Without Distinctions

"For Christ is our peace... he has made the two groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us... that he might create... one new humanity."  (Ephesians 2:14-15)

This building in which we worship is important to our life as a faith community. This year is our 35th anniversary and we are going to celebrate it on September 13th.  The history of our building is beautifully captured in the logo created for our anniversary celebration.  We know how significant this building is not only for us, but for others as we share it in many ways with the wider community.  A certain amount of our identity (I suspect way too much) is wrapped up in this building. 

I bring this up to emphasize, that as significant as our building is to us, it pales in comparison to the significance of the Jerusalem Temple to the biblical Israelites. 

In the bible, the temple in Jerusalem was the absolute center of Jewish religious and national life.  The identity of the Israelites, their religion and their nation was inseparably linked to Jerusalem and the temple. It is very hard, if not impossible, for us to even begin to grasp the deep seeded emotional, political and religious investment they had in the Jerusalem temple.  I cannot think of any contemporary parallels in our culture that even come close in comparison.   

To get a sense of the sacredness of Jerusalem and the temple in biblical times, I quote from the Midrash Tanchuma, Qedoshim a collection of Torah readings and interpretations:

"As the navel is set in the centre of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world...  and Jerusalem (is set) in the centre of the land of Israel; and the sanctuary (temple) (is set) in the centre of Jerusalem; and the holy place (Holy of Holies) (is set) in the centre of the sanctuary; and the ark (of the covenant) in the centre of the holy place, and the foundation stone before the holy place, because from it the world was created."

These words from the Midrash help us understand the deep emotional, political and spiritual investment the people had in the land, in Jerusalem and the temple in biblical times; an investment still plainly evident in contemporary times.  When we consider that the Palestinian people, from their perspective, have an equal and parallel sense of deep-seeded emotional, political and religious investment in the same turf, we can appreciate the complexities and difficulties of resolving the contemporary situation of perpetual conflict.

The history of the Jerusalem Temple stretches far back into biblical times, the first temple being built during the time of Solomon, perhaps 950 BCE, and it lasted until about 587 BCE when it, along with much of Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Babylonians, and a period of exile began for the Israelites.  The second temple reconstruction was begun later in that century under Persian occupation and continued in various stages stretching into the time of Herod and Jesus.  In about 70 CE it was destroyed again, this time by the Romans, an event alluded to in the New Testament.

The Jerusalem temple was extraordinary and awesome; a most spectacular building covering some 40 acres.  It was splendid and extravagant - a glorious edifice.  It's very design and layout tells us much about their religion and how they practiced it.

To illustrate that point, I would like to suggest to the church council this morning, a redesign of our building based on the design of the ancient Jerusalem temple.  If we are to do the job right, we would have to make some serious capital improvements, but since we don't have the money, I will work with what we have.  We can discuss it at our August meeting.

My proposal is much simplified compared to the real thing, but it is still based on the layout of the ancient temple.  Depending on who you are, you would have your own entrance and your own space.  The Jerusalem temple had thirteen different entrances, each serving a specified purpose, and numerous designated spaces for various groupings of people. 

If you are agnostic or atheist your entrance will be at the west end of the church down the hallway, and your designated space will be the Fellowship Hall.

If you are non-Lutheran your entrance is the downstairs north entrance and your space is downstairs.

If you are a Lutheran female your door is this side door over here, and your space is the choir section.  We will need to put some kind of divider in front of that section to accentuate the division.

If you are stricken with the disease of leprosy or anything else that has designated your status as ritually unclean, your entrance is the side door of the narthex and your space is the cry room as to minimize contact with others so that your state of ritual uncleanliness will not be passed on to others. 

If you are male your entrance is the main entrance and your space is these seats right here in front of me - up to the third row from the front. 

If you are members of the clergy, your door is over here through the memorial garden and your space are these front row seats so you can have easy access to the chancel area where religious rituals are performed. 

If you are the high priest and top dog, (that would be me) my seat is directly in front, and only I am permitted to enter the “Holy of Holies” (which is the current sacristy transformed and now the most sacred space in the whole edifice because the “Holy of Holies” is where God hangs out; where God is thought to be most fully present in the world.)  I and only I can only go into the Holy of Holies one day a year to make appropriate sacrifices for the sins of you all.  There you have it – what our church building might be like if based on the blueprint of the ancient Jerusalem temple.

Did you notice that, by design, there is a built in sense of relative worth, that the closer you are to the Holy of Holies the closer you are to God and worth increases; the farther you are from the holy of holies the farther you are from God and worth diminishes.  And of course, it is implied that with each designation comes the appropriate set of prejudicial and condescending attitudes towards all the other designations: attitudes of relative human worth and importance, power and status.  

