Scripture Ephesians 2:11-22
I love the movie
Finding Nemo. For those of you who have never seen the movie it is about two
clown fish, and father and his son Nemo. Nemo has a bad fin, and because of his dad is very overprotective. To the dad’s
horror, one day Nemo is captured and so his dad sets out on a journey to get
him back. All of this leads to one scene where the dad and his new friend Dory
have finally made their way to Sydney, Australia, where Nemo was taken, and
they have been spit out onto a pier by a pelican. The pelican starts talking to
them telling them that he know where Nemo is when all of the sudden he looks up
and gets very quiet. The camera pans out and there is a huge flock of seagulls
staring at the fish, and suddenly one goes, Mine! The whole flock then chimes
in Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine. The fish jump into the pelican’s mouth
and chase ensues as all of the seagull follow the pelican crying mine. Finally
the pelican makes a quick maneuver in between the sails of a boat, and all of
the seagulls fly right into the sail. All you can see is their beaks sticking
through, but still, they cry, mine, mine, mine.
As humans, we aren’t that much different from these
seagulls. We love that word, mine. We love the idea that something belongs to
us, that we have ownership over something, that we have control over something,
that something is ours. There are many cases in which it is appropriate to use
the word, mine, my. Some of us may be able to say, this is my house, or this is
my car. We can say, this is my family, or this is my hometown. We can say this
is my farm, or this is my garden, or this is my workplace, or this is my
school, or this is my alma matter, this mine , mine, mine, mine, mine. We even
often use the phrase, this is my church.
What do we say when we say this is my church? Do we mean
to claim that we have ownership over the church? Do we mean to say that we have
full control over the church? If so, what do we do about all of these other
people sitting around us also calling this, their church? Are we to become like
the seagull all scream mine, mine, mine, and chasing whatever we want, all
working against each other for our own control of the church? I don’t think
that this is the case with most of us. I think what we really mean when we say
that this is my church, is that this is where I am a member, or this is where I
attend, and most importantly, this is where I belong. After all isn’t this what
all of us want, somewhere we belong?
Our scripture lesson today, is perhaps a difficult lesson because it
reminds us of something that I think most of us have forgotten, and that is
that we have not always had a place where we belonged. In this lesson, Paul is
writing to the Ephesians, many of whom were Gentiles, which are non Jewish
people, and he is reminding them that until Jesus came, Gentiles had not been a
part of the salvation narrative. At the time of this letter, the New Testament
was still in the works of being written. People had heard about Jesus’ works
and miracles, and about his death and resurrection through ministers like Paul,
and Peter, but for most of these people, the Bible as they knew it, was only
what we would refer to as the Old Testament.
Think about what that would feel like to read as a Gentile. First you
read about Abraham and God’s promise to him that from his off springs will come
a great nation. You read about Jacob’s name being changed to Israel, and the
Lord establishing the 12 tribes from his 12 sons. You read about God’s favor
with Moses and the Israelites, leading them out of Egypt, and guiding them
through the wilderness. You read about all of the military battles in which God
favored the Israelites over the others, the Gentiles. You read about David, the
great King, and how the Messiah will come from his lineage and save the Jews.
Even the psalms, would be tough to hear, for example the psalm 89, the psalm
that was our responsive reading for today. After all its says, “You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I
have sworn to David my servant, and I will make him the first-born, the highest
of the kings of the Earth. I will establish his line forever, and his throne as
the days of the heavens, His line should endure forever, his throne as the sun
before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever; it shall stand firm
while skies endure.” Imagining
being a Gentile and believing in this God of Israel, imagine believing in this
Messiah and reading all of this. The question would certainly arise in your
mind, where do I belong in all of this?
This is what Paul is talking about in this passage today.
He says, “So then, remember that at one time you
Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the
circumcision” —a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that
time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world.But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ. Paul is telling the Gentiles that through Jesus Christ, they
have been grafted in to that salvation narrative; that through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, now they were able to experience the mercy, the
love, and the grace of God. Paul is telling them that God has invited them in
to that chosen family, and that this was done through the extreme hospitality
of Jesus Christ. But Paul is also reminding them of something else. Paul
reminds them that not too long ago, they were outside of this grace; that they
do not have the same markings such as circumcision that for centuries have
identified men as chosen people of God. Paul reminds them that the stories of
the Old Testament are not their family stories. In essence what Paul is really
telling the Gentiles, is that salvation is a gift, not something we deserve.
