The second reading for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time continues with the reflections of Paul (or a superb facsimile of Paul) on human unity in and through Christ. The reading for this Sunday is Ephesians 2:13-18, but I think it is worth drawing in the two verses just prior to this passage:

“So then, 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.”

Paul has used imagery evoking the family of God earlier in this letter, and in these verses draws on political imagery (the politeia of Israel) to establish the division amongst people’s prior to the coming of Christ, though “family,” as in the “children of God,” is certainly one way to understand the people of Israel. Now, however, those who were “aliens” and “strangers” (or “foreigners” – the Greek is zenoi), those who did not belong to the covenant people, belong to God through Christ. This division, and the overcoming of this division in Christ, speak directly in the 1st century context to the struggles of the early Church to understand theologically and to make manifest actually the bringing together of Jew and Gentile in the people of God. Yet, this distinction between Jew and Gentile in terms of salvific reality, especially the wondrous reality that God has called all peoples into his family and into his politeia, does not resonate, I think, with the same clarity that it did in the first century. But we ought never forget, personally or theologically, the past role and the continuing role of the Jewish people in salvation history. We can never forget either that it is through Christ “that you who were once far off have become near by the blood of Christ” (Ephes. 2:13).

Paul continues on to say that “peace” has been gained for us through Christ’s sacrifice by breaking down the “enmity” (or “hostility”) between Jew and Gentile, which he calls a “dividing wall.” Indeed, the word “peace” occurs not only in verse 14, but again in verses 15 and 17, apart from the use of “reconcile” which is used in verse 16. Verse 15 also speaks of the “abolishing” of the Law and its commandments, which is difficult to fit into Paul’s claims elsewhere that the law is fulfilled by Christ and his followers (cf. Gal. 5:14; Rom.13:10), though in this context it indicates – to me at any rate – that what was a “dividing wall” has been breached to bring together two peoples into one humanity (Ephes. 2:15).

While the split between Jew and Gentile might not be a constant and current concern in the daily life of the Church any longer, it strikes me that these words need to resonate for us with clarity today in new contexts. Paul focuses on how Jesus has broken down divisions, on peace, on reconciliation between parties once in open hostility. Christ has created one new humanity. How do we live this reality of one new humanity within the Church? How do we tear down differences amongst people of different races, nations or political persuasions? Do we build walls where Christ has torn them down? There is a saying in Tosefta Avodah Zarah 1, 19, which somehow fits in the context of Ephesians: “Rabbi Simeon ben Eliezer says, if children would say to you, ‘Build the Temple,’ do not listen to them. And if elders say to you, ‘Destroy the Temple,’ listen to them. Because the building of youths is destruction and the destruction of elders is building” (my translation).” Let me paraphrase this in the context of the Christian family or polity: if the Messiah has torn down the dividing walls, don’t go building them again.

John W. Martens

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.