Written by Rev. Richard Baird (Church and Culture Analyst at dia-LOGOS)
If every person on earth looked precisely the same, I’m sure we would still find a way to create an ‘us/them’ category. Our culture is saturated with a variety of ‘us-them’ groups, and we all find ourselves within one group and outside of another. Intersectionality thrives on creating such groups for example, defining groups in terms of oppressor and oppressed. But there are myriad others too. We may be in the Israel support group, or the Trump support group, or the Putin support group (I’m not talking therapy support groups here!) or the LGBTQIA+ support group or the coffee drinkers group or the Sharks rugby team support group. There doesn’t seem to be any segment of society that is exempt from having in/out groups: within each religion there will be us/them groups as well, especially in our own household of faith.
In the Bible, one of the greatest divides was between the Jew and Gentile. When Paul spoke of the ‘dividing wall of hostility’ (Ephesians 2:14) he was not understating the case at all. There was even a wall around the temple which historian Josephus speaks of which separated the court of the Gentiles from the temple itself, and on this wall there was an inscription which read “No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.” Looking at social media posts today does make me wonder if many don’t have a similar sign around their Facebook page!
It was not easy for the early church to deal with the us/them divide in terms of Jew and Gentile. But grapple with it they did, as they came to understand that the whole purpose of their identity was not to revel in their identity but to reveal God to the nations, and in the book of Acts we see them recognising that God was indeed accepting people from every tribe and nation. Perhaps the most well known incident demonstrating this is when Peter had the vision of all different animals and was told “Rise, Peter; kill and eat (Acts 10v13).” Peter, being the good Jew that he was, replied “No! I’ve never eaten anything unclean.” His rebuke from God sure got him thinking (please read the story!). The clincher is in Acts 10v34-35 where Peter says: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”
That single statement is worth meditating upon in the light of how we love to side with groups, believing that one group of people is somehow superior to another.
Paul stresses how the mission of Jesus was indeed to make the Jews and Gentiles into one new people, His body (aka the Church) through destroying that dividing wall of hostility, and reconciling us to God through what Christ accomplished upon Calvary (Eph 2:11-22).
Which brings us to the most fundamental ‘us/them’ distinction of all: those who love and follow Jesus and those who don’t. Jesus said that this division would happen as a result of His presence in our lives. He put it quite strongly when He said:
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[a]
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Our Lord did not shy away from making controversial and shocking statements. But in this statement He is pointing out that His presence will indeed polarise people. Within a family if someone loves Jesus he or she may well find themselves on the receiving end of hostility (as many believers from a Muslim background can testify to, as in choosing to follow Jesus they have brought dishonour to their family).
But it also tells me something else. Jesus is really the only one worth being ‘polarised’ over. He is the only One worth creating an us/them distinction over. If we want to be on the ‘right side of history,’ then siding with Jesus is the route to go.
But the us/them distinction of being a child of God versus not being a child of God comes with a fundamental difference to any other us/them distinction. Normally our participation in an ‘in-group’ of whatever sort subtly leads to the sin of pride, in which we relish our ‘rightness’ or ‘superiority’ over those who are not in our ‘in-group.’
Children of God are called to not focus on our separation, but on viewing the ‘them’ redemptively, seeking to win as many for Christ as we can. Because here’s the deal: children of God were all at one stage in the ‘them’ category to God.
Think about that: you were once a ‘them’ to the Trinitarian God. And what does God do? Romans 5:8 tells me that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. God belonged Himself to me even while I was in the ‘them’ group to Him! Talk about amazing grace! As Paul further says in Romans 5:10
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
You may have noticed how the legacy of world leaders at the moment is one of creating division.
Not so with Jesus.
As we approach Easter, let us marvel and rejoice that our God is so good and so powerful that His death was reconciling sinners (the “them group”) to Himself. And because of that, we have a secure hope, no matter what happens and no matter what us/them groups we find the world creating for us.