19th July 2009 (Trinity 6)
Ephesians 2:11-22
Paul’s description of the Ephesians at the beginning of chapter two reflected their feelings. Many of the Gentile Christians in Ephesus and surrounding areas had been attracted to the Jewish belief in one God, and contrasted that with the many gods and goddesses of their own culture. They knew that they were ‘outsiders’; they had not been circumcised and were not members of the covenant people. They felt themselves to be without hope for the future and without God’s acceptance in the present.
Nowadays it is not popular to describe members of other faiths as ‘without hope and without God in the world’, and indeed, many of them would say that they have both hope and God. But Paul’s point is not that the Jewish faith was better than all other faiths, but that no-one can draw near to God except through Jesus Christ. He goes on to explain what has happened.
Jesus is our peace. The word ‘peace’ is not simply the absence of strife. It is the presence of harmony and wholeness. The most important thing in the universe is to be in harmony with God – and Jesus has enabled that to happen. When Jesus died that was the end of all sorts of things. His human life had ended; he was no longer subject to temptation; he was no longer under the authority of any rules and regulations – dead people don’t have to obey any laws! When he rose again it was with a new body and a new kind of life, in which all the divisions and limitations of the past were gone. He died carrying all the hatreds and hurts and wickedness and failures that are part of human life; he rose to freedom and full harmony with God.
The important thing is that Jesus did all this for us. We who receive him as our Lord and King and trust him to save us and our world from the situation we are in, also find ourselves in harmony with God. This is true whether we are Jews or Gentiles, whether we were near to God or far from him: both alike have access into the very presence of the Father, through Jesus. And in that presence there can be no hostility, either between us and God or between us and each other – we are one.
Through our relationship with Jesus we have received new life. In that new life there is no division between races, genders, or anything else. We are a new creation, a new humanity, destined to share the same kind of resurrection life that Jesus himself now enjoys. As such we have entered into the full relationship with God that the Scriptures have promised.
We have not yet experienced the final perfection – that is to come. For now, we are a work in progress. But it is a glorious work – the building of a temple for God to live in by his Spirit. He is already present, working in us to produce the character that is appropriate for the new creation. One day that work will be finished. But it is all due to Jesus.
Questions:
1) Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except by me.’(John 14:6.) What did he mean?
2) What is Jesus doing in your life?