“Wall Breaking”
Ephesians 2:11-22
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Introduction. A young man
became an All-American football player in college, went on to play professional
football for a few years, and then came back to his alma mater as an
assistant coach. As one of the main responsibilities in his new job,
he was to scout and recruit players for his team. Before he made his
first recruiting trip, he visited with the head coach, the same coach
for whom he had played as an All-American some years before.
“The head coach was (an) old veteran.
He had held that position as head coach for many years, (and) was widely
known and highly respected all across the country. The new young coach
said to him, 'Coach, I'm about to head out on my first recruiting trip,
but before I go I want to be sure that we are on the same page. Tell
me, Coach, what kind of player do you want me to recruit?' The…
old head coach leaned back in his chair. He looked the young coach
straight in the eyes and said: 'Son, I've been at this job a long time
and over the years I have noticed that there are several different kinds
of players. For example,' he said, 'you will find some players who get
knocked down and they stay down. That's not the kind we want!…'You
will find some players who get knocked down and they will get right
back up and get knocked down again and then they stay down. That's not
the kind we want!' And then the old coach said, 'But you will
also find some other players who get knocked down and knocked down and
knocked down, and every time they get knocked down, they get right back
up!' At this point, the young coach got excited and he said, 'Now, that's
the kind of player we want, isn't it, Coach?' 'No!' said the old head
coach. 'We want the one doing all that knocking down!!'” (James W.
Moore, sermon, “Dealing With The Dividing Walls,” www.sermons.com)
Move 1. Such people are
the kind of players that are needed in the church:
“Players who will do some knocking
down. Players who will knock down not other people, but walls!
Players who will knock down walls of hostility! Players who will
knock down walls that divide… walls that separate or alienate.”
Christians are called to hear the powerful
passage today from Ephesians: “Christ Jesus is our peace; in his flesh,
he has made us into one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility
between us.” (paraphrase of Ephesians 2:14)
Likewise, people “in the church are
called to knock down walls of hate and hostility.” Jesus, as
you might know, is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua.
Joshua is a popular figure of the Old Testament, a leader of the Hebrews
after the death of Moses, who leads the people into the Promised Land,
who surrounds Jericho, and who with God's help causes the walls of that
city to come tumblin' down. Jesus gets his namesake from a wall-breaker.
Jesus breaks the walls of hostility. Followers of Jesus are called
to knock down walls, too.
Players are needed in the church to
knock down walls of hostility and division. (the quotes and much of
the material from Move 1. are from Moore)
Move 2. Of course, there
are lots of walls to knock down. Walls are everywhere. They
get built up quickly, and they can and do divide.
“One evening some years ago, a minister
visited a couple in their home…. He could feel the tension and the
stress in that home. Suddenly the woman turned to her husband
and said, 'I'm going to tell him the truth. I'm going to tell him about
our family.' She went on: 'This is killing me! It's eating me up! For
seven years my husband and my son have not spoken to each other although
they have lived in the same house.' She pointed down the hall: 'Look
at that hallway. It's an average size hall, yet they pass each other
in it, brush against each other, and never speak.' The mother said the
son wanted to speak to his father and tried to, but the father ignored
him. Finally, the teenager gave up. The minister turned to the
man and asked him what started the estrangement in the first place.”
He learned from the man “that the whole thing was so trivial that
he really couldn't remember what it was!” The minister was greatly
sorrowed by the next statements out of the man's mouth: “'I'm a proud
man. I'm a man of my word. I vowed that I would never speak to that
boy again… and I'm going to keep my word!'” (Moore)
When Israel's most famous king, David,
became the leader of the nation, walls were one of his first concerns--walls
for a new temple in which God could dwell, rather than the small box,
or ark, in which God had been traveling. “Not necessary,”
said God to David, “for I am with all the people, regardless.” (paraphrase
of 2 Samuel 7) Yet after King David's death, walls eventually
were built for a temple in Jerusalem, and over time these walls “included
a few privileged people, but excluded and shut out most.” Once
inside the large court, a series of walls at the temple held people
back: the first one held back foreigners, the second one, women and
children; the third one, common Jewish men. Priests could come
in through (that) third wall, but the “fourth wall was a veil which
surrounded the Holy of Holies, the High Altar… holding all back…except
(the one who was the High Priest)…. The Holy of Holies…, which represented
the presence of God, was remote, fearsome, …and unapproachable,”
(Moore) and it kept out many.
Certainly, walls serve a purpose.
Walls in our homes “protect us against wind and rain.” Walls
“separate spaces and improve organization and efficiency.”
All walls serve a purpose. But many walls today get built between
father and son, mother and daughter, Baptist and Presbyterian, Jew and
Christian, citizens and non-citizens, wealthy and poor, that “lead
to grief, division and even violence.” Certainly, “all walls
serve a purpose, but not all walls serve the purposes of God.”
(Kevin Baker, “Living by the Word,” Christian Century, July
11, 2006, p. 21)
Walls that separate families, nations,
races are often dividers that exclude, “that encourage hostility,
hatred, and bigotry.” (Moore)
Move 3. Jesus has come
to break down the dividing walls. Jesus has broken out from behind
the veil, out to where we are. (Moore) And Jesus has done more
than break down walls; he has initiated kingdom building. He has
started construction of a holy temple. He has become the cornerstone
of this temple--not a physical one, but a spiritual one--that includes
all of humanity.
Jesus has been binding the whole thing,
has been binding us all together, reconciling us, through the cross,
putting to death division and hostility. Remember the day that
Jesus died on the cross? Just before his death, the curtain of
the temple was torn in two. Jesus caused the most important barrier
of the temple, the one separating God from foreigners, from men and
women and children, from all others except the high priests, to be opened.
Jesus has smashed a hole in the wall separating us from God, and has
been providing hope and healing ever since, joining together even the
most different of people.
During World War II, long-time member
of this church Paul Packer was a bomber pilot in the Pacific theatre.
He did many bombing runs over Japan. Just a few years after the
war ended, Paul, who had started a career in forestry, was at a conference,
and he met another forester who was Japanese. Because Paul and
this Japanese forester were involved in the same kind of work in their
respective countries, they decided to go out to dinner, along with Paul's
wife Jean, to talk further. As the dinner progressed, Paul found
out more about this man, that he had been a Japanese fighter pilot,
and moreover, that he had more than likely been in the same battles
as Paul, more than likely faced Paul in the skies over Japan, trying
to shoot him down. Jean told me that at this realization, the
two men just sat and looked at each other for a minute, and then Paul
spoke up with the simple, yet profound observation that the two of them
were at war with each other just a few years ago, but were sitting there
that day eating together and talking about trees.
A number of years ago in Jerusalem a
Jewish man and a Palestinian man lay dying in the hospital. The Jewish
man was an Israeli soldier, brain dead from being shot in an ambush
in the Gaza strip. The Palestinian man needed a heart. The Israeli
family of the soldier, unaware of the identity of the recipient, gave
consent, and the transplant took place. But when the news broke, a storm
of protest erupted. Israelis were in a rage that the heart of a solider
of theirs should be in the body of a Palestinian. The widow of the dead
Israeli soldier, however, believed with all her heart that the Lord
is God, and the Lord is One--love the Lord with all one's heart and
soul and might. She was satisfied. She said, “If a person
can be saved, I feel it is a blessing.” (King Duncan, sermon, www.sermons.com)
Jesus has come to break down walls in
this way. Jesus has come so that all humanity might be “built
together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” (Ephesians 2:22)
Conclusion. As we move
and breathe and live our lives, may we rely on the One who is doing
a lot of knocking down. As we relate with our families, may we
rely on that One to knock down walls of distrust and division.
As we participate in the life of our communities and nation and world,
may we rely on Him to knock down walls of hostility and hatred.
And as we at First Presbyterian grow as one of Christ's congregations--as
we welcome guests and new ministers, as we worship and study and do
mission, as we construct physical walls for the renovation and expansion
of our building, not to exclude but to continue to be able to include--may
we rely on Christ to build us into a holy temple, a spiritual one, a
dwelling place where God is always present, always experienced, and
always shared with all people.
July 23, 2006
Rev. Dave Hedgepeth
First Presbyterian Church
Logan, Utah