Inside the Circle
W. Carl Ketcherside
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"But now through the blood of Christ, you who were once outside the pale are with us inside the circle of God's love in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:13).
What a thrill should surge through us as we read these comforting words. The writer is actually talking about us, for we are Gentiles. He has just pointed out that those who were not of the seed of Abraham were without Christ, utter strangers to God's chosen community of Israel, with nothing to look forward to and no God to whom they could turn. No other scripture paints so graphically the lost and undone condition of those who were "strangers to the covenants of promise."
There is a world of meaning in that little expression "But now!" It is in startling contrast with another expression, "At that time." What happened between the two periods represented in those words? Something occurred which transformed the divided world with its ethnic prejudices and racial bitterness. The outcasts became part of the in-group. The hated ones suddenly became "accepted in the beloved." Hostility was slain. Animosity was banished. Read the passage again and savor its majestic
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That is the secret. There's power in the blood. Nothing else can cleanse the heart of sin and purge the conscience of guilt. It is sin and guilt which make us hate those of another race, to despise those whose only "crime" is that by the accident of birth, by a combination of genes and chromosomes which they did not choose, they are in another strain of the family of man than ourselves.
Guilt makes us uneasy. We are driven to sham and hypocrisy, as if outward pretence of love can atone for the buried cancer of hatred which eats away within. It is only the blood of Christ which can make us real by making us whole. That blood reduces all of us to a common level. In the crimson stream which flowed from Calvary, none of us can stand tall while others grovel. Here we are all proclaimed to be sinners with no advantage accruing from circumstances of birth, race or social standing.
The blood reaches to all, even to those who were "once outside the pale." That is an interesting expression. It literally means "outside the fence, or across the barrier." When I was a youngster we called a fence made of upright slats, or pickets, a "paling fence." We did not know the origin of the term, nor did we realize that in history certain restricted areas had been called The Pale, because foreigners were not admitted.
Jesus removed the fence. He battered down the barrier. Those who were once outside are now "inside the circle." It was not our goodness which eliminated the fence. We did not suddenly become kind and forgiving. It was the action of God in allowing the Son to die which suddenly showed us that actually all of us were "outside the pale" and therefore, we could all be "inside the circle" which is no longer limited because the circumference is the boundless love of God as manifested in Christ Jesus.
This is the divine answer to racial problems. They can never be settled by legislating new laws for the statute-books, nor by the decisions of courts and juries. True, those who are hostile can be kept apart by a wall of steel, by glistening bayonets and shiny rifle barrels, but these are powerless to stop the green bile of hate emptying into human hearts. The circle of police and militia must always enclose some and leave others out.
But what cold steel cannot do, the warmth of love can accomplish. It can free us from our own prejudice and littleness. No one can be "with us in the circle" who is not first with us within our hearts. When I cease to see red men, black men, yellow men or white men, and see only men for whom Christ died, I am on my way to the removal of the pale from my heart so it will no longer be a part of my world. No external wall was ever built that was not first laid, stone upon stone, in the hearts of men.
If I would follow my precious Lord I must dedicate my life to removing the pale, to bringing men within the circle. Being human, there is the tug of the flesh to erect walls and to build fences. Fear causes us to seek for protection behind our own barriers, and to hold men aloof. But the perfect love which casts out fear causes us to draw men unto Him so that we can say, "you are with us inside the circle."
We need to have our hearts gently touched and strangely warmed by Jesus until the glow of a transformed life acts as a magnet to draw those inside who are still without the pale. The ministry of reconciliation is the great and abiding need of the alienated and frustrated ones in our day. Once we tune them into Jesus and they become committed unto him unreservedly, their fruitless existence will become meaningful and hopeful. There must be in us a passion for souls which transcends all other interests and which drives us relentlessly into the wilderness of life to rescue the sheep who have gone astray. We should not be able to rest until we have helped these restless ones find peace inside the circle of God's love. It is for this we have been called in this day!