In the summer of 2010, I was reminded anew of the healing and reconciliation that Jesus brought to earth by His birth, death, and resurrection. Our church family studied the Old Testament book of Malachi. The series was titled Reset and focused on resetting worship, marriage, and justice. The last message addressed resetting injustice in the world beginning with addressing and resetting injustice in our hearts.
After the morning worship service, a man approached me at the front of the auditorium and asked me to forgive him. Immediately, my mind sifted through interactions I’d had with him, trying to remember if I said or did something to offend him. Nothing came to mind. I asked, “What did I do?” He told me I hadn’t done anything to offend him, but instead he had harbored something in his heart.
“When you were introduced as a candidate for the senior teaching pastor, I didn’t vote for you.”
His comment wasn’t a big revelation. “I’m sure a number of people didn’t vote for me.” Rarely do individuals receive 100 percent affirmation; that’s the nature of interviewing for a ministry position. What he said next, however, shook me.
“You need to know why I didn’t vote for you. Because of my experiences in the past, I’d developed hatred and a racist heart against Black people. So, I didn’t vote for you because you’re Black.” With tears rolling down his cheeks he asked, “Will you please forgive me?”
Not realizing the significance of his request, I nonchalantly said it wasn’t a problem. He grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes and said, “Listen! You don’t understand. I really need you to forgive me because I don’t want the junk of racism and prejudice to spill over into my son’s life. I didn’t vote for you because of the color of your skin, and I was wrong. Over the last year, God has used you and your preaching to impact my life.”
I forgave him, and we hugged for quite some time, weeping in one another’s arms.
The following week when we wrapped up the series, people shared how it had impacted their lives. The man who approached me the previous week stood up and shared with the congregation what he’d shared with me. The congregation stood, unexpectedly, and clapped and whistled in celebration.
Jesus was breaking down a wall, and He was creating oneness in His body.
Two thousand years earlier, the same Christ—born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died a redemptive death, raised to life—broke down the wall between Jews and gentiles, which had separated them for years. This wall wasn’t a physical barrier but a spiritual one. Mutual bitterness and religious hostility had separated the Jews and gentiles.
But through Jesus’ incarnation, sinless life, broken body, and redeeming death, He broke down that wall, making it possible for Jews and gentiles to be at peace with God and one another (Colossians 3:11; Galatians 3:28). They experienced peace, harmonious friendship with God and with one another in the body of Jesus, the church.
Christ came into the world to quench our hostility against God and one another. Through His incarnation, death, and resurrection, Jesus created a unified new people from the old hostile camps (John 17:20–21). Not only did He bring peace to individuals and between people, Christ Himself became our peace. Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). The requirement for peace between God and us was faith in Jesus.
Two thousand years later, the King is still breaking down walls that separate us, inviting us into oneness in His body. In another example, as He did among the Jews and gentiles, Jesus did a powerful thing at a conference in 2009. One evening, a group of Chinese students, a group of Taiwanese students, and a group of students from Hong Kong met in a large banquet hall to worship and reflect. Large dividers separated these students, however. These walls represented the animosity that each, historically, had toward one another; they thought it was best to worship with their “own people.”
While praying, the Chinese students sensed God asking them to invite the other countries to worship with them. The Taiwanese and Hong Kong students accepted the invitation, removed the dividers, and joined the Chinese students for a time of powerful worship. In that moment, literal walls were moved and these students experienced the oneness of the Spirit in worship.
Jesus is still bringing peace and breaking down walls that separate us. Christmas reminds us that Christ came to bring peace—the kind of peace that restores our relationship with God and one another. In Him, all cultural differences, animosity, and hatred are reconciled.
Marvin Williams
