Dividing Wall

Ephesians 2:11-22
One in Christ
 
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202%3A11-22&version=NRSVUE
 
“Jewish law separated observant Jews from others,” as Amy-Jill Levine explains in The Jewish Annotated New Testament. She said that based on the Torah, Israel was to be a “holy nation,” and their holiness set them apart from others, particularly Gentiles. The Torah’s dietary laws also separated them. They could not eat any Gentile food due to “impurities,” and that same sense of dietary uncleanness was passed on to the Gentile people. If their food was unclean, then they were also unclean.
 
This separation created hostility, animosity and suspicion from both the Jews and Gentiles. Religion or Jewish law was at the root of the “dividing wall,” but the wall between them was really their hostility, their hatred of one another. The Common English Bible said it clearly that “the barrier of hatred that divided us” (v. 14).
 
Paul writes that it doesn’t have to be this way. Christ brings them together. Christ is the peace between them, and “the cross was the end of the hostility” (v.16 MSG). Eugene Peterson summarizes it beautifully in The Message: “He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped.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” (v.14-15). Jesus gave them common ground to come together to build a new community without dividing walls. Jesus gave them a fresh start.
 
Jesus was the do-over. God started over through Jesus in hopes that God’s creation could be re-connected as one human family through Christ’s love and sacrifice on the cross. This new human family would be the new dwelling place for God. However, our world and our relationships do not look like this creation any longer. We more closely resemble the separated world between Jew and Gentile, particularly here in the US.
 
We have so many dividing walls between us. We are consumed with hostility, animosity, and suspicion that separates us from anyone who looks or thinks different from us. We have certainly not created a dwelling place for God when our hearts are filled with hatred. It’s time for another do-over.
 
We need to be the do-over. Jesus is still capable of bringing us together. We need to examine our hearts and identify the walls between us. We need to be honest that they are created by our own hostility, animosity, and suspicion, not some other scapegoat that we like to blame. We can try to say that our different religious or political leanings separate us from each other, but, honestly, it’s simply hatred that we allow to consume us.
 
It’s no wonder Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God and love one another as Christ loves us because if we did that, we would have a do-over in our hearts. We truly could start fresh each day, creating a dwelling place within us for God to reside. God is love, so if God is to live in us or among us, our hearts must be filled with love.  
 
If we are to be who we are created to be in order for God to dwell among us, we have to remove the dividing walls between us. Christ has shown us how to remove them, how to embrace one another and become one: Sacrificial love. May we all work to tear down the walls that separate us from others.  
 
Reflection Questions:
What are the dividing walls in your life?
What creates hostility, animosity, or suspicion that separates you from others?
How can Jesus help you have a do-over?

Pray:
Pray for a do-over! Ask God to show you where you have deeply embedded hatred that needs to be rooted out.

Action:
Take one step in tearing down a wall. Perhaps sit next to someone who will vote differently from you in a worship service or other community gathering.
 
*New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.