I have the key to overcoming racism between any color of people, whether red, yellow, black, or white. It’s not only a “theory” because I have seen this method work in real life. Better yet, I have the key to overcoming any kind of division: men vs. women, rich vs. poor, boomers vs. millennials, Russians vs. Ukrainians, Israelis vs. Palestinians. Would you like to know what it is?
Paul addressed the divisions between the Gentiles and the Jews in Ephesians 2:11-22. There was never any love lost between the two groups. Jews prayed, “Thank you Lord for not making me a Gentile.” They wouldn’t touch them, do business with them, or eat with them, for fear of contamination and becoming, “unclean.” It was unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile (Acts 10:28). Jews welcomed Gentiles into their community only if they were circumcised and became Jewish; otherwise, they were unrighteous with no hope of salvation. And Jews have always been trampled on by the Gentiles, up to the time of Nazi Germany and the anti-semitism of today. There was (and remains) a deep division between the two groups.
That’s why it’s so amazing that Paul would say, “Even though you (the Gentiles) were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” The good news is that “Christ is our peace between the two peoples, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. He has created in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. Both peoples, Gentiles and Jews, are reconciled to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Both Gentiles and Jews have access in one Spirit to the Father. They are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Both Jews and Gentiles, in and through Christ, are joined together, growing together into a holy temple in the Lord, being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
What was once impossible is now possible: the Gentiles, who were outside and excluded from the promises of God, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. The hostility between the two groups is destroyed. There is no “dividing wall.” Isn’t this what we want today, between all peoples of all colors and kinds? The cross of Christ brings together such separate peoples. The cross of Christ reconciles hurts and divisions that wrongly divide us. Love, peace, and unity between such different peoples is possible through Christ. The cross of Christ and the peace of Jesus are the key to overcoming racism and division.