Proper 9 (CL)

Ephesians 2:11-22

¹¹ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Do you remember when St Paul says that your body is a temple? Now he does not describe each of us as individual temples, but joined together in the one temple, namely Jesus Christ. The people of Jerusalem destroyed this temple and God raised it up again in three days.

St Paul uses this illustration, because there are many things that divide people. In Ephesus and most of the World at his time, the biggest division was whether you followed the Laws of Moses or followed the Jewish Traditions. Thus, St Paul reminds them that these laws and ordinances have been abolished. There is no division or separation, because it is Jesus Christ who makes us holy.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” You, who once were dead and are still a sinner, have been made Holy through the Blood of Christ. It is God who makes you a fellow Citizen of the Kingdom of God and a part of His Holy Temple. It is not by circumcision or uncircumcision or any other work you may do, but a free gift from God that he offers you the perfect blood of his Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin.