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Some of us have spent almost a year studying Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. And one thing that we all agree on is that Paul is hard to understand! So imagine my dismay at having Seasons of the Spirit choose Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as its focus for the next few weeks! So, to make up for the difficulty, this is going to be an interactive sermon. Be ready!
One of the phrases that jumped out at me from this passage was “[Jesus] has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us.” And that brought to mind the Berlin Wall—the physical structure that divided a city, a people, and the world into East and West. But it was also a symbolic structure—proclaiming that we had different ideologies, different philosophies, different ways of life. And the wall was built, brick by brick, with distrust, and dislike. We each “protected” our side of the wall, for we were right.
And do you remember President Ronald Reagan famously demanding “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”? And how moved we were when it started to happen, there on TV, the opening of the Brandenburg gate, the students from both sides of town perched on top of the wall, people bringing hammers and chisels and anything that might help to bring it down!
Jesus brings down dividing walls, says Paul. And he cites in his letter the biggest dividing wall of his day—the split between those who were circumcised and those who were not—in other words, were you Jewish or Gentile. But what about today?
1) What kinds of things divide us? Create walls between us?
--Race (skin tone)
--Socio-economic
--where or if we went to “school”
--political ideas
--language, (etc)
(have a recorder, write onto pieces of paper and hand out, then make a “wall” down the main aisle)
2) What happens when you make a wall?
--don’t know the people on the other side
--stay in your own little group
--fear (strangers and aliens)
--hatred, war,
(--I want you to think about what is happening in Israel as a wall is being built between Jewish areas and Palestinians.
--And I want us all to think about the rhetoric being used about building a wall on our southern border.)
There are dividing walls even now.
3) Paul tells us that Christ “in his flesh” he has “broken down the dividing wall” and has put an end to the hostility for [Jesus] is our peace
(have people break through wall and offer peace to one another?)
I never knew that offering peace, the peace of
Christ could be a radical thing. But listen to the commentary by Sally Brown (who gives much credit to an article by Gosnell Yorke called “"Hearing the Politics of Peace in Ephesians: A Proposal from an African Postcolonial Perspective," from the Journal for the Study of the New Testament)
“It is crucial to recognize that any talk of peace within the context of Asia Minor in the late first century under Roman rule would be politically charged talk. Roman emperors, Augustus in particular, were hailed as the semi-divine inaugurators of an unprecedented peace that would settle the turbulent rivalries of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. This Roman brand of "peace," of course, was an enforced peace wrought through military dominance. When necessary, terror would be used -- specifically, the terror of crucifixion for anyone foolhardy enough to challenge peace on the Empire's terms. On state occasions and festival days such as the birthday of the emperor, when the emperor's "lordship' would be celebrated, the emperor as "peace-bringer" would be lauded in public speeches.
Imagine that we, a community of Christians in Asia Minor, are tightly packed into the largest home available for the first reading of a new treatise that has arrived -- the one that will later come to be known as the Letter to the Ephesians. We're gathered to hear it read out, of course, because most of us cannot read. As the reader gets to the part that says, "You who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ . . . He is our peace," there is a quick intake of breath and glances toward the door.
Who may have heard? "He [Christ] is our peace" (verse 14) would be a pronouncement bordering on treason. What is being claimed, after all, is that despite all the swaggering claims of Rome's emperors, true peace has been inaugurated by a man the empire crucified. The dissonance between the chilling rhetoric of the state and the thrilling rhetoric of the Gospel would set any listener's blood racing.”
Paul says, “Jesus came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” To those on one side of the wall, and those on the other side. In fact, since the wall came down, we are no longer strangers or aliens, but “citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” What an amazing thing! The wall is down. Christ is our peace. And that touches every part of us.
For we are citizens (a loaded word that meant you were priviledged politically and legally) with the saints.
We are members of God’s household—in other words, we are family!
But Paul doesn’t stop there with the image. He continues on in the building theme. We have torn down the dividing wall, but there are materials, building blocks for something new. Something we can build together.
When you build a building what do you have to have?
Foundation
Cornerstone
Material/windows/doors/roof
Paul says, the foundation is the apostles and the prophets—those who have gone before us, listening to God, preaching the word, being in the world as God’s embassaries.
And, of course, who is the cornerstone? Christ Jesus himself. The first stone to be laid. The one on whom it all rests.
As the familiar hymn says, “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water and the word. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.”
On these things—the cornerstone and the foundation—we are to build a new structure.
A holy temple in the Lord.
A dwelling place for God.
This is what can happen
when the dividing walls come down.
This is what can happen
when we grow together spiritually.
This is what can happen
when Christ becomes our peace.
No longer strangers and aliens.
But citizens of God’s kingdom
And members of God’s family.
May it be so, Alleluia, Amen.
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