Each year the most hallowed of tennis championships is held at Wimbledon. In the late afternoon of each tournament day, you can buy a ticket that will get you into one of the outer courts for about $8.00. You probably won’t recognize most of the competitors, since the higher seeded players are usually found on one of the center courts. It takes a special ticket for those center courts–one that is more expensive and more limited in number. Even fewer people get to go into the locker rooms–a very select few.
In the Temple, there were different levels of access. Paul reminds the Gentile believers that they were about as far apart from God as they possible could be. Ephesians 2:13 says, “Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought to Him through the blood of Christ.” When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain shielding the Most Holy Place was torn in two–from top to bottom as is God reached down from Heaven and ripped it apart.
If that were all that happened, it would be like inviting those at center court to visit the locker rooms. That would be wonderful for the privileged few, but would only increase the frustration and resentment of the those who remained outside. Paul reminds us that Jesus did much more in Ephesian 2:14. “He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” It wasn’t just a curtain that came down. All the walls of separation came down. All the divisions of privilege, rank, race, age, and gender came down, and equal access to God was opened up to all through Jesus Christ. No matter how far away from God you may be, there is always a straight, unveiled path to God free from all barricades.
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