Good day dear friends.
Our text for today comes from Ephesians 2: 11 But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways12 had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. 13 Now because of Christ - dying that death, shedding that blood - you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. 14 The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. 15 He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody. 16 Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. 17 Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. 18 He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father. 19 That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all - irrespective of how we got here - in what he is building. 20 He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone 21 that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day - a holy temple built by God, 22 all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.(The Message)
"You stay out!" Thank God, that is something in this country we don't see written much any more; the distinction among races being labeled as "Whites" and "Coloreds." It still happens in subtle ways, and we pray that the day of that practice end soon. In this passage Paul is addressing the issue of what kept new Christian believers outside of the one faith with Jewish brothers and sisters. Paul did not see that Jews should be over here and Gentiles over there. The disciples did at first, but they started to come around as they felt God at work in them. The issue was the stressing of traditional practices of religion over the experienced spiritual transformation of the Holy Spirit. The Jewish Christians believed that in order to become a true Christian, you had to become a Jew; and in order to become a Jew, the males had to undergo circumcision, the mark of the covenant. That idea to grown men was not an appealing one, and Paul understood that. He understood that what had taken place in Jesus was to reshape the understanding of faith and "belonging." Paul writes that when we live in sin and away from Christ we are indeed outsiders to the understanding of God's love and work among those who belong to God; but through acceptance of Christ in faith, we are brought in as full members of this new family. Paul did not want distinctions to keep all believers from understanding we are now all equals. Paul goes so far as to call the believer a "new human being" with a "fresh start." I heard just last week in a small church meeting the witness of a man who became United Methodist because his old church did not accept or believe that after forty (40) years of being away due to his way of living could happen. When he came into the church the first thing he heard was "What's that drunk doing here?" That was enough to seek a place for a fresh start, which, thank God, he found in the UM church.
The hostility of the Cross brought an end to hostility among believers. The death of Christ made us all equals, with equal access to God the Father. We are all now citizens of this new Reign or Kingdom that God is building. May it be true that we indeed treat each other as equals, with the same love shared with everyone regardless of background or past experiences. May it also serve to inspire and encourage us to get others to join us!
PRAYER: Loving God, we celebrate the end of differences among believers. We have equal access to You and we should be sharing that good news with others. May our lives reflect our willingness to see that we are all new human beings with fresh starts in Christ Jesus. May the past with our sinful ways be forgotten in You and in us, so that we can instead see us as indeed new, as You see us; we pray in Christ Jesus, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
