Strangers
Recently, the news has been ablaze with talks of Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. People are up in arms because they don’t want to see Jackson removed, but on the same note, they agree that Harriet Tubman deserves to be honored.
It’s interesting to think back on our national history. We hear in the news about racism and how everybody is subconsciously racist, but when we stop to look at our history, we’ve come a long way. It was less than two lifetimes ago, about 150 years ago, that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which essentially freed all slaves. It was less than 50 years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walked the streets organizing nonviolent protests in support of equal rights. Our current president, the first African-American president of the United States, was two years old when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
During the life of Harriet Tubman, however, this country looked much different. Men and women, just like you and I, were bought and sold like possessions. There were even laws stating that slaves were only equal to ⅗ of a person when counting population of a state. Today, we have no idea what it’s like to not be considered equal. We may complain about this in justice or that, but in truth, we have no idea the trials that these people faced.
Throughout history, we see example after example of one group of people enslaving or excluding another group, whether due to skin color, heritage, social status, or religious affiliation. Even when Christ walked this earth, there was a clear distinction made between Jews and Gentiles. As we continue in our study of Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul begins to address this very issue in Ephesians 2:11-12.
As we teach in the church and read through scripture, many times we come across this word, “Gentile.” We covered this word briefly when we studied the book of Acts. To the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, there were two different types of people in the world, Israel, which was God’s chosen people, and Gentiles, everybody else. The word Gentile comes from the word, in both Greek and Hebrew, which means “nations.” It didn’t necessarily mean that they were atheistic, ungodly heathens. The Greeks believed in many gods, so you couldn’t necessarily call them atheists.
In fact, there were ways within the Jewish law for those not born of Jewish descent to worship God and show their devotion to Him, but no matter how much they wanted to, there was no way for them to become a Jew, one of God’s chosen people. The people of Israel liked this idea. They were God’s chosen people and everyone else was only second class. They set themselves apart through circumcision. This was a major hurdle to cross for a grown man to proselytize or become a full believer in the God of Israel. Even those that went through circumcision remembered their time prior.
Paul points this out when he writes to the church telling them, “you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ […] – remember that at that time you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel.” Just like the slaves who were considered ⅗ of a person, Gentiles among the Jews were considered second class citizens separated from God and without hope, but then came Christ, but through Christ’s sacrifice, those who were separated from him, those who were far away, have been brought near (Ephesians 2:13). Finally, through Christ we have hope. This is detailed even further in Ephesians 2:14-22.
When we looked at the passage in John 4 regarding Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well, I explained to you the muddied relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. I won’t go into all the details this morning, but as I stated, when Israel was conquered, their conquerors left behind some of their own people in order to intermarry with the Israelites. This was a common practice. The resulting offspring would be a mix of the two nations. The idea was that the offspring would be a part of the kingdom. Through their bloodlines they would have common bond. They would no longer be strangers in a foreign land but would be brothers and sisters with those who had conquered their parents.
Likewise, Jesus has joined us together through his blood. Through his sacrifice he has bought us and joined himself to us. If we will accept him as our savior he will make the two one. He joins with us, by giving us his Spirit, that we might be united with him. No longer are we strangers living in a foreign land. Instead, we have been joined with him through his blood and subsequently joined to each other. He has torn down every wall that divides us. Not just the walls between Jews and Gentiles but the walls between race, gender, ideologies, economic status, and more. He has unified us all under the banner of the cross within the family of God.
Even though you were once strangers, separated from God with no hope, Christ paid the price so that you might become a part of his family. As a nation, we’ve come a long way, from owning slaves 150 years ago, to equal rights within our lifetime, to an African-American as our commander and chief, but this is nothing compared to the unity that we have in Christ. Through Christ, man and woman, rich and poor, and every ethnicity represented on this earth have been joined together by his blood.