So what does this mean for us as the church today?
Everything. I don’t know about you, but
Wray is not a very Jewish name. I would venture to guess that most of us here
were not born Jewish. What this story reminds us today, it that we are the
Gentiles. Paul is talking to us directly in this passage. He is telling us that
at one time, we were not the chosen people that the Bible tells us about. Paul
is telling us that the Old Testament is the wonderful word of God that can
teach us more about God and about salvation, but that it is not our family
history. Paul is telling us that our salvation is not something that we
deserve, but rather that out salvation is a gift through the grace of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul tells us that we had no church, nowhere belonged,
nothing to call ours, until Christ opened up the doors to us. That means that this
church today is not ours, it is God’s yet through his son it is somewhere we
all of us can say we belong. This is what Paul is telling the Gentiles in the
passage, and it is also what Paul is saying to us today.
But Paul does not stop here. Paul goes on to tell the
Ephesians, that though the Gentiles may not have always been part of the
salvation story they are now. He says, “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups
into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between
us.He has abolished
the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself
one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,and might reconcile both
groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that
hostility through it.So
he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who
were near;for
through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.So then you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of
the household of God,built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as
the cornerstone.In
him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the
Lord;in whom you
also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
Paul is telling us that
through Christ we are no longer Jew or Gentile, but rather the church is one
body. He is telling us, us, that we
are no longer strangers in the land, but citizens. We are no longer outside
observers of the church, but rather we are members. Paul is writing this
because though salvation has been opened up to all through Christ, there was
still division in the church. Gentiles and Jews were still fighting for power,
for control, fighting so that they could call the church theirs. Yet as
mentioned before, Paul reminds the Gentiles that their salvation was a gift
through the grace of God, but he is also telling the Jewish Christians
something as well. He is telling them that though these newer members have not
been there throughout the struggle of Israel like you have, they are still your
equal. That you are no better, nor more deserving of God’s grace than they are.
That you and they are now one body who have been built together spiritually.
There is no room for division between the church because the church neither
belongs to Gentiles nor Jews, the church belongs to God. Paul is telling the
church to reconcile, to get over their differences, to work through their pain
together, because the church is somewhere where all belong.
One thing you’ll find
out about me is that I love the sacraments. Last week I spoke about Communion
and how part of Communion points us towards victory in Christ and feasting at
the heavenly banquet. This week I will once again talk about Communion, and
this time an aspect of Communion that has often been overlooked and forgotten.
If you remember a few weeks ago when we had communion prior to the elements
being blessed we had a time to pass the peace. While often this becomes a time
of fellowship today, that was not the original function of the passing of the
peace. In Paul’s first letter to the
Corinthians, he gives details on how Communion should be done. In that passage
he says, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and
blood of the Lord.28Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the
bread and drink of the cup. In an attempt to follow these directions of
examining oneself before Communion, early church leader started this passing of
the peace. The original purpose of this passing of the peace was to thing about
if you were harboring ill thoughts about someone, to actually go to them and
offer peace towards them. This is so that when we partake of the same bread, we
really are unified with all those who are also taking communion Think of all
the words that share that same root word as commion: commune, community, common.
The passing of the peace is actually a radical act to make sure that Holy
Communion really is a communion of those who are present. Of course we will all
fall short, and we need the grace received in communion to shape our faith, but
the passing of the peace does help us to approach communion in a more holy
manner.
Through Communion we our differences are no more, because
we all take from the same bread, and that is the bread of life. It reminds us,
just as Paul does, that there should no longer be division in the church. It
reminds us that we are no longer Jew nor Gentile, but now we are the body of
Christ. It reminds that it is not us who has possession over the church, we are
not able to sit back and say that this is mine, or that is theirs, but it
reminds us that power only belongs to Christ, who does sit on his heavenly
throne and through his grace and mercy points to everyone of us and says, you
are mine, mine mine, mine.
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