the Easter Vigil. It's long, but oh, it's so

good. And if you're a sponsor this year of somebody coming into the church, congratulations, and thank you for helping the church grow. I'm going to be going to Fargo, North Dakota, and I'm a sponsor of a man who's coming into the church, and I'm excited about that. Try to find one person every year that I can sponsor and hopefully be of some blessing to them. And I pray for all of my friends this time of the year. And I pray that God's riches would really become evident to you. And before I get into what I'd like to talk about today, your Easter eulogy, which is, I know, a bit of an odd title, and I'll explain that in a moment, but I want to really wish you and pray for a very holy trituum this year. You know, on behalf of everyone at Ascension, on behalf of my wife, my family, we are really

hoping that this is a deep experience for you this year, a very transformative experience, not just a memorable one, or just one that felt so good, you know, which you're always, always nice, but a transformative triduum. That's what my prayer is for you. I do have a few things, some scriptures I'm going to share here. If you do want them, all you've got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, and text it to the number 33777. That's 3377. Okay. Now, why did I call today's show, which may be a little bit shorter than some, but that's okay. It's going to be rich. It's going to be Dense, why did I call this your Easter eulogy? Well, recently I was reminded as I was going through notes of some of the talks and teachings I've given in various places, and I came across

some of my notes from my Ephesian study, and there was a part of it there that is so amazingly rich that I thought to myself, I thought, you know, Jesus has given us, you and me, such an amazing inheritance, a real inheritance. And there is, in chapter one of Ephesians, verses 3 through 14, what I would call perhaps the most dense and rich part of Paul's writings. It certainly is one of the smaller areas. It's only, you know, verses 3 through 14, but my, is it rich. It's rich. And it talks about your inheritance. It talks about what Jesus has given you. And I got to thinking about Easter. I thought about the Lord's passion, the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. And it occurred to me that all of this, all of the inheritance

that Jesus has given you comes as a result of the resurrection. It comes as a result of his suffering and dying and then an overcoming death hell in the grave. That's the only reason that you have in inheritance. It's kind of like if you had a loved one, And you found out that they died. And then you would ask yourself, well, I wonder if they left anything, you know, for me. Well, if there wasn't a will, you wouldn't know, right? And Paul kind of gives us a glimpse at the will of God for you in terms of the inheritance that you have received now in Jesus. All of us as Christians have received this.

And I think, to be honest with you, it's good now and then to go back and visit this. and especially if you're going through a tough time in your life right now. You're enduring struggles or, you know, there are obstacles in your way or you're really discouraged. You know, maybe you lost a loved one this year or maybe you're facing, you know, situations that it's just really in a bad place. And you need to be encouraged. So let me do that for you today by sharing this with you. Now, as I'm talking to you, I'm looking here at my very well-worn Bible. at Ephesians chapter 1, full of all kinds of marks, all kinds of colors.

And I'm going to read this to you. As I go through it, I'm going to remind you that this is your inheritance. So why do I say that it is your inheritance? Well, what's interesting is that Paul starts off Ephesians, Chapter 1. He says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you. In peace from God, our Father, and the Lord, Jesus. Christ. Those are the first two verses of chapter one. And then verse three through 14, he is going to

give us what is known in Greek as a eulogy. And Paul, his use of eulogy or blessing here is what we know of as a eulogy but when at a funeral, right? At a funeral, typically in a Catholic funeral, it might be afterwards. Somebody gives a eulogy. And that is, typically, is when you expound upon the positive attributes and characteristics of someone who has recently died. And in chapter one of Ephesians, verses 3 through 14, that's exactly what Paul is doing. He is communicating the characteristics, the blessings, and the attributes of those who have recently died in Christ and who now live in him. and so verses 3 through 14 is a eulogy par excellence and it is yours i don't know if you've ever

thought of it that way but that is what paul is doing here and i'll put that in the show notes for you too i'll give you the greek and everything so you can understand that but he starts off blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ blessed be the god and father of our lord Jesus Christ. And now that first word blessed is the where we get the word eulogy. That's why I'm saying that this is a eulogy. Now what I'm going to do here is I am going to go through this and I'm going to talk about all of the blessings that you've received because of the resurrection. You now have a eulogy. I'm going to tell you who you are now in light of the fact that you have died to yourself. And now you're alive in Christ.

Isn't that a beautiful thing to think about? So let's go through that, okay? Shall we? It's number three, verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Okay. So now if I were to be at a funeral and I were to give a eulogy, like for example, in the last five months I've given the eulogy for my mother, I've given the eulogy regarding my father, and I went through what their life meant and the blessings and what they did and so forth. Now as I'm reading this, this is who you are in Christ. You are dead. The old man has died. As Paul said in Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in. me in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who love me

and delivered himself up for me. You have died to the old man. Now you're alive in Christ. And here's your eulogy. He destined us. Verse five. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. So number one, we could say this. he destined us in love to be sons and daughters. And that's who you are now. So if I was giving your eulogy now that you have died to yourself, I would say he or she is a son, a daughter of God.

