Reverend Philip Stringer
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-44
LET US PRAY: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Feed us with your Word, and speak to our hearts, that we may love and serve only you, now and forever. AMEN
When I was a kid we had two yards -- our own yard-proper, and everyone else’s. We had neighborhood games with all the kids, and you could run from one end of the street to the other through the backyards.
There were a few yards with fences -- but they were isolated and you could go around them. I was always curious about why those people had a fence. I recall that I felt they must be angry, lonely people. I imagined them alone in their houses with the lights off and scowls on their faces as they thought about the outside world. In the meantime, we would play outside of and around their boundaries, careful to keep our distance, but otherwise happy to call our neighborhood “home.”
There are still some neighborhoods like that, but not the one I grew up in. There are more yards with fences now than without -- and that seems to be the case in most places. With the loss of open space has also come the loss of neighborhood and community.
It is ironic that we erect fences to protect things -- privacy, or property -- but in raising the fence, we risk losing things, too, things like freedom and openness and community.
Robert Frost is perhaps the most famous poet in America. His poem, “Mending Wall” is a favorite of mine. He begins, “something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, and spills the upper boulders in the sun...” In the poem, he writes about walking with his neighbor in the spring along a fence made of fieldstone. They are walking, one on either side, to repair the places where the stones have fallen down because of weather and time. He questions the purpose of the wall between them:
He is all pine and I am apple-orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down!" I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
There were many fences in Paul’s day, too. And, just like today, many of them were there for the wrong reason. Of primary concern to him were the walls in the Jewish Temple.
The way that the Temple was constructed created many “courts.” The inner most court, which was very small, was the “Holy of Holies.” This is where the arc of the covenant had originally been kept, and was, to Paul’s day, the place where God most strongly resided. To be in the Holy of Holies was to be in the direct presence of God. Therefore, only the High Priest of all Israel was permitted to enter it.
Surrounding the Holy of Holies was the room in which all of the other priests were permitted to enter. Surrounding this, was a court where all of the Jewish men were permitted to come. Outside of this, was a court where Jewish women were permitted, and finally, outside of the women’s court was the “court of Gentiles,” where all other people were permitted to gather.
The fence which separated these inner Jewish courts from the court of Gentiles was made of thinly cut, and beautifully detailed marble. In 1871 a piece of this fence was actually unearthed. Written upon it is the warning: “Let no one of any other nation come within the fence and barrier around the Holy Place. Whosoever will be taken doing so will himself be responsible for the fact that his death will ensue.”
A little bit wordy -- but the point is clear: Gentiles -- that is “non-Jews” -- are not welcome near the Holy Place of God or to mix with Jews. If a Gentile violated this separation, he or she would die. It was as simple and serious as that.
But Paul writes of something new. In his letter to the Ephesians -- who were “Gentile people” -- he draws on the imagery of the Jewish Temple structure to show them what Christ has done: “. . . in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall. He has abolished the law with its commandments . . . that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace . . . So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the house-hold of God . . .”
No more separation. No more fences. Only one people, gathered together in Christ. There is no one nearer or farther. Only one body in the direct presence of God.
What an amazing message to proclaim to a people who would, most certainly, be killed for coming too near to God at the Temple. They have literally gone from being outcasts on the wrong side of the fence, to members of God’s own household -- indeed, Paul tells them that they are more than just members; they have become the new Temple itself.
A number of years ago my father had a Hindu coworker and friend. One day, as they ate lunch together, my dad related how their church was planning to relocate to a larger piece of property. The old building would be sold and bulldozed to make room for Walgreens.
His Hindu friend registered shock and surprise. “How can you do this?” he asked. “To a Hindi,” he explained, “once ground is set apart as holy, it is holy forever!”
“To a Christian,” my dad answered, “what is holy is not in a place or the ground, but in the hearts of the people.” This is the new Temple that Paul told the Ephesians about -- The temple that is made up of all those whom Christ has gathered.
Paul proclaims in Christ the fulfillment of what was promised in Isaiah: "... remove every obstruction from my people's way." For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit.
Paul proclaimed the dawn of a new age -- an age where we, too, belong to God. An age where we will never be kept separate from God.
He recognized that Christ is at the center of God’s plan of reconciliation. As Christians, this realization must continue to shape our thinking today.
There are many titles given to Jesus in the scriptures: King of Kings, Prince of Peace, Might Lord -- but I think that there is another title by which we MUST know him. He is the fence-breaker -- of our past, of our present, and of the future. Jesus is the fence breaker, and he is tearing down the fences -- he is setting us free from the fences that would hold us -- but he will also be our adversary if we try to put them up. Where are the places where you are building walls within yourself? Between you and the people around you? Between you and various groups of people?
Sometimes I wonder if we are not making the same mistakes that the Jews of Paul’s day made. Do we build a fence around God and say to others, “you must be like me to enter.”?
Fences. Something inside of us longs to set boundaries and build emotional -- spiritual fences. But “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall that wants it down.” In Christ we are a new creation, called every day to put away our wire and wood and stones, and live a life of service to God. A life where our business, in fact, is the opposite of building fences. We are to tear them down in the name of Christ -- whether they be social, or political, or racial, or personal, or sexual, or spiritual -- they cannot be tolerated where this truth is known: he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall . . . that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace.
AMEN
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