Glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102819.cfm
Ephesians 2:19-22
Luke 6:12-16

Brothers and sisters:
You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
(Ephesians 2:19-22)

The first reading from today’s scripture choices by the Church may be the clearest expression of the Kingdom “at hand” that you can find in the New Testament. All the players are evident — including the cohorts of brothers and sisters — as citizens, holy ones, and all members of the household of God. The kingship of Jesus stands “capped” at the top. Finally, the temple’s entire substance are us, the Church, a design described as most fitting for the Holy Spirit.

We have a purpose in belonging, but also in preaching like Paul preached. This is the background point to an incredible vision of all creation and heaven in union. Are we inspiring others to join us and be gathered by the Holy Spirit?

Paul includes the Father (household of God), the Son (Christ Jesus as the capstone), with the intent of all believers, brothers and sisters, being built together into a “dwelling place of God in the Holy Spirit.” That dwelling place is happening now as believers are gathered, grown, and built together. We may not see it, what with divisions and angst and anger in constant play. We do not seem physically drawn to God. For some, seldom. For most, not often enough. If we do not see it, others will not see it in us either.

In the few verses before verse 19, from 11 through 18, Paul reminds the Gentile readers of his letter that until the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ they were not members of the household of God. Jewish exclusion of Gentiles came through the law, which the Jewish nation took literally. Gentiles were outsiders, uncircumcised, and therefore despised. Rather than be a beacon of God and his graces to the world, the Jews had become the very obstacle to God for the world. The Gentiles were not inspired by them.

“(Gentiles) were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.”
(Ephesians 2:12)

I wonder if unbelievers are as uninspired by us as the Gentiles were uninspired by the Jews? Paul identifies that the Spirit of God was largely missing from the mission of the Jewish nation. They focused upon the flesh of circumcision as a barrier to non-Jews, and the law as their dividing line.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.”
(Ephesians 2:13)

Peace formed the new atmosphere for gathering folks together. Love enveloped the Christians in Jesus’ coming, his death, and his resurrection. To conquer a fleshly barrier, Paul says that Jesus laid down his own body. Instead of two peoples, the Jew and the Gentile, Jesus reconciled both with God into “one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.”

Using the visual picture of the kingdom as a dwelling place for the Spirit, with a King in Jesus, Paul describes one structure for everyone. Behind the elimination of barriers is a very important restoration. Paul is quite unique in identifying that fossilized religion creates a barrier to God. Paul is not condemning the Jewish faith, but explaining that adherence to exclusion — the ostracizing of others who are not of their faith — destroyed the very purpose of that faith. They were to bring people to God, not shun them.

“He (Jesus) came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
(Ephesians 2:17-18)

In one sentence Paul delivers the Trinity, and the action of each. Being drawn to the Father who loves us is the function of access in the Spirit, which we are taught and urged to accept by Jesus, the Christ.

I believe Paul notes a subtle difference in the household of God between the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom brought to earth. He says that through Jesus, the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord. The temple as a Kingdom is still being constructed. We here are the new members, the Church. We are the waiting components, growing here and somehow being added to the heavently Kingdom structure. Paul says that in Jesus we “also” are being built together, here for inclusion in the Kingdom of heaven. We are forming a “dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” It’s the Spirit who gathers us together here on earth, actively preparing all of creation for an ultimate restoration of a new heavens and a new earth that also combines into one citizenry.

Our mind's eye may see the Kingdom of heaven as some distant castle from our village down here. This image, however, speaks only of our current state as earthly creatures. Heaven is within our reach, because our Church makes us members of the Body of Christ. Our ancestors, our families, have joined Jesus there, and no enmity exists between them. We are being built for a new heaven and earth that joins all of us together. It's mostly beyond our imagination, but God knows what he is doing.

Peace acts like the windshield wipers to our window into the Kingdom. Clarity comes through the washing of peace. We see God unifying us, and even all of creation, when we look at the world through the eyes of peace. Except, we are more probably like the Jews of worry and exclusion than the early Christians of love and peace.

How are we barriers? Rather than technology advancing we imagine technology destroying us. Rather than politics working for development of our progress, we see it hammering us into submission. The peace of unification and love begins within us, and then into the world. With great trust in us, God has put us into the path of restoration. We should trust that God knows what he's doing with us.

This is the problem the Jews of Jesus' time had with their own nation. Rather than trusting that the Messiah would take peace into the world, they envisioned enemies who wanted to destroy them, and a Messiah who would bend their wills. Jesus, instead, gathered them all under his wings. Well, as time had shown them, that destruction was very real. The gathering of Jesus does not eliminate the force of destruction, only its ultimate power. We, similarly, experience trepidation due to reality. We tremble at the forces coming after us.

Technology has its moments of destruction. Politics will hammer at us. Enemies full well have told us they want to destroy us. In fact, both the Jews and the Gentiles hear the same drumming of hatred. It is not always true, though. In fact, it is only rarely true. The bulk of our encounters with people, and even with governments, result in advancements, developments, and further prospects of peace. We have difficulty, though, allowing for peace and love to win out, because we have those intermittent, and horrid, examples of great loss.

Ironically, in every moment where exclusion and barriers to peace arise due to enmity between us we still must rely upon the Spirit. Either way, in peace and love, or enmity and destruction, Paul quotes Jesus telling us that the Spirit will use us to bring peace through love. Paul ends his next chapter in Ephesians with the proper call to living in the way of peace.

For this reason I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
(Ephesians 3:14-21)