Even
Acts 10:44-48
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Our second reading this morning comes from the 10th chapter in the book of Acts. The suggested text is only the final five verses from a lengthy story that takes up the entirety of the chapter. It’s a little strange to hear the conclusion without knowing the rest of the story. So, for the sake of context let me set the stage for those verses.
First, you need to know that the book of Acts is like the sequel to Luke’s gospel. It’s traditionally understood that they are companion volumes written by the same author. The full title of the book is The Acts of the Apostles, but most people shorten it to Acts. Last week Remy Briggs asked me after church how it is still Easter. Last week was the fifth Sunday in Easter and today is the Sixth Sunday. So, we talked about how Easter wasn’t just a day, but a season. How after Jesus was raised, he would show up for meals with his friends, and how this went on for forty days before he finally ascended. And then ten days after that the Holy Spirit came down to give life to the church. First, I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to answer that question because it means someone is paying attention and wondering about it all. Second, the fact that a five-year-old is paying attention and asking questions is nothing short of AWESOME. But I digress. It can get confusing though when the readings don’t always align with the season. Narratively speaking, Pentecost and the Holy Spirit are still two weeks away in the calendar of the church year. The book of Acts might more rightly be name the Acts of the Holy Spirit, because it is all about how the Spirit moves God’s people out of their close, comfortable enclaves and into the world as messengers of the good news. The major conflict of the book comes from all the obstacles that work against them sharing that message and all the ways the Spirit blows past EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. THEM! The 10th chapter is about one of those stories and here’s what unfolds.
We’re introduced to a Roman centurion of the Italian cohort named Cornelius who lives in Cesarea. He is what was known as a “God fearer.” You may have heard that phrase used to describe anyone who is a faithful believer, but in this context it has a very specific application. God fearers were Gentiles, people who were not Jewish, but who nonetheless were drawn to Jewish faith and practice. They would attend synagogue to pray. They would give money. Well, one random afternoon Cornelius has a vision. He clearly sees an angel who tells him that he should send some of his men to a town down the coast called Joppa to find a man named Simon who is called Peter. The angel even gives Cornelius the address of where Peter is staying. We know Peter. He was one of Jesus’ first disciples and was very close to him. Some of the best stories in the gospels involve Peter’s boundless enthusiasm that Jesus usually has to redirect. Peter has taken a prominent role as an Apostle in the newborn church and had been summoned to Joppa to resurrect a devout woman named Tabitha. Peter is a thing. But he’s still Jewish. All of the apostles are.
Anyway, Cornelius probably doesn’t know who Peter is, but when an angel gives you that specific of instruction, it’s probably a good idea to follow it. So, he sends some men to the house in Joppa where Peter is staying. Meanwhile, Peter is minding his own business and goes up on the roof to pray. And while he’s praying he has this strange vision. He sees heaven open up and something like a sheet come down to the earth with all kinds of animals. And a voice tells him to get up, kill, and eat. Well, this poses something of a problem for Peter because he’s Jewish. He keeps kosher. He can’t just eat any old animal. Some of these animals are unclean according to his religious tradition. He was raised right, he isn’t going to change now. Only this voice is insistent, “what God has made clean,” it says, “you must not call profane, or unclean.” Unsurprisingly, it takes three rounds of this redirection for the message to get through. That’s Peter for you. And just as he snaps out of this vision and is still trying to make sense of it all, there’s a knock at the door. It’s Cornelius’ men. Peter is still a little dazed from his vision and that pesky Holy Spirit whispers in his ear that he needs to go down and greet these visitor and accept their invitation to go with them to Cesarea to see Cornelius. When he gets there he names the elephant in the room, that as a Jew it’s unlawful for Peter to associate, or visit with a Gentile like Cornelius. But God opened his eyes about calling anyone unclean, and he’s curious about why he’s been summoned. Cornelius shares his own vision and invites Peter to say whatever it is he has to say. And this is what Peter says, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” He goes on to tell them about his friend and teacher, Jesus- from his baptism in the Jordan, to his crucifixion and resurrection, to the forgiveness of sins in his name. Which brings us to the ending, our reading for today. The tenth chapter of Acts, verses 44-48.
