First Presbyterian Church
May 5, 2024, Easter 6B
The Last Hurdle
There is a reason I'm frequently drawn to the lectionary readings from Acts in the season following Easter Sunday. In all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary cycle, readings from Acts are included in the lectionary in place of the Old Testament readings found through most of the liturgical year, I can only guess because it fits to insert a "history" of the church post-Resurrection in place of a history of the people of God pre-Nativity.
That presumption of mine points, somewhat, to why I find it so intriguing to pick up these texts for this season; what can we learn from those followers of Christ in this time, the heady and unpredictable days after the Ascension and then Pentecost, as these followers of Christ in a world varying between indifferent and hostile, a time in which all of their 'sacred assumptions' about life, God, and the way to live were being challenged and broken down.
Today's reading finds us in the middle of an extensive account of an unexpected meeting between the de facto leader of the apostles and a man who could not possibly be a candidate for an encounter with the Holy Spirit, an encounter of the kind that had happened periodically since Pentecost, according to those 'sacred assumptions' they held, almost unthinkingly, about faith. That 'sacred assumption,' the 'last hurdle' if you will, was this:
There are Jews, and there are Gentiles, and never the twain shall meet.
Not that one was necessarily supposed to be hostile to those Gentiles; all those laws about hospitality still applied, to a degree. You didn't turn down a stranger in need, but you didn't indulge in table fellowship with them. You could provide a meal for such a stranger, but you didn't necessarily share the meal with them at the table.
This stranger, a Roman centurion named Cornelius, had made an impression on the locals in Caesarea, one described in different places in Acts as a "God-fearer," one who was not a Jew but who prayed and gave to those in need regularly. In today's terms one might call him a "seeker." He probably could not convert fully to Judaism and maintain his role as a centurion.
God puts before Peter some extra preparation for this encounter; a vision, given three times, of an utterly sumptuous feast of rich and savor foods, all of them utterly hunger-inducing and all of them utterly un-kosher. Peter gives the proper (to him) response of refusal to eat what is "impure or unclean," only to be rebuked by God each time with the rebuke "do not call anything impure that God has made clean." While Peter is reeling from this vision, Cornelius's messengers show up to request that Peter come to visit. While his first reaction might have been to politely decline, he had gotten enough from the vision (and another prompt from the Spirit) to know that was not the right answer this time.
The next day Peter and his traveling companions go to Caesarea (remember, a seat of power for the Roman occupiers) and are greeted by Cornelius, who has apparently invited plenty of friends over for the meeting. Cornelius tells Peter his story, and Peter's response is where today's reading begins.
First acknowledging the uniqueness of the situation and what he has already learned, Peter moves before long to the same basic content of the impromptu sermons he has delivered over the course of this time since Pentecost. For this occasion, it would seem that verse 43 contains the key acknowledgment: 'All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.'
At this point the Holy Spirit shows up in full force, visiting Cornelius and his household and guests with the same kind of manifestations that showed up at Pentecost and at other occasions in the time since then.
This was unprecedented. Even the Ethiopian treasurer from last week's reading had some connection to Jewish faith and practice, no matter how uncertain it might have been, but this man - a Gentile, and a Roman soldier at that - was receiving the Holy Spirit. You might get the impression that, to Peter and his fellow travelers, this event was as mind-blowing, as unexpected and unfathomable as Pentecost itself.
Speaking of that Ethiopian, Peter's response to this event sounds a lot like his response to Philip's proclamation: "Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water." Especially, he adds, since they're already been baptized with the Spirit.
The water is brought and Cornelius and his household are baptized, and then in what would have been unthinkable a day before, Peter and his fellow travelers stay for a few days, guests in a Gentile's home.
This isn't quite the end of this story; the circumcised believers back in Jerusalem get into a holy snit when they hear about Peter baptizing and eating with a bunch of uncircumcised Gentiles. Peter tells the whole story, and apparently the witness of the Holy Spirit falling upon those Gentiles managed to convince the body there, although one might imagine that a few souls might have been compelled to 'leave the church' over this terrible breach of 'sacred assumptions.'
This is the last hurdle to this ragtag body of Christ going forward with that full mission statement Jesus had left them just before his ascension, the one that commissions them as witness 'in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' No one is to be left out; no one is to be called "impure or unclean' whom God has made and named clean.
The question for us then becomes, Who are the 'Gentiles' today? Who are the ones whom, though we'd never use such language, we still somehow insist in our own minds must be 'unclean'? Who are the ones we can't possibly imagine God making and calling clean? And when are we finally going to get over that last hurdle and bear witness to all who seek God? What will it take? And what's stopping us?
To borrow a pointed conclusion from New Testament scholar and editor F. Scott Spencer:
To attempt to block the saving, embracing, impartial God and dam the freeing, flooding, boundary-busting Spirit is foolish and ultimately futile. Just ask Peter. But unfortunately, in the meantime, 'we' often continue to hunker down in our 'us'-protecting, 'other'-suspecting trenches to fight senseless wars against perceived enemies (foreign and domestic). May God help us, may the Spirit interrupt and overcome our discriminatory ways - and may we diligently preach and practice 'peace by Jesus Christ - he is Lord of all.'
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Hymns (from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal): #371, New Songs of Celebration Render; #285, Like the Murmur of the Dove's Song; #288, Spirit of the Living God.
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