This month, we have been on something of an exploration of calling. What does it mean to be called? Called to be what? Called to do what? We often think of calling as being about what we do in the world. “I am called to be a farmer.” “I am called to be a teacher.” “I am called to be a doctor.” As we think about Biblical stories about calling, we see those who are called to be leaders, called to be prophets, called to be healers, called to be “fishers of men.”
When we look at it this way, calling is about what we do. Maybe it is something we are particularly gifted at doing that is recognized as a calling. Maybe it is something we are hesitant about doing but that we feel compelled to do. Maybe it is something we are inspired by others to do.
But our readings for today give us a slightly different nuance on calling (see Ephesians 2:11-22 and Mark 6:30-34, 53-56). Our readings today are not so much about what we do with this call but rather about what the call does to us.
This is most obvious in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Ephesus was an important Greek seaport located in what is present-day Turkey. It was an important city in its day, with storied ties to the early church. Ephesus is cited as one of the seven cities of Asia in the book of Revelation. In addition to the Christian community that Paul helped found, tradition tells us that the Apostle John settled there after the Resurrection, possibly taking Jesus’ mother, Mary, with him. Eastern tradition holds that Mary Magdalene also went to Ephesus, possibly as a companion to Jesus’ mother or possibly as a companion to John.
The church that Paul helped found there was one of the strongest and most important Christian communities in the region. But, as you may guess, it included a large population of non-Jewish people -- Greeks, Gentiles, whatever we might call them. This leads to problems that Paul was most vocal about through most of his ministry. How do we unite such different groups of people? How do we find common ground? How do we encourage Jews to include these outsiders? How do we encourage the Gentiles that they are as much a part of the faith as their Jewish counterparts? While the labels may have changed, perhaps some of these questions sound familiar to you.
These questions get at who we are called to be as the church. They touch on the very foundations of our faith. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? How do we find common ground in the present when our pasts may be so different from one another?
Paul has an interesting starting point here in our reading today. In some ways, this second chapter of Ephesians is the start of his argument. The first chapter is devoted almost entirely to his greeting and praise of God for all of God’s blessings. I don’t mean to suggest this is unimportant, but it is there primarily to lay the foundation for what Paul has to say. The opening makes clear that all of his arguments are grounded in his understanding of God’s grace, of which all have been recipients.
Paul starts off by reminding the Gentiles that they were excluded. They were different. They were outsiders. They did not belong to God’s covenant with the people of Israel. They were excluded from God’s Law and therefore excluded from God’s promises as well. Paul starts off his argument by telling them that in the eyes of our God, as understood prior to Jesus, they were basically no one.
At first, this may seem an odd tactic. “Let me, a leader and member of the in-group, remind you of your place as nobodies.” But of course, Paul does not stop there.
“At that time you were without Christ…” (Ephesians 2:12, CEB).
This is such an important phrase for the argument that Paul is building towards, though it may be difficult to recognize at first. On the one hand, Paul is pointing out to the Gentile members of the community that they were previously excluded from relationship with God because they were without the Messiah. But here’s the thing: before Jesus came, the Jews were also without the Messiah. It is a subtle reminder that all of them were in some ways outsiders before Jesus came. Whether Jew or Gentile, they all had a flawed understanding of God and their relationship with God before Jesus came. “At that time [they] were without Christ.”
However, Paul reminds us all that through Jesus all are included. Jesus draws in both those who were previously close to the truth as well as those who were far away. Jesus calls all people into one body. He breaks down the barriers that divide us. Boundaries crumble, and the labels that we create to divide ourselves cease to matter. Paul is essentially saying, “What is Jew or Greek but a label we place on ourselves?” For our own day we might ask, “What is European or Asian or African but lines drawn on a map?” What difference do the labels we place on ourselves make in the face of God’s love and grace as known through Jesus?
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus changed everything. Jesus announced the good news of peace to those who were already seen as included as well as those who had previously been excluded. Through Jesus, all have access to God through the one Spirit. Everything is connected through Jesus. Everything rests on Jesus.
Through Jesus we are called into something new, a new way of understanding ourselves and our connections to others. We are joined into one body, the body of Christ. We celebrate our connection to one another and are reminded that that connection does not end with family. It does not end with the people in this room today. It does not end with the people we readily surround ourselves with. All are connected by the blood of Christ.
As I was reading these scriptures for this morning, that phrase jumped out at me. I think about the ways we use blood as a metaphor to remind us of something else. I am particularly struck by the ways in which we use blood as a metaphor for family. We talk about being related by blood. We use the phrase “blood is thicker than water” to talk about the strength of the bonds that unite families. And as I think about the way that the blood of Jesus breaks down the barriers that separate us, I can’t help but be reminded of the ways we talk about blood when we talk about family and the ways that family members are united into one family.
In many ways this is how we think about the blood of Christ in community together. It is the blood of Christ that we share at the Table during communion that symbolizes our connection to each other. It is the blood of Christ that has claimed us and joined us into one body. It is the blood of Christ that now flows through our veins, making us into one family where once we were separated.
It reminds me of a song that was popular on certain radio stations in the recent past. The song is titled “In My Blood” and is sung by Shawn Mendes. It is not an explicitly religious song, but every time I heard it I could not help thinking about the church.
In this song, the artist has tried to put into words his own struggles with anxiety. You can hear the pain as he names the many ways that this anxiety manifests itself. He calls out for help, feeling like the walls are caving in. He talks about how easy it would be to give up. But in the end, he can’t do that, because it isn’t in his blood to give up.
And it is the refrain of that song that tugs at me, reminding me of our connection to one another in the church. In the end, it is not the church or its structures that unite us. It is not simply the fact that we show up each week to spend time in the same place together. As important as those things are, those are signs and symbols of a unity that goes far deeper. This is what Paul is reminding us. Yes, the Gentiles were previously outside of the faith that the Jewish members of the early church had in common. But take hope in the fact that what they have in common is not the end of the story. It is Jesus that unites us into one body, not the church.
As long as we are relying on ourselves, as long as we are looking to something created by people for salvation, we will fail every time. But we are claimed by the love of someone far greater. We are claimed by the love of God, and nothing - No Thing - can separate any of us from that love.
It is that blood that unites us, that connects us to one another and makes us whole.
It is that blood that will not let us give up - on ourselves, on our church, on our brothers and sisters and those that exist outside of that gender binary.
It is that blood that leads us into ministry to others.
It is that blood that calls on us to love one another.
That blood cannot be defeated.
We may hurt, and we may mourn. But we know that God's love always has the last word.
If we were celebrating communion today, I could think of no better way to remind ourselves of this than to sing “One Bread, One Body” as a way to close out the sermon. I was even tempted to do so anyway, but in the end I realized it would probably be a little awkward to sing a song so explicitly about holy communion when we are not celebrating the meal together.
Still, as we prepare to close out our time together today, I want you to think about the things that connect us to one another. No matter how different we look, no matter how our backgrounds and experiences may be different, we are called into unity through Christ Jesus. We are united by his blood, a blood that we celebrate, a blood that makes us into one family, one body.
Our unity is in Jesus.
Our calling is in Jesus.
Instead of focusing on what makes us different, let us be reminded of the one who unites us.