A World Without Walls ~ Ephesians 2:11-12 ~ Eighth Sunday After Pentecost ~ July 22, 2012

When Elizabeth and I have a day off, very often there’s the question...of what to do...

One idea that’s sure to make Elizabeth happy is for us to go to the mall—so she can try on hats.

One day we wandered into one of the region’s more exclusive retailers.  Elizabeth tries on one hat.  Within ten seconds, the hat’s back on the rack, and we’re on our way.

Then we hear a voice calling out in the background, “can I help you?”

Now we just kept walking, because the voice was so far behind us, we didn’t think it was for us.  But then we hear hurried footsteps clunking on the floor behind us, and the same voice shouts, “hello!  You in the blue shirt, you in the brown dress, I’m talking to you!”  We turn around, and she’s says again, “can I help you?”

Elizabeth quietly says “no, thank you.” 

It was then that we made our way to the exit.  Now we don’t know what the salesperson’s motives might have been, but the message we got loud and clear was “you don’t belong here.”

And we’ll never set foot in there again. 

Now this is really no big loss for us.  If anything, we have something to laugh about every time we see one of these stores.

But exclusion is nothing to laugh about—and it happens all around us, every single day.

In just about every kind of human association imaginable, there are insider/outsider systems.  They structure our lives.  They structure our world.

These systems exist because the exclusion of many (seemingly) benefits those who are fortunate enough to be the insiders.  There’s some kind of good the insiders enjoy—and the insiders aren’t about to lose it.

So exclusion brings with it some harsh realities... Insider/outsider systems manufacture loneliness—because they cut people off from others.  They prevent relationships. 

It becomes difficult—if not impossible—for the outsiders to make ends meet—because opportunities for education and good-paying jobs and reserved to a more fortunate few...

And the message these systems send to those they exclude—is that you’re a nobody.

When people treat you as though you’re worthless, you are all the more likely going to feel worthless—even in God’s eyes...

The early Christians in the city of Ephesus certainly understood the pain of exclusion.  At the time the letter we know as the book of Ephesians was written, they were living beneath the iron rule of the Roman Empire.  And they didn’t exactly do as Romans did.  Christians didn’t offer sacrifices to the gods of the empire—something that made them subject to all kinds of ostracism—and even persecution. 

Even within the Christian community, there was the widespread belief that true Christians had to be descendents of Abraham.  Most of the Ephesian Christians were not...  So you could say that these Christians were outcasts from the outcasts.

But then one day they hear these words:

“You who were once far off from God, without hope, have been brought near by the blood of Christ...”  “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but members of the household of God.”

These words announce that God has not forgotten these people who’ve become outcasts.  God is acting through Jesus Christ to destroy the insider/outsider barriers that cut people off from the family of God and therefore God himself. 

This is the very essence of what Jesus doing in our Gospel today: he goes out to be among the crowds of the least and the lost.  He allows these unclean persons to touch him—which, in turn makes him unclean.  But that didn’t concern him.  Jesus loved these people.  So Jesus made himself one with them—by being among them.  That is the greatest gift he gives—a gift greater than even the physical healing of an illness or infirmity...  He gives them himself: a relationship with the Savior of the world.  This is the gift that heals.

As the Body of Christ, we follow Jesus by going beyond the walls of this temple, to be among strangers.  God’s grace makes visible to us the persons who’ve been forgotten in our world.  God’s grace destroys the labels and the prejudices and even the fears we have towards those who are different than us.  In sending us to be among strangers, Jesus brings us all near to himself.

There was a time that we were all strangers to God; when our sin cut us off—but Christ has changed all that.  And now, we are sent to carry on this good work that God began in us. 

What a great ministry of healing this is: to shatter the social boundaries, and break out of our comfort zones, so to encounter Jesus in the presence of strangers.  Our world desperately needs the love and compassion of people just like us.  Sin is the power that isolates and divides, but God’s love is the power that heals.  Hope comes alive where love is shown.

Today, God is challenging us to love—especially those persons whom we may have never thought to love before.  Living out Jesus’ love for the stranger will involve more than just reaching out; it is going out and to be among.  It’s learning people’s names; it’s hearing people’s stories; it’s giving generously of ourselves.  It’s staying with. 

Today, we go forth to receive the gift of new relationships as we give the gift of ourselves.  And let us not stop until all people know their place in the family of God.