I am a white, middle class, male. As such, I have no real experience of being looked at as an outsider.
But Paul’s passage from Ephesians today has me thinking about what that is like. And it got me
thinking about the way we create divisions between ourselves. The conversation about the
circumcised versus the uncircumcised, while it is almost laughable to see this as a significant problem
in our world, was a huge issue at the time.
We have a long history of creating divisions. Since the beginning of time, we have broken things
down into us or them. Men and women. Greeks and Turks. Black and White. Gay and Straight.
English speaking and non-English speaking. Sunni and Shia. Hutu and Tutsi. We classify people as a
way of comparing them to us. For we are, after all, the standard by which all things are measured.
Aren’t we?
By classifying people, we sort them into two categories; us and them. If they are like us, well they
can’t be all bad, can they? But if they are not like us, they are the other. And if they are the other,
well they really don’t measure up do they? And if they don’t measure up, then we are able to treat
them shabbily. We can look down upon them, laugh at them, cheat them, beat them, enslave them,
even kill them, because, after all, they are not like us. They are different.
History is littered with people who have thought this way, who have used divisions to justify their
atrocities against other human beings. Yes, we think of the Nazis in the Second World War or the
genocide in Rwanda, but our own history is far from perfect. From our treatment of the American
Indians to the slave trade that brought about the Civil War, to our imprisonment of Japanese
Americans during WWII, we are just as guilty as any other people of creating divisions that allow us to
rationalize abhorrent treatment of the other.
Sadly, these attitudes persist even today. There are many people in the world who still think this way,
who still use our differences to justify their behavior. But there is also hope.
As I mentioned, I am about as far from a minority as one can get. But I can recall an experience that
taught me a great deal about being the other. When we lived in Massachusetts some friends invited
us to a gospel music concert. We were late to arrive, so I dropped everyone off and went to park the
car. As I walked into the theater alone, I looked around for my friends and quickly realized that the
entire audience was African American. It was an odd feeling and I felt everyone’s eyes upon me. I
looked for my family, but the show had already started, so I took the first empty seat I could find. I
was very conscious of the fact that I was an outsider; that I was the other. And even though we were
all there for the same reason, it was a bit of an eerie feeling.
After the first set, my friend found me and took me to our seats. And, though we were the other, we
quickly felt at home. Why? It was the way we were treated. Although we were clearly the other, the
people at the concert didn’t treat us that way. They were warm and welcoming and treated us as
guests. They recognized our difference but didn’t use it as a way to treat us poorly. The MC set the
tone right away. Shortly after the show began he asked if there were any white folks in the audience.
We were the only ones in a hall that held 1,000 people. He had everyone clap for us and even asked
the audience to help us with our dancing as he was sure we were “gonna be a bit rhythmically
challenged.” By the way, he was right. I am living proof that white men cannot dance. We had a
wonderful experience that night and it taught us all a bit about being the other; but just as
importantly, about welcoming the other.
Those audience members understood today’s passage from Ephesians. “But now in Christ Jesus you
who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh
he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between us. He
came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and to you who were near; for through him you
both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” For while we poor humans are always classifying as a
way to divide us, Jesus came to end all divisions and unite us as one people in God.
We find it easy to forget that in today’s society. We live in a time of great political divide. The media
and the politicians are always eager to find ways to divide us into rich and poor, young and old,
conservative and liberal, black and white, and the list goes on and on.
There is a great deal of unease in our nation and in the world, and there are any number of issues that
we will disagree upon. Perhaps it will help us to maintain perspective when we realize that this is not
a new phenomenon. As we see in Paul’s letter, this was going on even then. The issues that were of
such great concern to them are laughable to us today. So too, the issues that divide us will be just as
minor to future generations. We cannot allow issues of the day to deter us from our call to love God
and love our neighbor.
That is what we do. We love one another. Even when we disagree, in fact, especially when we
disagree, we need to love one another. The church has been called a big tent, meaning that there is
room here for all. All people, all colors, all races, all political philosophies. It is a safe place for all,
even when we disagree.
We may be different, we may not look alike, or think alike. We may speak different languages, we
may eat different foods, we may enjoy different music. But those are minor things. For we have a
higher calling than division; we are united by our love for Jesus Christ. It is that love, that example
that we emulate. Remember the promises we made in the baptismal covenant. Will you proclaim by
word and example the good news of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons,
loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect
the dignity of every human being?
It is these promises that show us the way. For while the world seeks to divide, Christ came to unite.
And as Christians, we know that is the better way.