SermonStudio

This morning I have brought a small pair of binoculars and begin by asking the children, "How many of you have ever used binoculars?"

Every child present raises a hand. Giving the binoculars to the nearest child, I suggest that she look through them and pass them on. While this process continues, I ask, "What happens when you look through binoculars?"

"It brings things that are far away closer," the children answer.

"That's right," I agree. "Looking through binoculars makes it possible for us to see things that are far away more clearly. It makes them seem closer. It changes the way in which we are able to see them."

"Well, the reason I brought binoculars this morning is because of something Saint Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul was writing to these folks about the differences which had always separated Jews and Gentiles. He said it was like the Jews were the ones who were close to God and the Gentiles had always been at a distance. But Jesus changed all that. Paul told the Ephesians that Jesus brought near even those who had been far away because the differences that had always separated them just didn't matter any more. They could be at peace with one another and all be part of a single church because they shared one thing: their belief in Jesus as the Christ.

"Have any of you ever disagreed with someone else?" The children think about this and most of them nod affirmatively as they recall their own experiences.

"I got mad at my brother once!" a little boy announces.

I thought to myself that this had probably occurred more than once, as I said, "But you still love him, don't you?"

"Well, yes," the boy replied. "He's my brother!"

"I think what you've just said, Tommy, is a good lesson for us all. It doesn't matter that you disagree with Alex, or even that you get angry with him sometimes; you still love him because he is your brother. Your love overcomes your differences and draws you near to one another again -- sort of like the binoculars overcome the distance between you and objects that are far away.

"That's what Paul was saying to the Ephesians. He was telling the Jews that the love of Jesus was enough to overcome their differences with the Gentiles; that because of Jesus, they were all brothers and sisters in Christ -- just as Tommy loves Alex no matter what, because he's Tommy's brother.

"Sometimes it is really difficult to overlook differences we have with another person. Sometimes other people's ideas can seem so strange to us that we even become angry with them for thinking what they think. Sometimes other people seem so different we react to them with fear and even hatred.

"Perhaps you have heard a conversation something like this: One person might say, 'I don't like Amos.' A second person might say, 'Why not?' And the first person might say, 'Because he talks funny.'

"The way Amos talks may make him different, but that is no reason to dislike or hate him. But the first person in that conversation chose not to like Amos rather than to try to understand him and overcome the difference that divided them.

"Jesus didn't let differences divide. Jesus broke down all those barriers, way back when Paul was writing to the Ephesians about the Jews and the Gentiles, and today too. Jesus tells us to take a look at what is really important. Jesus tells us we sometimes need to look at things in a different way in order to overcome our differences, sort of like what happens when we look through binoculars. Jesus breaks down all the barriers that divide us from one another and draws us near to one another with his love. When we see one another the way Jesus does, we cannot hate. When we see each other through Jesus' eyes, we recognize that we are all part of the family of God, a family in which there are no strangers and in which differences do not matter."