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Acts 11: 1-18
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”
4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.
11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’
15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”
18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
John 13: 31-35
Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him,[a] God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Have you ever been part of a group or organization where everything started out perfectly? Maybe a musical group or a sports team or a community project. Everyone got along and had similar points of view, everyone had a common vision of what you were trying to do, it was exciting to belong and be part of the group. And then you hit the snags, people disagreed on key points, there were arguments, things were no longer so smooth. That's when the real work begins, isn't it.
That's what we see happening to the early Christian community in today's reading from Acts. Last week's reading was the image of idealism, everyone sharing their belongings, working and praying together, all in agreement in love.
In today's story we see reality setting in, the cracks developing.
In the beginning all followers of Jesus were Jews because Jesus was a Jew. Jesus didn't see himself as starting a new religion, he was just trying to renew and reform his beloved Jewish faith. He may have stretched Jewish laws, but didn't break many of them completely.
So after his death and resurrection, it was only natural that the early church followed all the various Jewish laws around cleanliness – and there were many! Most of the laws had to do with food – what you ate, how you prepared it and ate it, who you ate with.
But then Gentiles, non-Jews, (or the uncircumcised as they're called in this reading from Acts) started to show interest in Jesus' teachings, wanting to follow the Way, as it was called. Gentiles who were interested in Jesus weren't always sure they wanted to become Jews. And all those rules – couldn't they just follow Jesus without doing all that?
In the story for today, poor Peter finds himself caught between enthusiastic Gentiles who want to follow Jesus and early church leaders who are appalled at the idea of followers of Jesus not following the cleanliness laws.
It's hard for us to imagine just how challenging this issue was for early Christians, especially those like Peter and other leaders, who had actually followed Jesus during his lifetime. It shook their very sense of self, all aspects of how they lived. The cleanliness laws provided structure for their lives and their faith. To say those laws didn't matter was to turn their lives upside down. It challenged the faith they grew up with and the very structure of their society.
But it also challenged their faith in following Jesus. They didn't join him thinking they were starting a new religion, but if you no longer needed to be Jewish in order to follow Jesus, then that's what was happening.
Was that really what Jesus intended, a new religion? After all, he based everything he taught on the Old Testament, the heart of the Jewish faith. Of course, the Old Testament talked about “all nations” coming to know God. So maybe this new direction really was from God, was what Jesus wanted? It would have been confusing and distressing in ways we can't even imagine. No wonder this question resulted in huge conflict.
I see a connection to us today in our present situation. When the Covid crisis started, our lives were turned upside down, we were asked to live in different ways that sometimes went against how we have always lived – no hugs?!
But after 2 months we were getting used to it. It had become the new normal to not gather, to avoid stores, to not travel, not go to school.
For seniors in particular there have been a lot of restrictions, having someone else shop for you, never going in buildings other than your own home. But after 2 months, people developed new routines, new ways of being.
And now that the restrictions are relaxing, it's very confusing and stressful.
What exactly is permitted? What is safe? What is not safe? The new normal, which we had barely gotten used to, has been shaken.
One senior I talked to said, “I guess I can go shopping now, but do I want to go into a grocery store? I haven't been in one for two months.” She was feeling anxious at first, she was so used to not going. The thought of entering a store and negotiating all the new changes was a bit overwhelming.
Teachers and parents are wondering– how is this going to work? Schools still aren't sure how they going to manage the return of teachers and students. People asking, wait a minute, last week this action wasn't safe, this week it is? What has changed?
We're like the early church, who had just started to figure out life after Jesus, and then were faced with another big source of uncertainty with the question of accepting Gentiles. And like the early church, it will be easy to judge each other as we try to make decisions while the world around us keeps changing.
It will be easy to look at others and say, he/she shouldn't be doing that, look at that group meeting in person! Or, conversely, why isn't that group meeting in person? Why isn't that person doing this or that?
Just like it was easy for the early Christians to quickly line up on either side of the question of following the Jewish cleanliness laws and to start judging each other, it will be easy for us to line up and start judging on either side of any number of issues around relaxing of restrictions and safety.
And that's where both readings for today can help us. In Acts, Peter listened for guidance from God and had open, respectful conversations with those who had differing opinions. Verse 12 is especially important, Peter says “The Spirit told me to go with them (non Jews) and not to make a distinction between them and us.”
How often do we make distinctions between them and us? There are many different “thems,” aren't there, depending on the situation. This one verse makes it so clear that we are called to be inclusive and accepting in all situations.
The reading from John affirms this principle of love and acceptance in all situations. “Love one another as I have loved you.” And how did Jesus love? Unconditionally.
Just as the early Christians soon realized that the bottom line was Jesus' commandment to love one another as he had loved them, our bottom line is Dr. Bonnie Henry's “be calm, be kind, be safe” – and stay six feet apart!
There is one more lesson for us in today's readings. There were significant differences between the communities in which the passages were written. The book of Acts was written by the same author as the gospel Luke, so definitely outward looking. We see that in Luke, with its emphasis on those on the margins, on inclusion. So as the conflict developed between the early followers over who was acceptable as part of their community of faith, it's not surprising that the author of Acts takes Peter's experience and tells a story that is very clear about the importance of inclusion.
The Johannine community, the community in which the author of John wrote, existed at least ten years later, maybe more. It was a more insular group, dealing with even more conflict. The author focused on loving each other in their community, “Love one another,” while the authors of the other gospels talked about “Love your neighbour.”
Loving one another was important to the Johannine community because of the conflict going on. It wasn't just between groups, it was happening within the community, so the author wanted to remind people that it was important to love one another in spite of their different points of view and the potential for conflict.
Together these two readings give us guidance on looking outward as a community of faith and looking inward. We need to look after and love one another within our community, but we also need to be aware that we are called to care for and look after ALL people. There is no them and us in God's eyes.
The next few weeks and months are going to be uncertain and unnerving in many ways. It will be easy to get cranky with each other - at home, in our church community and in our larger community, it will be easy to judge each other and get upset.
Fortunately we have many supports as we enter into this next stage of the covid crisis. We have the experience and wisdom of the early church, we have wise leaders in the larger United Church and in our various levels of government and most of all, we have our faith that God will guide us and give us the patience, love, strength and compassion we need to support each other through whatever may come our way.
May God be with us as we walk with each other in love and acceptance through these uncertain times.