YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES
Rev. Barry W. Szymanski, J.D.
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa
MAY 2, 2010

Acts 11:1-18

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied,

“By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’

John 13:31-35 [NRSV]

When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’"

SERMON

This passage follows the narrative in the Book of Acts where Cornelius, a gentile, was converted. Gentiles were the name given to non-Jews. Cornelius was the captain of the Italian Guard – a high-ranking military official in the Roman army. In that passage in Acts Chapter 10, we learned that when Peter traveled to Caesarea, Cornelius was expecting him and had even invited his relatives and close friends to meet Peter.

Upon Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at Peter's his feet, worshipped him. Peter made him get up, saying, ‘I am only a mortal.’ Then Peter went into the house to meet Cornelius' relatives and close friends who had assembled to meet Peter. Peter reminded them, ‘It is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?’

Cornelius told Peter how he had a vision one day about three o'clock in the afternoon. In this vision an angel of God, as Cornelius said, ‘as real as his next-door neighbor,' came in and called him by name. The angel told Cornelius that his, prayers and neighborly acts brought [him] to God's attention." In the visit Peter told all of those who had assembled at Cornelius' house, God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you're from —

if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message is that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again.' After some exceptional preaching, Peter asked, 'Do I hear any objections to baptizing you, because you have received the Holy Spirit exactly as we did.’ Hearing no objections, he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Today's reading is the very next chapter. What happened is that the 'circumcision' group in Jerusalem heard what happened and started to interrogate Peter after his return, and did so with a pretty big chip on their shoulders. This group was Jewish men who observed the Law of Moses very strictly.

If you glance through the dietary laws as set out in the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament, Chapter 1 through Chapter 11, you will see page after page of rules on what you can and cannot eat if you are a follower of Moses. What we observe as we read Chapters 10 and 11 of the Book of Acts is to see how Peter's worldview – his paradigm begins to shift quite radically. Peter was being led by the Holy Spirit to realize that Jesus is the Savior of all people – Jews and Gentiles alike. – There was no limitation to who was included.

Let me back us again. In yet a prior Chapter of the Book of Acts, in Chapter 9, we are told of Paul's conversion. And, beginning at verse 26 to the end of the chapter we learn that, after Paul's conversion, Paul traveled to Jerusalem where he tried to join the disciples. It is no surprise for us to understand that they were all afraid of him. They didn't trust him. However, Barnabas befriended Paul and finally introduced Paul to the apostles – Barnabas stood up for Paul and Paul was accepted.

By the way, in that same chapter we are told that a group called the Hellenists plotted Paul's murder. They were people who did not approved of Paul's conversion! When Paul's friends learned of the plot, they got him out of town, took him to Caesarea, and then shipped him off to Tarsus. The writer of the Book of Acts then wrote [in verse 31], “Things calmed down after that and all over the country—Judea, Samaria, Galilee—the church grew. It was permeated with a deep sense of reverence for God. The Holy Spirit was with them, strengthening them. Peter was a fisherman by trade. He followed Jesus. He was impetuous. But he became the leader of the Jerusalem church, yet he was criticized because he went out to meet with the Gentiles in a Roman city. Peter's response to them was that he had a vision. And, perhaps, Peter reminded them that Paul, a fellow Jew, in fact, a Pharisee, was now a Christ-follower also.

Peter told his critics that he remembered Jesus' words: “John baptized with water; you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' So Peter asked his critics, "If God gave the same exact gift to them as to us when we believed in the Master Jesus Christ, how could I object to God?" The immediate struggle, which is the center of this narrative, is the revulsion that the Jewish people had because of their dietary laws – of those people who are any foods - between what was profane, that is, unclean and what was clean food.

These laws were laid out centuries before. But, Peter realized, the time for those laws was ended. The key word in that narrative was revulsion. In reflection, I have to ask myself, what is repulsive to me? What do I see as unclean? Most importantly, who am I tempted to view as disgusting? What kind of people might repulse me? What kinds of actions of individuals do I have an aversion to? At the very least, whom do I not find attractive?

I think that these feelings are common to all people - at least with the people I checked with before I gave this sermon. They agreed that just because we are human we do find that certain people and particular situations are repulsive. Or, at the very least, we do not find attracts us. When I did my studies and work in chaplaincy I saw situations where the medical staff could easily turn away from, yet, because they promised to help their patients, they responded with care and compassion.

So, whoever we might look upon with loathing, we have to come back to what Peter told his critics who did not appreciate his mixing with people they felt were disgusting people who ate food which Pharisees did not eat. Like Peter, we have to realize that the Holy Spirit of God is working in the Spirit's own unique way, to bring them to God. We have to recognize that the same Holy Spirit of God also works in our own lives. We need to appreciate how God's working in us is often surprising.

I have to ask myself, if I were in that room with Peter when he returned from Jerusalem, would I be one of his critics? Would I be one of those who said that because I observe the law, they should also? Would I accuse Peter of betraying our Jesus because Peter went into the homes of those people who eat food which even make us nauseous? Or would I be on the side of Peter -- and make a reasoned break with prior thinking?

A theologian, Lewis Midge, said that “An important lesson to be learned . . . is that, while conversion changes the convert, the convert also brings a new perspective to the message." Once we bring out into the clarity of our minds the type of person, or the type of act, that we find repulsive; or whom we find does not, somehow, belong in church, then we have to examine our own worldview — our own paradigm.

Imagine who Peter was the year before he became an apostle. He was a fisherman. A true Israelite. A person, who, as he himself said, perhaps with a great deal of pride, “By no means, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” Then look at Peter one year after Jesus died, and how the teaching words of Jesus bore into his very being, -- how the Holy Spirit was at work within Peter, -- so that Peter asked an extremely telling question of his critics: "Who was I that I could hinder God?" This essential question is one that I must always ask myself when interacting with others: Who am I that I could hinder God?

Let's look to the words of Jesus himself. The Gospel passage today is from John's Gospel, Chapter 13, the first narrative of which tells us that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. After Judas left, while Jesus was still in the room with his disciples, Jesus gave us a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples — when they see the love you have for each other.'

Peter recalled those words of Jesus – how else could we explain how Peter's worldview changed? Paul, upon hearing those same words taught by Jesus, wrote to the new church in Corinth, in 2 Corinthians 5:14-17: "For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation."

When he wrote that, Paul was acutely aware that in every age there is a resistance to new things, new ideas, and new ways. In 1 Thessalonians Paul wrote, “ . . . test everything.” Theologically and spiritually there is the unending sameness to God the Father, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit. There is an eternal changeless element. But culture and society change. What occurred in chapters 9, 10 and 11 in the Book of Acts shows that the underlying changeless element of what Christ taught remains eternal – it is everlasting. What changes is the fluff, the feathers that blow in the wind, the non-Gospel chaff.

When Jesus gave us his new command "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another," he gave us a command, which is eternal and unchanging. It is because of his command that slavery was abolished, and women are ministers, and the moral code is easier to identify. There are current societal revulsions that are in the process of change.

The test is Jesus' test: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’" Once Peter, while under the influence of the Holy Spirit, understood that simple food became a major separation between people, then he realized that notions of clean versus profane or unclean food had to be abolished.

I want to quote Lewis Mudge one more time. He said: “ . . . the changeless elements [of Christianity] are speaking the name of Jesus, bearing witness to his resurrection, and acknowledging the transforming power of the Holy Spirit." We see these unchanging elements in the words of the Lord’s Prayer and in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.

AMEN.