Sermon for May 5

The reading

Acts 10:1-17, 34-35
1 In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. 2 He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. 3 One afternoon at about three o'clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius." 4 He stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" He answered, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; 6 he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." 7 When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, 8 and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa. 9 About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 Then he heard a voice saying, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat." 14 But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean." 15The voice said to him again, a second time,

"What God has made clean, you must not call profane." 16 This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven. 17 Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon's house and were standing by the gate.

34 Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him

The message

We have completed our time with the Gospel of Matthew (and we are coming up to the end of the narrative lectionary, the  4 year cycle of readings we stated in 2015).  Matthew ends with  God’s instructions: Come and see the tomb is empty, go and tell the others Christ is Risen, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teach what Jesus did as Jesus did, through word and deed, with trust in Gods power .

Today, we start The book of Acts. Written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, The book of Acts tells how the first followers of Jesus tried to follow those commands of God that end Matthew.  Early on Christians were called people of “the way”,  they would meet in secret, face persecution and travel great distances to reach all nations.  Acts is a drama, complete with moments of great tension. Acts it also an action story with long journeys, shipwrecks, last second rescues, miracles, signs of power that witness to God’s truth
and improbable events. 

The main characters in the book of Acts include Peter and James who have been with Jesus from the start of his public ministry, people who walked around the sea of Galiee with him, who witnessed Jesus teach, heal, cure, confront, be betrayed, go on trial, die and rise again. They are not perfect. These are the disciples who got scared, fell asleep, hid in fear and even denied ever knowing Jesus.  Mistakes are learned from, Those things are forgiven and they are restored.  For instance Peter, denies knowing Jesus 3 times in the courtyard of the High Priest as the trial begins. In John 21, we hear this moment of restoration between Jesus and Peter.   When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep”. Peter’s weakness in the face of danger and public denial of Jesus will
not be held against him, it will not be an obstacle.

The disciples are entrusted with being the church, the witness to Jesus in the world.  They will not do this work alone.  There are also new people, men and women like Lydia, Phoebe and Barnabas who hear the good news, that Christ is Risen and respond with joy and action In Acts 9, we hear one of the most significant events in the life of the church, a new person who joins in the Church’s work.  Saul is an intense persecutor of the church, a Pharisee and well respected scholar. He is traveling to Damascus, empowered to round up (and likely kill) any followers of Jesus that he finds.  On the road, he is struck blind by God’s light and knocked off his horse. At Damascus, he is Baptized and taught about Jesus. This work is done by a very reluctant Ananias, a follower of Jesus who knows of Saul and doesn’t particularly want to welcome him into the church. Annais rationally knows the church would be better off if this guy is left blind. Can we really trust, forgive, accept, deal with this guy.. God insists, Saul’s life as persecutor will not be held against him.

God’s insistence on how the church will be built and shaped is a big part of today’s reading as well.  I think of Peter’s vision as the end of the first really big church fight.  Throughout history there have been some big ones, homosexuality, the ordination of women, who can  take communion, what exactly happens at Baptism, the use of icons, the divinity and humanity of Jesus, the literalness of scripture or the authority of the church. Many of those are still ongoing, dividing Christians and creating lots of separations in the church.

Before all those, before scripture was written and cannoized, before male only leaders was a thing, there was the first big church fight. The argument was a simple question “do you need to become Jewish, before you can be a Christian”.  Do converts need to follow all, some of, the law and get circumcised On one side was Peter and James, who insisted new followers did need to keep the law. Jesus was Jewish, they all were Jewish, even the last supper was observing a Jewish holiday, Jesus focuses on the right interpretation of the law and the prophets, the spirit of the law, brining people to relationship with God. but insists he did not come to replace the law.  Jesus does heal, welcome outsiders but he never specially teaches to leave the Jewish faith. On the other side were people like Paul and Barnabas, who immediately start to serve as missionaries to the gentiles, going to all nations, including many people who have no idea what Judiasm is.  Teaching  this, putting up all these requirements, were osbatalces to the Gospel, barriers to seeing Christ is Risen, telling the others, Baptizing and teaching. Jesus never specially tells anyone to convert to Judaism as a pre-resquite to following him .

Like the restoration of Peter and baptism and teaching of Paul, God intervenes to settle this one as well.  Peter is in the midst of prayer when he sees an unexpected (and unwanted) vision, one that will forever change the path of the church. He sees a sheet filled with all sorts of unclean animals (ones that the Jewish law prohibits people from eating or even having contact with). A voice tells him to kill and eat.  Peter never doubts for a moment that this vision is from God  but he still insists on keeping the law (maybe it just 3 times to get through to him).  I imagine by the third time, God is “Yo, its my law and im telling you something new, I get its really strange and uncomfortable but shut up and listen”.  Overall this vision does not even seem to get through to Peter, he leaves “greatly puzzled” Immediately after the vision, a group representing a Gentile comes to Peter to seek teaching and help for their boss.  From here, Peter will witness another Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will descend on  this group of non-jewish people, just like it did on Peter and the first followers of the way.  This vision, witness, prayer and listening to each other will led to the church being open to all people, you did not need to become Jewish before becoming Christian.

There are some lessons we can take from this story.  It is a reminder that this is God’s church and that God is still speaking.  We are reminded to be certain about salvation but not be so certain of our ways of sharing it.   The grace forgiveness and welcome of God is wider than Peter thought and wider than we often think. We are also reminded of the need to listen and to understand other perspectives  Even after agreeing, there are still disputes and struggles over what of the law, covenant and traditions.  Even today Christians of all groups and people of all faiths wonder about others.