One Body, Undivided

Jesu Juva

Ephesians 2:11-22                                                                

July 18, 2021

Proper 11B                         

Dear saints of our Savior,

          It’s our second Sunday listening to the book of Ephesians.  Last week, in chapter one, we heard about what it means to be “in Christ.”  St. Paul used that phrase, “in Christ,” at least ten times, to show us where the action is.  It’s not in you; it’s not in me; it’s in Christ.  In Christ we are blessed.  In Christ we are chosen.  In Christ we are predestined for adoption.  In Christ we are loved and redeemed by His blood.  In Christ we have an inheritance guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.

          Today we get part two, chapter two, of what it means to be “in Christ.”  Today we learn that in Christ we are united, not separated.  In Christ we are fellow citizens, not aliens.  In Christ we are one household, one people, one family, one holy temple in Christ. 

          What does this oneness look like?  Well, it looks something like the south side of this building.  I’ve pictured it for you on the bulletin cover.  There you can

see that this temple—this building—is comprised of many individual stones.  And while these stones are similar, they are not identical:  they are different sizes of varying colors and textures.  Not only that, each stone is supported by the stones beneath it.  And each stone also supports the stones above it.  By itself—separated—each individual stone can’t do anything except perhaps serve as a fancy paper weight on your desk.  But being joined together, and built together, these stones comprise a beautiful, magnificent structure—a holy temple. 

          This is a picture of the unity we enjoy “in Christ.”  This is a picture of the church of Jesus Christ, made up of people of different nations, different languages and skin colors, each person supported by all the others, each person supporting all the others, each person built up on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, with Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.  In Christ we are one body, undivided.

          But it hasn’t always been this way.  In the Old Testament there was separation and alienation between Israel and the nations, between God’s chosen people and all the other people, between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, between Jew and Gentile.  Israel was different.  Israel was set apart.  The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were plucked out of obscurity by the Lord for a holy purpose—to bear the promised Messiah to all the nations of the world. 

          To Israel God gave His Law—dietary laws, Sabbath laws, laws for feasts and festivals.  Those laws walled off Israel from every other nation on earth.  If you were an Israelite you were different, set apart.  From early on you would have learned not to associate with the “unclean,” the goyim, the uncircumcised.  You didn’t eat at their tables.  You didn’t play in their houses.  You certainly didn’t marry their daughters.  You were to be set apart, separated, and segregated.  That’s how it was under the Old Testament.

          In our world today we have separation and segregation of a different kind.  We have dividing walls of hostility between nations and races and neighbors.  Sin ultimately causes the walls of separation to go up.  Our sin separates us from God and sets us against one another.  Our sin divides; it does not unify.  Sin alienates us—splits us up into tribes according to skin color, politics, and of course, religion.  It was because of human sin and division that God put up His own wall—carved out His own pathetic people, Israel, with a covenant, and set them apart for one holy purpose—to bring forth the Christ at just the right time.

          So while it’s true that Jesus was a Jew; it’s also true that in Jesus those walls of division came tumbling down.  We see it all over the gospels.  Jesus didn’t limit His ministry to Israelite territory, but He also left footprints in Samaritan soil and on Gentile pathways.  Jesus proclaimed the peace of God to those who were near (His fellow Jews); and He preached peace to those who were far off (the Gentiles).  He didn’t reject the Samaritan woman at the well.  He responded to cries for mercy from a Canaanite woman.  He touched the lives of Roman soldiers and centurions, tax collectors and prostitutes.  Jesus ate and drank with both “sinners” and Bible scholars.  He embraced the outsiders; and He warned the insiders that salvation depended on faith, not on ancestry, race, or tribe.

          In Jesus Christ the walls of division came tumbling down.  Those walls began to crack at the sound of His preaching.  But they were completely demolished when the earth quaked when He died on the cross.  At that precise moment, the curtain in the temple—the dividing wall between holy and unholy—was torn in two from top to bottom.  Jesus once foretold of His crucifixion this way:  But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (Jn. 12:32).  And before His Ascension, He told the Apostles to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them.  All people—all nations.  Jesus has united all people by shedding His blood for all people.  He has made peace, reconciling the whole world to His Father, and reconciling us to each other in His crucified body.  His blood brings peace.  His wounds bring healing.  His death brings forgiveness for every sin.  In Jesus all people are loved, all are died for—all lives possess dignity, worth, and value.

          So where is the unity and peace of Christ these days?  Why is there so little reconciliation and so much division?  The simple answer is that sinners love their walls.  Sinners love separation and division.  Where those walls have been knocked down, we often try to build them back up again.  It happened already in the early church.  Where God in Christ tore down the wall between circumcised and uncircumcised, there were those in the church who tried to put that wall right back up again. 

          Our own nation was founded on the proposition that “all men are created equal,” that all people are equal under the law.  We’ve come a long way and broken down lots of walls along the way.  But the wall-builders are at it again—seeking to divide and alienate people according to the color of their skin—seeking to define you solely by the color of your skin as either an oppressor or a victim—a racist or an anti-racist.  But any theory of race that magnifies divisions between the races—any race theory which offers no peace, no unity, and no forgiveness—has no place within the church of God.  For we know the truth:  We are all descendants of one man, Adam.  And we are all redeemed and reconciled by the blood of one man, Jesus Christ—our Savior.  For He Himself is our peace.  In Him we are one body, undivided.

          There is one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, one Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is one Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life.  Once we were all outsiders, gentiles.  We come from different nationalities, languages and cultures.  But for all those who are “in Christ,” we have a baptismal passport.  And that baptismal passport identifies us as citizens of heaven.  You are I are fellow citizens with the saints.  We are members of the family of God.  Our faith rests on the firm foundation that God Himself has laid down for us:  the Old Testament prophets, the New Testament apostles, Jesus Christ being the cornerstone—the key piece that joins together the old and the new into one body, undivided—a holy nation, a royal priesthood. 

          And this wonderful unity is all ours “in Christ.”  “In Christ” means you didn’t do it.  You’re no master of race relations.  But Jesus is.  He did the hard work of ending hostility, by subjecting Himself to the hostility of death—even death on a cross.  And that death brings peace, unity, and forgiveness of sins.  Don’t go along with this world’s idolatrous individualism, its never-ending narcissism, its ongoing obsession over all the things that divide and separate us.  But do rejoice and show forth the unity that God creates through the waters of Holy Baptism—unity that transcends all nations, races, and tribes.  We are one people, one family, one temple, united in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  We are one body, undivided.

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.