Building Walls Into Temples Series

August 1, 2021

Hope Lutheran Church

Rev. Mary Erickson

Ephesians 2:11-22

Building Walls into Temples

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

“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.” (Ephesians 2:14)

Paul draws the image of a wall. People are standing on either side of it. The wall is dividing them. Actually, Paul has a very specific wall in mind when he writes this. The wall is located on the temple mount area in Jerusalem.

The temple in Jerusalem was the holiest site in all of Judaism. The further into the temple complex you proceeded, the holier the space got. At the very far end of the temple itself, there was a small alcove. It was called the Holy of Holies. A curtain separated the alcove from the rest of the temple space. Behind that curtain there resided the Ark of the Covenant.

The story of the ark is found in the book of Exodus. When the Israelites had been liberated from their slavery in Egypt, they headed through the wilderness to Mount Sinai. God delivered the ten commandments to Moses on two stone tablets. Those tablets were placed inside the ark.

The tablets had been carved and touched by God. They were extremely holy, so no one was allowed to touch the ark. The priests carried it around with long poles.

The true presence of God resided in the ark. A giant pillar arose from the ark. During the day it looked like a cloud. At night, it became a pillar of fire. When the pillar moved, Israel moved. In that fashion, God led Israel through the wilderness and into the promised land.

That same ark resided within the Holy of Holies inside the temple. The very presence of God filled the space. So not just anyone could enter it. Only the Chief Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year after he’d undergone rites of purification. They tied a rope around his waist. That way, if he keeled over, they could pull him out without entering the holy space.

The greater temple area consisted of concentric rings of access.

• At the very center, only the Chief Priest could enter the Holy of Holies

• Only priests could enter the temple building itself

• Jewish men were allowed into the Court of Israel

• But Jewish women could only enter as far as the Court of the Women

• And way on the outside periphery, there was the Court of the Gentiles. That’s as far as the Gentiles were allowed to go.

Between the Court of the Gentiles and the inner area of the temple mount, a wall had been built. Its purpose was to keep the Gentiles out. Jews gained access to the inner court by passing through gates. At each gate a sign was prominently posted. The sign told Gentiles they could go no further. If they dared to enter the inner courtyard, they would be killed on the spot. It was serious business.

This is the wall Paul was talking about. This wall separated Jew from Gentile. Christianity’s roots were in Judaism. Jesus was a Jew; his disciples were all Jews; all of the first followers Christianity were Jews.

But very soon, Gentiles started coming to faith in Jesus. The young church found itself embroiled in controversy: did these Gentile converts have to live like Jews in order to be Christians? Did their men have to become circumcised like a good Jew? Did they have to follow Kosher laws? These Kosher laws were a very detailed set of laws for maintaining proper holiness for Jews. What of these commandments?

Meanwhile, in Ephesus, the vast majority of the Christian community was comprised of Gentile believers. Formerly, they had followed the beliefs of the Greco-Roman religions. They had believed in Zeus and the other gods residing on Mount Olympus.

These Christian Ephesians would have marked their time into before and after: before and after they came to faith in Christ. Before, Paul says, “you were at that time without Christ…you were without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12)

This perfectly described their life before Christ. The Roman gods were fickle and immature. Adherents to the faith spent their lives trying to please the persnickety gods through sacrifices and libations.

And then in the end, they died. They were laid to rest with a coin in their mouth so that they could pay the ferryman to transport them across the fiery river Styx and into the realm of Hades. And there they drifted about as aimless, shadowy figures. That was their end.