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Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called \\u201cuncircumcised\\u201d by those who call themselves \\u201cthe circumcision\\u201d (which is done in the body by human hands)\\u2014remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:11-13)

In some ways, these verses are a repeat of the verses that began the chapter where Paul wrote \\u201cyou were dead in your transgressions and sins.\\u201d \\xa0In that spot, as with here, Paul begins with the past tense so that the present tense can be set in heightened contrast\\u2014because in Christ, things look a lot different!

While the first point Paul was making at the beginning of the chapter was about death and life, sin and salvation\\u2014now he begins to work his way into the implications of being part of the community of the saved. \\xa0What does it mean to practice this resurrection life? \\xa0It means working out the grace that God has worked into us, firstly. \\xa0That we heard about yesterday. \\xa0But it also comes with a change in status and relationship.

Here Paul comes with a litany of things that the Ephesians were and weren\\u2019t before Jesus entered the picture. \\xa0\\u201cGentiles.\\u201d \\xa0\\u201cUncircumcised.\\u201d \\xa0\\u201cSeparate from Christ.\\u201d \\xa0\\u201cExcluded from citizenship.\\u201d \\xa0\\u201cForeigners to the covenants of the promise.\\u201d \\xa0\\u201cWithout hope.\\u201d \\xa0\\u201cWithout God in the world.\\u201d \\xa0Of course, what one immediately realizes is that this list only makes sense from the point of view of a Jewish person. \\xa0Aside from contact with the Jewish community or Jesus Christ\\u2014no one in Ephesus would have known about any of these deficiencies or labels. \\xa0Aside from the question of hope, did anyone in Ephesus really know or feel that any of these things Paul lists was a problem? \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0

Well, as we find out early on in the book of Acts\\u2014relations between native Jewish Christians and new Greek converts to Christ very much was a problem. \\xa0Pious Jews were accustomed to praying a daily prayer of thanks to God for not being created as a gentile. \\xa0The Temple courts, likewise, were divided into inner and outer courts. \\xa0One for gentiles on the outside, and one for Jews on the inside. \\xa0Gentiles could not pass through the dividing wall on the penalty of death. \\xa0Warnings were posted in Greek and Latin to make sure they knew. \\xa0Hostilities ran hot. \\xa0As they did at some level between most differing ethnic groups.

But here\\u2019s the thing\\u2014Jesus tears down all these ethnic hostilities and barriers. \\xa0He strips these believing gentiles of all their former disqualifications. \\xa0Not only that, he has the audacity to bring these gentiles who were once far away into not just the inner court, but into the very presence of God! \\xa0He tears the veil to the Holy of Holies and by his own blood, invites them right in! \\xa0

This is not merely an interesting point of ancient history or Biblical research. \\xa0In his cross, Jesus shatters all ethnic and national boundaries inside his church. \\xa0Not just then, but also today. \\xa0And not firstly by giving courses on EDI or anti-racism to tell us of our biases or how to treat one another. \\xa0No, it begins more subversively than that. \\xa0Jesus begins simply by bringing those who were once far away, near. \\xa0Near enough that we all have to encounter one another and contend with the fact that we\\u2019re all now siblings of the same saved family. \\xa0

Here in the presence of Jesus, stuck now with hated enemies, immigrants, and foreign outcasts who have become our sisters and brothers, is where transformation into the life of resurrection begins. \\xa0Will you submit to the encounter? \\xa0

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