For Jesus and the apostles, Christianity was already universal: the reign of God being omnipresent, from “within,” and not dependent on external social or political structures (Lohfink, 2012, p. 50). Known as the entos hymon, the Lutheran translation of Luke 17:21 suggests that the Church is universal, timeless, and independent of geographic or temporal considerations. God embraces all under the rubric of the Church.Practically speaking, though, Jesus understood that the disciples created the first real, tangible Christian community. That community blossomed rapidly, albeit not without problems, dissent, and conflict. Luke frames the formation of the Church more dramatically, as an “act of God,” (Boring, 2012, p. 1). Disciples are more than followers of Christ, they are enacting God’s will. The early church built itself upon solid theological foundations of universality, inclusivity, and omnipresence. The conflicts between the followers of Jesus and the Jews, on the one hand, coincided with the conflicts between the Hellenic and the Hebrew worlds, on the other. The Church is the spiritual response for resolving these conflicts. “This community lives by the divine call to justice and compassion and by the teaching and example of Jesus, at the same time realizing the...
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Earliest sermons were not as much about the life of Jesus but about the Christian principles of community and inclusivity (Boring, 2012). The Church was to embrace “every nation under heaven,” (Luke 2:5). As such, the Church was the solution to fragmentation, strife, and sectarianism. The Church is the answer to the social and political problems Jesus identified, for Jesus was interested primarily in societal transformation as a spiritual need: “Jesus was not just concerned with souls. He wanted a changed society,” (Lohfink, 2012, p. 52). The Pentecost represented the return of Jesus, which would offer second chances to those who had initially rejected him. Jesus also represented the fulfillment of Old Testament promises and prophecy related to a reversal of the chaos of Babel (Boring, 2012). Whereas Babel symbolizes the frustrating fragmentation of humanity, the Christian Church reunifies human beings via God’s grace.
The messages of both the entos hymon and the universality of the original Church has immediate and ongoing implications for contemporary parishes. The parish is a place of worship, but also an extension of the entire body of Christ on Earth.…
