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It is the picture of God’s general invitation that accompanies us throughout today’s service. It’s the picture of God, who wants all people to be saved and to participate in His feast of eternal life. In today’s Gospel reading, which we just heard, Jesus however tells us that people also do refuse this great invitation. Jesus firstly hints with His story at God’s chosen people Israel, for the Israelites were the first to be invited to God’s heavenly feast, and many of them refused this invitation, which was presented to them by Jesus Christ. However this also applies to many of our contemporaries, who are not Jews. But anyway; because Israel refused His invitation, God extended His invitation to others as well, heathens. Those people, whom Jesus describes as people who wander around, who are blind and lame. Because: In contrast to Israel, who knew God’s word, the heathens didn’t see nor did they knew the true God, and thus they couldn’t walk in His ‘right’ ways. At least, it was like this, until they met God’s servant, Jesus Christ, and accepted God’s invitation, which was presented by Him. The acceptance of God’s invitation however led to the situation, which is addressed in today’s word for the sermon. It is the Epistle reading for this Sunday taken from the letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, where we can read:
„He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. “
The congregation, which is addressed with these words, was a congregation of former Jews and heathens. It was a community of people, who would never ever have been together before or outside the Christian community. Because: for a Jew it was strictly forbidden to be in contact with any heathens – and we do have such cultural barriers until today. But faith in Je-sus Christ united all those people in one congregation. However it was a unity, in which people, due to their different spiritual upbringings, due to their mixed cultural backgrounds, also emphasised different aspects of their now common Christian faith; united and “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone … to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit”. And exactly this is the situation, which applies also for us. Not, that there is a party of former Jews and another one of former hea-thens in our congregation. Nonetheless, we are people from many different places, cultures, social and religious backgrounds. And this is the reason, why we, too, emphasise different aspects of our common Christian faith in different ways. We can find the same phenomenon by the way in many other Christian congregations all over the world. And looking at the various different denominations and churches all over the world, we can see even more that they, too, display this fact. The various Christian confessions resp. denominations differ very much when it comes to particular questions of faith. However, all of them are part of this unique temple, built and joined together by the Lord. Not, because they, or we could create this unity. It is solely, be-cause in faith we all are built on the ONE cornerstone Jesus Christ. In all differences, and in all their strife for the truth, Christians are built on the ONE foundation, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord, who also sustains us in faith. Because – and this is the core message of today’s bible word –: It is Jesus, who builds and sus-tains His Church on earth. It is not we, not our control, not our regulations or anything else. He builds and sustains His church. He also put us into His temple, by calling us through His word, and by giving us his Spirit. He has made us parts of his body by merging us into His body, the church, through Baptism. It is there-fore no wonder that in spite of all the differences which separate the major Christian denominations from each other, they – except for one – recognize this fundamental Christian Sacrament of Bap-tism, no matter if one has been baptized in a Roman Catholic Church, or a Methodist Church or a Lutheran Church. Because: by Baptism each person has become a member of Christ, and is invited to God’s heavenly banquet; “no longer as a foreigner or alien, but as a fellow citizen with God's people and a member of God's household”. Seeing this fact, it should be most consequently our aim – as Paul says – to live this unity, which is built on Christ. But how could this happen in the best possible way? It is the picture of the temple, the building and its cornerstone, that shows us how it should happen: In order to build a steady house with bricks, the bricklayers need to do a certain thing over and again. Do you have any idea what this is? They need to use a perpendicular in order to see, whether they have built an upright and straight wall on the foundation. Because: What happens, if the wall isn’t perpendicular, meaning not straight and upright, not built in a vertical line with the foundation? It is instable, and thus in danger of collapsing. What Christians, both the various Churches and denominations in the world and also we in our congregation, need to do to live the unity, which is based on Christ is therefore the following: As members of God’s household, as bricks of Christ’s temple, we need to align ourselves over and again to our foundation, which is Jesus. This means that the churches and denominations should constantly strive for a right understanding and teaching of Christ’s word and the right administration of His sacraments. We as single Christians should moreover strive to follow Christ’s example in our daily, and especially in our congregational life: Firstly by trusting in God’s care and forgiveness more than any-thing else; and secondly by serving each other in this love and forgiveness, in which God served us through Christ. And Paul points out very clearly in several of his letters, what this loving service means, and what it doesn’t mean: It does not mean any kind of selfishness or judging each other because of the various differences, in which we live our faith. For those things edify no one. On the other hand helping each other in the right understanding of God’s word, and convincing each other by means of words and deeds, which are based on, and motivated by God’s word; this is what edifies us in faith. To serve each other in this way includes – according to Paul – everything that helps people in faith and brings them closer to Christ. Every gift or talent for instance, which God has given unto us, and which is useful to tackle this aim. Every such talent should be used to do so! Otherwise it would be a wasted talent: If one of us for instance is good in storytelling, and this person is not yet Sunday School teacher, he or she wastes a God given talent. If one of us is good in playing the organ or another instrument, or in singing, and this person is not sharing this gift with the brothers and sisters in this congregation, he or she wastes this talent. If one is good in organizing functions and events, or with secretary work, or with designing or public relation work and is not yet involved in our congregation, or any outreach project, he or she wastes a God given talent. We are united in Christ despite all differences, in which we live out our faith. Christ has brought us together and He has built this congregation by means of His word and sacrament. However we are, just like the Ephesians, being built together in Him in order “to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. “ And we are constantly tempted to loose and detach as members in God’s household, as bricks in Christ’s temple. We are constantly tempted to drop out and to smash because of selfishness, or laziness or doubts etc. And thus we are constantly tempted to refuse God’s great invitation to become united in Christ, because we take other things, take ourselves more important than God’s invitation.
Let us therefore over and again align ourselves towards Christ, our foundation. Let us listen to his word and receive His sacrament in order to be fastened as members of his household, and in order to be strengthened to serve each other according to His example. So that we may celebrate the feast of eternal life with and though Jesus Christ, our Lord, now and here, and also in eternity! Amen |