Verse 7, in him we have redemption through his blood. That's another thing. You have redemption by the blood of the lamb. And then Paul goes on and says, the forgiveness of our trespasses. according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. Isn't that beautiful? So part of your Easter eulogy is that you have been redeemed

and you have been given this wonderful status of a son of God, as a daughter of God. And that is beautiful according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. My friend, because of the resurrection of Jesus, you have been lavished with all kinds of spiritual gifts, all kinds of blessing, all kinds of change in your life. You know, recently I was teaching some of my seminarians at the St. Paul's Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. And I was telling them a little bit about this. And I was saying, you know that your spiritual geography has changed now.

you no longer are lost in your sins but you are alive in christ you have been redeemed you are being lavish with the riches of his grace and and now we're with christ we're walking christ is in us and he walks in us we're not just following him and that was the language during the the gospels following jesus but you come to this age of the church now and paul only says that once but what does he say we're in christ we're in christ we're walking in Christ and he is in us. See, we're walking in the inheritance that the cross gave us. This isn't just a matter of believing differently or something to believe in or I have religion. It's a change of your spiritual geography. You are in Christ now. You're no longer in

the world. And that's why I can give you your eulogy. You died to yourself. You've been crucified with Christ. And now listen to who you are. He goes, on in verse 9, and he says, for he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth. So he has made known to us all wisdom and insight. Isn't that something? He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight, the mystery of his will. Now, that is part of the eulogy that I would give to you. And Paul's giving it to you. He's giving you the eulogy about your life. And that is that Christ has given

you. He's made known to you all wisdom and insight and the mystery of his will according to his purpose. That is part of your inheritance. So if you're struggling right now in your life, in the face of the resurrection, the death, burial, and resurrection, please know that not only are you an adopted son, not only are you an adopted daughter, but you have been given the riches of his grace, and he has made known to you all wisdom and insight, and he has revealed to you his will according to his purpose. Now, the words that are used there in verse nine, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan, for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth. The two words there, purpose and plan, both of them speak of an ordered plan. The word purpose, proteto, and you have the ordered plan and oikonamia, the economy, the plan. I'll read it again. He says, for he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will according to his purpose.

that's an ordered plan, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time. And what is that? To unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things in earth. See, everything is going back to the Father. We are all on a pilgrimage to our Father's house. And Jesus, as part of your eulogy, is telling you that he is uniting all things in Christ. And then it goes on in verse 11 and says, in Him, in Him, according to the purpose of of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will,

we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory. In him, you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit. It's a seal, the promise of the Holy Spirit. You are sealed, my friend. And this is what's happening at Easter time. This is what's happening at Holy Week, is that we have been sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit,

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. Now, there's something really interesting about that. And I learned some of this from a great teacher, Dr. Peter Williamson at Sacred Heart Seminary, in Detroit and he has such insight and I was reading some of his writings and he was talking about the nature of an ancient seal now you know that a seal would be something like you have a letter and then you're going to seal it by putting wax on it and then you have like a signet ring signature

signet ring and you press it into that wax it seals the document and it's obvious if it's been opened and it's only going to be open by the one that it's intended for The nature of an ancient seal, redemption, is speaking of redemption from both a Jewish and a Greek perspective. In the Greek perspective here, we have this word Araban. Araban. The Holy Spirit isn't a down payment on our inheritance in heaven. It is the down payment that God pays for you. We are his inheritance, his home, and he wants to make his home within us forever.

and he's demonstrated his love for us in Christ and sealed the deal in the Holy Spirit. Now, if that doesn't take your breath away, I don't know what would. Now, Dr. Williamson talks like this. He says his treatment of our inheritance in verse 14, our inheritance in his commentary on Ephesians is powerful. It is not our inheritance, but we are God's inheritance. God longs to acquire us as his beloved possession. And now an interesting thing about this is that in the Greek, we talk about guarantee. The guarantee, it says, let me read it again here.

In him you also who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, we're sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, the guarantee of our inheritance. Now, word guarantee, the Greek, Araban, or down payment, that's the word that's used. Now, Araban, this guarantee. Now, if you went to Greece today, Araban is what? It's an engagement ring, the sign of a future union and communion.

And you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. You are marked. We are sealed. We are sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, who is, you could say, this engagement ring, this guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. So I think that that's absolutely beautiful in that we, in a sense, are possessing an engagement ring. And that's beautiful. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

So I wanted to encourage you today that whatever you're going through at this time and this joyful time and this victorious time, if you are really, really struggling, I want you to know something, and that is this, you are God's beloved. You have been redeemed. You have been made a son. You've been made a daughter. There is an inheritance for you. He has given you wisdom. He has given you the riches of his grace. He has given you. He has given you the riches of his grace. He has given. you insight into the mystery of his will and he has brought you into a tremendous family he has given you a hope he has given you joy he has given you love he has given you so much and the resurrection of the dead is the reason that we now can enter into this because we have died with him and we rose with him and that's what paul is trying to get across in verses three three 14 of Ephesians 1 when he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's actually the

word blessed there is the word that's used for eulogy. And it's yours. It's yours. And so, if you are struggling and you are trying to enter into this most joyful, sad and then joyful of all events in the history

of the world, I would really encourage you to take the time to just sit down with Ephesians chapter 1 and read read all chapter four if you would like or chapter one if you would like go ahead and read the whole thing but certainly verses three through 14 reading it with the resurrection in mind and that is that you have a eulogy given for you and it is filled with so many good things it really is so i just wanted to share that with with you and and pray that that god would be

bless you at this time and that you would experience the triumph of the cross. You would experience the overcoming of sin and the hope of redemption. God loves you so much. He really does. And you're not alone. He might feel alone, but you're not alone. He has given the Holy Spirit to us. We are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. We are sealed who is the guarantee of our inheritance. that's the engagement ring that's the engagement ring you want to know about your inheritance you doubt your inheritance i want to remind you now there's an engagement ring here we have this guarantee until we acquire possession of it completely to the praise of his glory amen let me pray with you the name of the father son and the holy spirit lord i thank you for my my beautiful friend and i

lift them up to you at this time of the year and i ask you lord to fill them with faith and fill them with hope and fill them with joy, fill them with a sense of victory in the cross and that they have been given an inheritance. They are someone. They do have a future. They are rich in grace, enriched in love and hope and faith. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I love you. Thank you.