My satirical proposal is made in order to make a crucial point.  If we don't have some kind of understanding of ancient temple theology in terms that we can understand, then we cannot really appreciate the totally radical nature of what is really being declared and proposed in the scripture from Ephesians this morning.

"For Christ is our peace... he has made the two groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us... that he might create... one new humanity." 

The early followers of Jesus, in those decades after Jesus, experienced something so extraordinary, so transforming, so astonishing, and so convicting in Jesus that they began to reconstruct their community life together in a radically new way - no longer following accepted religiously legitimated designations that were physically embodied in temple worship, design and practice.

"... (Christ) has broken down the dividing wall."  In those times there was no greater wall than the wall that existed between Jew and Gentile.  This wall existed not only as an attitudinal and prejudicial wall in the hearts and minds of people, but a tangible and very real physical barrier within the temple itself that promoted hostility: the Gentiles had their designated space furthest from the Holy of Holies; then the unclean; then the women; then the men, finally the clergy. The temple was built with the superstructure of distinction.

But the followers of Jesus in Ephesus were refashioning their community life; transforming their community life; no longer according to the old religiously legitimated distinctions, but a new design based on their experience of Jesus - as one who moved freely into life and lived as if those distinctions no longer existed.  It was such a radical shift in thinking, living, being and doing that the author of the letter to the Ephesians labels it "a new humanity."  In Christ they were experiencing “a new humanity” – a new way to be a community; a community shaped and forged around the heart and mind of Jesus and the vision of Jesus. 

Did they do it perfectly?  No!  Did they struggle to follow Jesus and employ the new Jesus paradigm in their life together?  Yes!

Before we get too judgmental of ancient temple theology and practices – we need to take a long hard look at the communities of which we are a part.  We may not have the same kind of physical temple as they, but in many subtle ways we too can live with a similar temple mentality. We can project the barrier and walls that exist in our hearts and minds on to the world.  Another example: Are not many of our communities still largely arranged along ethnic, racial, and economic distinctions fostered and promoted by rules dictated by developers and zoning laws that can be manipulated to favor some over others?  In many of the places I have lived, this county no exception, I have noticed when ideas are introduced that would bring distinctly different racial, ethnic and economic groups physically closer together, laments of decreasing property values and other concerns pierce the public ear.  Is that so radically different from the distinctions that were cultivated and fostered in the temple of old?   

One of the beautiful things about the Tuesday Community Dinner, that this congregation has committed itself to, is that it fosters a community environment where people of differing distinctions sit down for fellowship and nourishment at the same tables.  For a brief moment in time distinctions are minimized, and as far as I am concerned, for those moments that space in the Silverthorne Elk’s Club becomes “sacred space” incarnating what the early followers experienced in Jesus and what the Ephesian community was striving to emulate in their life together.

A last thought:  Some interpret this Ephesian’s passage narrowly saying that the experience described here only happens if everyone believes in Jesus.  I don’t look at it that way since the various expressions and denominations of Christianity do a more than thorough job of judging and condemning one another, and are perpetually thinking up new ways of committing theological violence against one another. 

I see this Ephesian passage in a different way. I see it as a challenge to live the Jesus life; more as a description of what a Jesus life looks like and the impact it can have whether it be within a faith community like this one; or especially in the wider more diverse community; struggling to live without the temple mentality of dehumanizing distinctions; living with Jesus’ heart and mind and vision, and in so living creating the possibility of “a new humanity.”     

Will it be hard?  For sure it will be hard! - especially in the kind of fractured world we live in; but difficulty of task should never be a rationalization for lack of effort.

Will it take courage? – absolutely! - for the prejudicial forces that would prevent Jesus’ life from being embodied in the world are legion and determined; but capitulation due to cowardice cannot be our way because it was not Jesus’ way.

Can we be successful?  To me it’s an irrelevant question.  Following Jesus cannot be calculated using the world’s standards and measurements of success; for when we do we become manipulating and self-serving. We follow Jesus not to be successful, but to be faithful to his way; for in following his way we are given, as a gift, our fullest and most beautiful humanity - and affirm the fullest and most beautiful humanity of others.

Is it practical?  No, it is totally impractical because it challenges people to let go of old ways of thinking and embrace new ways of thinking - one of the hardest things for humans to do.  But the greatest visionaries  in history have all heard the criticism that their ideas were impractical.

The temple building of biblical times was glorious, but in many ways, it gloriously legitimated dehumanizing distinctions between people.

I pray the identity of this faith community will be inseparably wrapped not with our building, but be inseparably wrapped with Jesus as we courageously and tenaciously embody his way of life within our faith community and labor to bring it to expression in the wider community. 

May God give us the resolve, the courage, the will and the strength.