Sermon Ephesians 2:13-22 Breaking Down Walls

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Ephesians 2:13-22 Breaking Down Walls
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
January 18, 2008.
Listen to this sermon.

Tomorrow is the national holiday celebrating the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend King was a pastor in the 1960s who advocated the cause of civil rights for all people. He used peaceful means to bring about deep changes in America. He was motivated by the biblical call to love our neighbors as we love our selves. Remembering the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., please pray with me. Holy Spirit we ask that you fill us this day with God’s love. Pour this love into our hearts and let it overflow in love for our neighbors. Help us to live holy lives loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This biblical command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves in found in the Holiness Code of the ancients Hebrews which is preserved for us in the Book of Leviticus. Listen again to these works from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD”. We are commanded by God to stop all hatred and acts of violence against our neighbor and begin to love our neighbor as God loves us.

This command to love our neighbors as God loves us is called the Golden Rule. It is basis of ethical behavior for all the world’s religions, according to Confucianism: “Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence” (Mencius VII.A.4). Buddhist teachings say: “Comparing oneself to others in such terms as "Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I," he should neither kill nor cause others to kill. (Sutta Nipata 705). A traditional African proverb says: “One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts” (Yoruba Proverb (Nigeria)). The Hindu teaching states: “One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire.” (Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 113.8). A proverb from Jainism says: “A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.” (Sutrakritanga 1.11.33). Islam says: “Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” (Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 13). The Jewish Talmud has this wonderful story: “A certain heathen came to Shammai and said to him, "Make me a proselyte, on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Thereupon he repulsed him with the rod which was in his hand. When he went to Hillel, he said to him, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah; all the rest of it is commentary; go and learn." (Talmud, Shabbat 31a). And Jesus said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22.36-40).

The Golden Rules teaches all the people of the world that God expects us to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. But if this is the case why is there so much bloodshed and vengeance in the world? Why would the Palestinians fire rockets to kill their Israeli neighbors? Why would Israel drop bombs on schools and hospitals killing Palestinian children? Something more than just telling people to love their neighbors must be required. There must be some way, that the desire for blood that both sides have, can we satisfied and peace can be achieved. Everyone desires peace but the desire for vengeance is greater. Where can go to have the price of vengeance paid so that peace will take hold?

To answer these questions lets turn to the Book of Ephesians and hear what it says.

Ephesians 2:13 - 22 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 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. 15 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, 16 and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

According to the Apostle Paul there are three reasons why Jesus Christ breaks down the walls of hostility and make a new people of peace. The first reason is that the blood of Jesus on the cross satisfies the vengeful desire for blood. The second reason is that once the desire for vengeance is satisfied there is room for the transformative effect of the Holy Spirit. And the third reason is that the temple of God does not occupy a specific place on the map, but it is the spiritual unity of the people of God with Jesus Christ at the foundation. Let’s look at each of these.

First, the hostility that results from the desire of vengeance is satisfied not by the blood of your neighbor but by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is only by the blood of Jesus that the warring factions in Israel and Palestine can satisfy their desire for blood. The desire for vengeance, the desire to right the wrong of innocent death, can be satisfied only in the death of Jesus on the cross. Though Jesus’ death the deaths of all the innocent victims of all the violence of the last sixty years on both sides have been honored. This allows both the Israelis and the Palestinians to set aside their spirit of anger and hatred and come to a lasting peace.

Second, through Jesus the spirit of vengeance which has filled the hearts of both Israelis and Palestinians is replaced with the Holy Spirit of God. This has the transforming effect of creating one humanity out of two peoples who were at each other throats. This comes about because the Holy Spirit gives the warring factions access to God, the Father, they all worship. In the Spirit, Palestinians cease being Palestinians, Israelis cease being Israelis, and they all become children of God.

At root in the Palestinian conflict is the desire for land and the belief that God has given the land to them and the God can be found on that land. Israelis rightly remember that God promised the land to their ancestor Abraham and his descendants. They claim ownership of the land as a biblical right. The Palestinians see their struggle for land as part of the struggle that the Prophet Mohammed had with Jews who resisted God’s message. This is combined with the deep rage they experience because of the suffering they have endured for sixty years. Thus both sides see ownership of the land as their God given right and are willing to fight to the death to preserve that right, because for both the Palestinians and the Israelis the right to the land is tied to right to be in the presence of God.

And this brings us to the third and final reason that only Jesus Christ can break down the walls between Palestinian and Israeli. In Jesus Christ we see that God is no longer tied to the land. God is no longer to be worshipped only in a temple in Jerusalem. Rather, Jesus Christ has constructed a new temple made up of all of God’s children whose desire for vengeance has been satisfied by Christ’s blood and now, filled with the Holy Spirit are being transformed into the children of God. The land is now no longer important. What is important is the new temple made up of God’s people.

Only in Jesus Christ can the desire for blood vengeance be satisfied, for the warring parties to be transformed by the Spirit into the people of God, and the new people of God built into a new temple not on the land but in the hearts of all the believers. So the solution to the violence and hatred in the Middle East rests with us, the followers of Jesus Christ. We need to proclaim that the violence in the land of Jesus must stop because the price of peace has been paid by Christ on the cross. We need to proclaim the transformative power of God’s Holy Spirit to transform the heart of the people from hearts that hate their neighbors into hearts that love their neighbors. And we need to proclaim that in Jesus Christ God can be found not in land or in a temple but in the people of God.

Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, we pray for peace in the land where you once lived. Help those who desire vengeance for past hurts realize that the price has been paid by your blood on the cross. Send your Holy Spirit to transform the warring factions into God’s people. And build them and us into God’s holy temple. Amen.