“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both (τὰ ἀμφότερα) one, and has broken down the dividing wall, the hostility, in/by his flesh, abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he 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. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Eph 2: 13-22)
This is what it’s all about, the whole business called “salvation.” It’s about being made whole again. All of us are God’s precious construction-project, “being built” gradually, and “joined together” from our fragmentation within ourselves and between one another, “in one Body through the cross.” I know, that’s a lot to take in, all in one sentence, but that’s what it’s all about: growing into the unity of Christ’s one Body, through His cross-carrying Way.
Let me not be bogged down today, or disheartened, by any “dividing walls” or “hostility” that are yet to be abolished in our “house.” As insufficient as I may be today, I know to Whom I belong, as a member, – not a stranger or sojourner, – in “the household of God.” This morning I hand myself over to Him, once again, surrendering my own, merely-human demands and expectations of myself, and let myself “be built,” through the ups and downs of my responsibilities, into a “dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Thy will be done with us today, O Lord, our peace.
