SERMON Pastor Michael McAllister John 13:31-35; Acts 11:1-18 April 28, 2013

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1 SERMON Pastor Michael McAllister John 13:31-35; Acts 11:1-18 April 28, 2013 We re now in the 5 th Sunday of the liturgical season of Easter, and perhaps our bold and joyful responses of Alleluia! have lost a bit of their shiny newness since Resurrection Sunday when we broke the Lenten fast of 40 days without a single Alleluia! Now, though, the bright dawn of Easter Sunday has passed, and the news of our Lord s triumphant resurrection continues to settle into our hearts and minds. But, as was the case with the first Christians, the full magnitude of Easter takes more than just a day or two to settle in. Christians like us who follow the liturgical church calendar observe the season of Easter for 50 whole days. Fifty days to spread the Easter News; 50 days to proclaim resurrection to the world and declare that God is doing a new thing in and through Jesus the risen Lord. It was during the first Easter season some 2,000 years ago when the disciples discovered that the rumors were true that Jesus had in fact been raised from the dead. And so, they wasted no time spreading the Good News. The appropriately named book in our Bibles, The Acts of the Apostles, reports how the first Christians spread the Easter message to the world by teaching and preaching, and baptizing many into the faith. 1

2 But as modern- day Christians know all too well, and as many of us in this church family know, growth cannot happen without at least a few growing pains, detours and road blocks. And as we heard in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter was no stranger to growing pains, detours and the like. There was perhaps no more passionate a believer in the early church than Peter. He had been teaching and preaching about Jesus among the gentiles in Caesarea with great effect. In the book of Acts, from the chapter just before today s reading, it s reported that the Holy Spirit came into their midst and they began extolling God. But even before the days of e- mail, Facebook and Twitter, rumors still traveled fast. Soon, the news of Peter s work among the gentiles reached the religious leaders in Jerusalem. So, they knew that Peter had been teaching and preaching, but now they had gotten wind that Peter was also eating with the gentiles people who were different, unclean and unworthy in the eyes of the religious establishment. And so they summoned Peter to defend his actions saying: Teaching the gentiles? Fine. 2

3 Preaching to the gentiles? Fine. But eating with gentiles? Absolutely unacceptable! For Jews of that time including Peter and even for other surrounding cultures, eating with another person was a very personal, meaningful and even intimate experience. Plus, the observance of strict Jewish dietary laws was not simply a matter of ritual piety or cultural observance; it was a matter of essential identity and worship. In the midst of an empire that was not only non- Jewish, but also often hostile to the Jewish people, dietary observances served as a reminder to Jew and gentile alike of the distinction between those who were included in God s covenant with Abraham, and those who were not. And so the religious leaders in Jerusalem, with a mixture of anger and fear, received the news that Peter had been sharing meals with the gentiles; that is, people who were not Jewish (and remember, this is now the Christian Church, post- resurrection we re talking about). For them, Peter was not only blurring the lines between those who were God s people and those who were not God s people, but he was also forsaking God s laws, according to their still OT Jewish understanding. But Peter didn t see it that way at least not anymore. He had been converted by the Holy Spirit in both his way thinking and his approach 3

4 to faith and life. And he tells the authorities in Jerusalem the same story he had told others several times before. He had a vision in which all sorts of animals appeared before him. He heard God s voice telling him, Get up, Peter; kill and eat. But as one would expect from an observant Jew, Peter replied, By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But then the voice of God spoke again and said, What God has made clean, you must not call profane. In the midst of that vision, Peter himself must have questioned, Did I hear that correctly? Surely God didn t mean that the gentiles, who eat un- kosher, unblessed food, are to be treated the same as we are. But then he remembered the words of Christ, reminding the faithful that one day soon, they would be baptized, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit, ushering in a new age, a new Church. And then, Peter asked himself one final question. If God is willing and capable of giving anyone, even gentiles, the same gift of grace that God gave me when I believed Who am I that I could hinder God? Now, once Peter arrived in Jerusalem, the religious leaders who had summoned him didn t respond with a long, carefully articulated theological treatise as to why Peter was in error. They didn t rebuke 4

5 Peter for his actions or label him a heretic. And they didn t make a motion to enter executive session to discuss what they had just heard so they could render a verdict. Instead, they fell silent for a moment they basked in awe of what God was doing in their midst. And then they rejoiced, praising God for extending to the gentiles that repentance that leads to life. Now, how often do you see that happen in the ranks of staunch institutional leadership, whether it be in the church or any other organization? Not often I m thinking, if ever for some of us; and when we do, far too often, it s that last part that s forgotten; that part about engaging in the repentance that leads to life. Every now and then, even the church forgets that the only worthy response to what God is doing in our midst comes not in the form of a theological treatise, not in an official church- sanctioned rebuke, not through deliberations or verdicts or forming a special committee or task force... Sometimes, the only worthy response is silence, accompanied by awe and praise. And so, now that Easter has settled into our own hearts and Alleluias can be found on our lips once more, perhaps our ongoing Easter mission is to keep watch for the places and people in our midst who 5

6 have been written off or excluded, perhaps even of their own accord. These are the people in urgent need of hearing the news that Easter has come. These are the people who desperately need to hear that there is a repentance that leads to life. These are the people who need to be told that there s a place for them at God s Welcome Table (which is what our first communion students have been learning about this past week); we each can have an honored place as part of God s own family. As the Apostle Peter reminds us, every time we exclude or label someone or something as an outsider, or too different, that we run the risk of trying to hinder God. Peter gives us a glimpse of a world in which the news of the resurrection shatters earthly boundaries of clean and unclean, accepted and excluded, insider and outsider. Peter s Easter witness is lived through preaching and teaching and baptizing and building relationships with everyone who yearns for the repentance and forgiveness that leads to life. And if we will allow it, our own Easter witness can reach to the ends of the earth and to the ends of time, proclaiming the miraculous news that in Christ, God is making all things, all thoughts, all visions, all relationships, and all people, new! AMEN 6