The reading
Acts 15:1-18
Then certain
individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless
you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be
saved." And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate
with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to
Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church,
and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the
conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. When
they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and
the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect
of the Pharisees stood up and said, "It is necessary for them to be
circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses." The apostles and the elders met together to
consider this matter. After there had
been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "My brothers, you know
that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one
through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become
believers. And God, who knows the human
heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to
us; and in cleansing their hearts by
faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the
test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors
nor we have been able to bear? On the
contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus,
just as they will." The whole
assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all
the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied,
"My brothers, listen to me. Simeon
has related how God first looked favorably on the Gentiles, to take from among
them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it
is written, "After this I will
return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; from its
ruins I will rebuild it, and I will set it up,
so that all other peoples may seek the Lord— even all the Gentiles over
whom my name has been called. Thus says the Lord, who has been making these
things known from long ago.'
The message
(No manuscripts this week, so I’ll try to write out what I
talked about. I did not mention Mother’s Day but we sang all Hymns written by women
to celebrate the day)
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I participated in a
conference just like this one in ancient Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago. We had the annual Synod Assembly for the
Metro NY Synod of the ELCA (a meeting of the pastors and some members of the
200 or so churches that are part of the Metro NY Synod). During
this meeting, we prayed together, worshipped together, shared communion,
listened to each other, approved a budget (and talked about how we use our
resources), debated the future of a church in Staten Island in a complicated
situation, and learned about all of the different ministries and work of the
ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the larger church organization we
are part of). I can’t say this event is exciting
for me but there is something amazing and joyful about being connected to so
many passionate, faithful and excited people.
This morning, the church assembly in Jerusalem we hear about
in Acts only had one matter of business to attend to. They
were in the middle of the first big church fight, a debate on the question “do
you need to become Jewish, be circumcised or keep the law to become a baptized
follower of Jesus and be part of the kingdom of God”.
There were 2 sides and two main figures. First there is Paul. We heard about him over
the past few weeks. He was called Saul
and was a persecutor of the church. Saul was a prominent Pharisee and part of a
renowned family of Jewish leaders. He
was there at the stoning of Stephen (the first Christian martyr, the first
person killed for proclaiming Christ is our savior). Saul saw the new faith as
a corruption of and threat to Judaism.
He sought to catch, arrest or kill any converts to it. On the
way to find and persecute Christians in Damascus, Saul has an experience of the
Risen Christ, he is knocked off his horse and struck blind. He hears Jesus call
him “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me”. Saul is instructed to see someone in the city,
there his sight is restored, his name is changed to Paul and he becomes one of
the great missionaries in the church (as well as the author of many letters
that are part of the New Testament.).
For Paul, this question of “do you need to keep the Old
Testament law before becoming Christian” was clearly no. He was a apostle to the gentiles and saw
converting them to Judaism first as unnecessary, even as an obstacle. We were
saved by grace, by being joined to Christ’s death and resurrection, not by circumcision
or keeping the law. There was a new
covenant and way to be part of the kingdom of God. Paul saw the Holy Spirit descend
on Jews and Gentiles ( non-Jews) the same way, his position was verified by
God.
On the other side, there is Peter and the church leaders in
Jerusalem. Sure, Jesus challenged the religious
authorities and communities on how they kept the law but Jesus never exactly
says “stop keeping it”, Jesus kept the law, even the last supper was the
observance of the Passover. This was a big decision and the early church
leaders wanted to get it right. At the
same time, Peter has seen the Holy Spirit descend on the gentiles, on people
who had no idea what the law was, let alone kept it. Peter also had a vision. On the way to Macedonia to pray with a group of
new Gentile Christians, Peter sees a blanket filled with pigs and other animals
that were ritually unclean and could not be eaten according to the law. God
tells him “kill and eat”. At first Peter
refuses, saying they are prohibited. Again
God says “kill and eat” and Peter says “no, I have never broken the dietary law”.
Finally God says again, I imagine a little nasty this time, I’m God, it’s my
law and im telling you to
break it, to kill and eat, you better do it”.
This question was already debated and answered once before
(Gentiles were welcome, no conversion to Judaism necessary, all they had to do
was be circumcised). Paul does not
adhere to this agreement and baptizes gentiles with no required circumcision. People come from Jerusalem and say “hey wait a
minute, not so fast, we decided they must be circumcised” Paul and others once again say, that is an obstacle
and they are saved by Christ alone.
The people disagreed, leaders and members, new and old, cannot
figure it out and so they widen the conversation, going to Jerusalem to debate the
question. What happens in Jerusalem can be a model for all of us today
in how we communicate and treat each other.
In Jerusalem, long standing things are challenged, experiences count (reports of what happened
from James, Paul, Peter and Barnabas are central to the discussion), decisions
are checked and verified by Scripture, people listened to each other (even though
they did not like each other) and prayed together
.
Ultimately it was decided that conversion to Judaism,
keeping the Old Testament law or even circumcision were not necessary for
Christians. This was a big decision, one that forever changed the church and
one that has impacted the faith of hundreds, thousands, millions and then
billions of people for all time. The
early leaders of the church had to make sure they got this one right. In the end they decide for welcome, for
inclusion, for getting rid of any obstacles to people entering the kingdom of
God, to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
to let God’s grace work and let God’s love do new and amazing things.
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