Ephesians 2:11-22
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 that 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 once were 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, 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 far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you 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.
Imagine if those of us who consider ourselves to be Christian kept this mindset throughout our day as we engage with others. Those of us who attend a christian church on Sunday and believe our values line up with Jesus Christ, how do we field the narrative that continues to be brought up in our country about racism?
Paul is making it very clear here that it cannot coexist with our beliefs about who we are in Christ. Paul brings up the strong beliefs that kept Gentiles and Jews apart. Paul raises the issue of circumcision. He makes it clear that this is only a “physical” distinction, made by “human hands”, “in the flesh”. Paul is pointing out that this ritual that one group does and then wants to ascribe meaning to it, has mis understood God’s directives concerning it. Jesus came to abolish this idea that mutilating a males genitals at birth makes them favored before God! Stop looking for ways to see yourself as different from others!
Paul says that if we insist on making it an issue of flesh (whether it is circumcision or color of, doesn’t matter), “in his flesh he made both groups into one…[reconciling] both groups to God in one body through the cross”. Those of us who claim that we are Christian, believe this to be true. We cannot claim Jesus as our Lord and savior and then hold any values that see others as anything other than our brothers and sisters, children of God just like we are.
Keep in mind that both groups are being reconciled to God, not to one another. The thing that we all have in common with one another is that we needed to be reconciled to God. Once we get that, we can’t help but be reconciled to one another. None of us is special before God. The Jews were “chosen” not “favored”. They were chosen to show the rest of us how to be in relationship with our creator as a people. Jesus shows us how to be in a personal relationship with our creator. We were created for both.
To hear the conversation about racism and think that it is okay to pick sides is falling for the lie of the devil. To allow thoughts and ideas to exist in our minds that because our flesh is____, we are different from those whose flesh is____ is like telling Satan that he is right on this one. We have to see racism for what it is…sinful and wrong.
I know that there is going to be push back on what I’m about to say but I believe this is the truth. Just like any other sinful behavior rasicsm is something that comes naturally to us. We don’t have to be taught to be racist. We have to be taught not to be. I know that that is contrary to what a lot of people believe but Paul is addressing that very thing right here and he is teaching Christians…on both sides… not to be.
Some of us have been raised in an environment where we were taught racism is wrong. We had parents who never used inappropriate language or made mention of someone else’s skin color or ethnic background. And yet we can have a bad experience in life that awakens a voice in us that points out skin color or ethnicity and suddenly we ascribe meaning to that and we can become convinced we are right about our racist thoughts. Racism exists in all of us. Its no different than greed or lust or selfishness. If we don’t believe its wrong, we will allow it to shape our how we view the world. And if we don’t believe we are capable of racism, then we will most certainly be the biggest perpetrators it.
I heard an interview one time and the guest told the host that ______ people are incapable of racism. The very belief that my skin color makes me incapable of racism is racist! So she saw herself as a victim of racism and yet because of her skin color she declared people with her skin color are incapable of being a racist. She stated that her belief was that racism is about power and people with her skin color don’t have power.
With that thinking, if the leader of a group or city or project or country is a purple man, then everyone who’s skin is not purple will experience racism because a purple man is in power giving power only to other purple skinned people. What if a half purple and half orange woman becomes president? With that thinking, anyone who is not half purple and half orange will experience racism. But racism is not about power. Oppression is the result of power in the wrong hands. Racism is just a primal urge to hate. As Christians we are all responsible to recognize this urge as wrong and abolish it from our hearts.
The narrative today mistakes oppressive power for racism. One of my favorite sayings is that for every 10,000 men that can handle adversity, only 1 can handle success. For most of us, our primal urges are suppressed by the fact that we have no means to act on them. But when given the means, we don’t do well with controlling ourselves. Israel’s history of those put in power becoming corrupt and oppressing their people, is repeated over and over. Look at Washington today, they are all corrupt. Go to any third world country and the people are oppressed by a leader who’s greed and power go unchecked. That is not racism, that is oppression.
Racism is hatred and nothing more. It is a demented form of hate. A hate that lies with a silver tongue seducing us to believe we have the right to hate. A lie bold enough to declare that a whole group of people are evil and wrong and sinful because their skin color makes them that way. As long as we see the world through the lens of Us and Them we will stay stuck.
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, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.
In himself he created ONE NEW humanity in place of TWO. If we are in Christ, we are ONE and we are NEW. The hostility, i,e. hatred, is put to death on the cross, and a new humanity is resurrected in Christ. The lie has not been put to death but the hatred has. The lie is still there but it is up to us to not fall for it. It is up to us to recognize it for what it is and choose to believe that Jesus put the hostility to death. We are a new humanity resurrected in our faith in Christ. Anytime that lie tries to speak to us, we have to take that thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.
3 For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
2Corinthians 10:3-5