The great Jewish temple in Jerusalem had some very definite boundaries and dividing lines.  From its origins in the tenth century BC, right up to Jesus’ time, the temple was understood by Jews to be God’s dwelling place.  The “holy of holies”, the chamber that contained the Ark of the Covenant and thus was believed to be the place of God’s presence, was the furthest point from the front entrance of the temple.  Only the High Priest could enter the “holy of holies” and this only on the Day of Atonement, when ritual sacrifices were made for the sins of the Jewish people. 

The further one traveled into the interior of the temple, the more exclusive it became.  Large walls made clear the dividing lines.  And in case there was any doubt, there were inscriptions carved in large letters on the walls that provided absolute clarity.  Archaeologists have actually found one of these inscriptions which translates as follows:  “No outsider shall enter the protective enclosure around the sanctuary.  And whoever is caught will only have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”  Non-Jews were only allowed to get as far as the “Court of the Gentiles”, a large open courtyard within the temple precincts but outside of the temple proper.  The ancient Jewish mindset was that God’s dwelling place should only be open to God’s chosen people.

The division and the animosity between Jews and Gentiles in those days were on level with any of the ethnic and religious divisions of our own day.  It’s only our capacity for mass destruction that is different.  Some scholars even argue that the divisions between Jew and Gentile were far greater than divisions of today.  That’s hard to imagine. 

Having this historical context in mind helps us to understand the radical nature of Paul’s words in today’s reading from his letter to the Ephesians.  In writing to the gentile Christians in Ephesus, Paul reminded them of the hope that was theirs through Jesus Christ:  “…now in Christ Jesus you who once were 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, that is, the hostility between us.”

It’s no wonder that Paul was the victim of persecution and that his life was often in danger and that he was ultimately martyred.  He was a relentless proponent of inclusivity with regard to the Gentiles.  He insisted that Christ’s message was intended for all of humanity and not just the people of the Abrahamic covenant.  This called for a huge shift in the Jewish worldview – it was a world-altering proclamation. 

The reality, of course, is that Paul was merely echoing what Christ himself had already proclaimed in word and deed throughout his earthly ministry.  The great chasm that had separated Jew and Gentile for hundreds of years had been forever bridged by Christ.  The walls that had previously stood between them had been completely broken down.

And Paul did not stop there.  He went on to essentially proclaim the irrelevance of the Jewish temple.  That magnificent edifice in Jerusalem, in its various stages, had been for the Jews God’s dwelling place for nearly a thousand years.  And for all those years it had made tangible the dividing lines between Jew and non-Jew.  No more, Paul proclaimed.  Writing to his gentile converts in Ephesus, Paul turned this worldview on its ear:  “…you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” 

Through his death and resurrection Jesus was the architect and the cornerstone of an entirely new temple.  This is not a temple made of stone, a temporary man-made edifice that will ultimately crumble to the ground.  It is an eternal temple that is made of the likes of us.  It depends not on sound structural engineering, but rather on relationships and community. 

Through faith in Christ and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit we are joined together, in all of our diversity, into a community in which God’s presence is truly known and experienced.  It is not a man-made structure that signals God’s presence in the world, but it is the community of the faithful.  Even if this facility that we know as St. Matthew’s burned completely to the ground tomorrow, God forbid, we would still be members of this eternal temple that Paul described. 

And there are no walls with threatening inscriptions in this temple.  It has been built for purposes of reconciliation, not division.  Just as the church of Paul’s day became a locus of reconciliation where fundamental, deep-seated, and ingrained divisions between Jew and Gentile were overcome, so too does the church today stand for the overcoming of such divisions.  We have been fitted together in Christ so as to be a dwelling place for God.  The more that we allow ourselves to become this temple that Paul envisioned, the more we are able to experience and signal God’s presence in the world.