This past week concluded the Jewish Feast of Passover. Usually, the celebration of Passover coincides with our celebration of Easter. Afterall it is the Feast of Passover that brings Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem from Galilee, to celebrate the feast at the temple. More than anything, Passover is about remembering the bitterness of slavery in Egypt and the miracle of the people’s liberation from that heavy yoke. But it also began a trajectory against which the prophets had to rail. The experience in Egypt made the people suspicious of those not their own. It had the effect of turning the people inward and away from the culture and practices of those not their own. Unfortunately, this isn’t a problem unique to God’s people. On the one hand, our superpower is our ability to cooperate. That is how we’ve made it as far as we have as a species. Innovation is nothing without cooperation. An individual standing on the shore may conceive of crossing it, but to build a vessel large enough to withstand the wind and rough seas, that individual will need another, and another, and another, until they form a community, a tribe, a people. Loyalty to one’s people becomes paramount, and identifying threats essential. Unfortunately, we begin to view other groups, other tribes, other people as one of those threats, profane and unclean. We believe and encourage the singular value of taking care of our own, to the exclusion of others.
By the time Jesus and Peter came along the elevation and exclusion within their own tradition had become enshrined in their religious law. In his own life, Jesus frequently came into conflict when he pushed the bounds of those practices by healing on the sabbath, touching unclean lepers, prostitutes and tax-collectors, and even eating with them. Even.
That’s the backdrop of this story, the artificial social constructs that kept people like Peter and the church from sharing the good news of forgiveness found in Jesus’ story. As Peter tells his story and the people hearing it receive the Holy Spirit, his fellow believers are astounded that this gift is being poured out even on them, those Gentiles. It’s the same disbelief, the same entrenched way of elevating our own to the exclusion of others that has reared its ugly head in our own country under the banner of what’s called Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism is predicated on the historically mistaken belief that ours is a Christian nation, even though our own founding documents explicitly prohibit Congress from making any law that would attempt to establish a national religion. Instead of expanding our circles of trust and cooperation, Christian Nationalism views such expansion and welcome with suspicion is not outright disdain. As such, the movement is something of a misnomer as it is Christian in name only given that its goals stand in stark opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ. God shows none of the partiality that this movement is attempting to advance as it seeks to replace our democratic republic with an authoritarian theocracy. If Christian Nationalism is a betrayal of the bedrock principal of separating church and state, it is an even greater betrayal of Jesus. It not only takes the name of Jesus in vain, it blasphemes against the very work of the Holy Spirit detailed in this passage. Where Jesus says to put down the sword, Christian Nationalism would take up political violence as a means to its end as it did in our nation’s capital on January 6th, 2021. Where Jesus welcomed women who were often excluded and marginalized by their culture, Christian Nationalism would impose its will on women’s bodies and send them back to the margins and back alleys for reproductive healthcare. Where Jesus rebuked his disciples for arguing over their greatness and commanded them to serve one another, Christian Nationalism declares itself as great and something to return to and to lord over others. Where Jesus welcomed the stranger, fed the multitudes and taught radical hospitality and compassion, Christian Nationalism would demonize the other, close our borders, and ostracize any who don’t fall into its narrow categories for gender, loving relationships, and marriage. Where Jesus said you shall know the truth and it shall set you free, Christian Nationalism would censor textbooks and exclude the hard and painful parts of our national story in order to re-write and literally whitewash our history.
What Peter discovers on that roof. What his friends witness in Cornelius’ home in Cesarea is that no one, no movement, no nation, no religion can withhold from God’s children what God would so freely pour out on us all, regardless of our nationality, ethnicity, gender, race, social class, or sexual status. There is no partiality. Forgiveness, freedom, justice, peace and love are poured out by the power of the Holy Spirit. Even on them? Yes, even on them. Even on us? Yes, even on us. Even on me? Yes, even on you.