Reading from the Ephesians two:
“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 the 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 were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, 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 so 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 once far off and peace to those who were near for him. Both of us have access in one spirit to the Father, so then you who 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.”
For the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Okay, so this is another fairly complicated text. There is a lot to say about it. I think what I would want to say at the moment, just briefly – in the church we like to think that everyone is welcome, regardless of who they are, and obviously, that is not the case. I think we …
Hang on Eli, I can’t right now because I’m still doing this. Oh yeah, you have to sit. You have to sit. But they can to drop on it.
It’s obviously not true that everyone is … just come to the church and you’re welcome because just like everywhere else, we have this tendency that we want to surround ourselves with people who sort of think like we do and do things like we do. I think it’s a natural tendency – a natural impulse, but just because something is natural does not mean it’s a good thing. There are several, there’s so many impulses that we have that are not good if we just obey them blindly. So, we have to work with, prune ourselves, sort of work spiritually with ourselves.
And here, I think what he’s talking about that I think is the most interesting thing is that the author here is saying that Jesus has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility to create in himself a new humanity. Okay? So that’s a big statement that Christ has in himself created a new humanity.
I, for myself, I believe that’s true. I believe that Christianity, or perhaps I should say Christ can create a new humanity. I do think that’s true, and I think it’s possible, and I think Jesus, I think God is doing that every time God lets us place our identity in God and not somewhere else. Not into something else or someone else.
At one point in the New Testament, Jesus is saying that “if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sister, yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple”. What does he mean by that? I think what he means is obviously not hating. That’s not the goal here. What he says is that we, as Christians, must have, we must place our identity in God, in Christ and Christ alone, not in our occupation, our title or our family or our political conviction in Christ. And I have say, I’ve experienced enough to say that I do believe it’s possible that a new humanity can be brought about through Christ, through surrendering our identity to God, to Christ. I do think it’s possible, and the question is, I guess, how you do that. I think the answer is a simple and a difficult one through prayer.
I think through prayer, we can again and again practice to surrender ourselves to God, and what we find through that, I think, is a personal inner deep spiritual peace, but also peace with our neighbors, because once we have our identity placed in God and not our occupation or how much we earn or whatever else it is, there’s nothing left to defend, to be defensive about. You can embrace your stranger, you can embrace even your enemy because there’s nothing that stranger or enemy can take away from you because you have what you treasure in God and not here, so to speak.
So, I do think it’s possible, and I think it’s possible for every one of us. You don’t have to be a spiritual expert, whatever that is. I think you just live your life, and you spend time in prayer and things start happening. I’ve seen that enough times in other people’s lives, but also in my life. That prayer, that’s the gateway to a lot of exciting things.
So, greetings from Sweden and I wish you a good day.
First broadcast on http://thesundayeucharist.com on July 21st, 2024
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