Sixth Sunday of Easter - Hearts Burning Within

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for the Easter Season

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

Today’s story is about Cornelius, a Roman centurion who presented the early church with its first challenge. The characters in today’s story go into the experience convinced of a certain way of acting, sure that their Jewish identity and beliefs comprise the way of expressing faith in Christ. They assume that’s the way things will always be.

God challenges this notion with a vision of a different way. The Spirit comes upon Cornelius just as it had come upon them, but Cornelius is not a Jew and does not observe Jewish laws and customs. How will they react? How do we react when we find the Spirit working in a way that doesn’t conform to our notions of what Christianity is supposed to be?

10:1-11:18 is a relatively long account of this crisis in the church. Throughout his gospel, Luke has already well established that God always intended to include the Gentiles. The space he gives to this story shows the process of human decision-making and the church trying to catch up to God’s initiative. This often happens when the Spirit is at work in the church! The lectionary reading is chopped up to give us a sense of the important elements, but it’s worth reading the entirety of the passage.

I think one very important thing to take away from this story is the role of Peter as an evangelist. Cornelius was already seeking God and God was already communicating directly with him. By the time Peter comes on the scene, his is a role of clarifying and giving language and honoring the work that’s already happening. Did Peter “convert” Cornelius? Many commentators will use that language. But I think it depends on what you mean by “convert” and whether you assume that conversion is something “done” to another.

The opening verses of chapter 10 tell us that Cornelius wasn’t a Jewish convert. If he had been, then Peter would have had no problem eating with him. He’s not Jewish but he is devout in his own way. Verse 3 sets the action at 3:00 in the afternoon, a traditional time of prayer for Jews.

So Cornelius is praying and God appears to him in a vision telling him that his prayers have been heard and heeded. Cornelius would not have been able to enter the temple for the Jewish prayers but that does not seem to matter to God!

The next day, Peter is praying around noon, another traditional time of prayer, and he, too, has a vision. It seems to be fueled by his physical hunger and he sees an array of good things to eat. The problem is that there are some forbidden (unclean) things and these would have contaminated everything. Levitcus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 spell out clean and unclean animals.

God tells Peter to eat and Peter seems to interpret it as a moral test. Peter declares that he knows the law and he knows he is forbidden to eat, thank you very much. But then God does something unexpected: he tells Peter to eat anyway because God has made it all clean. We don’t get Peter’s response but v16 tells us this happened three times, a number indicating perfection in the Bible.

As Peter is reeling from the vision, Cornelius’ (Gentile) messengers show up and ask to see Peter. The Spirit tells Peter he is to go with these men. Verse 23 is a watershed moment for Peter: he invites them in and offers them hospitality, which, in his culture, meant eating with them.

It’s hard to overstate what a crucial moment this is. A Jew simply did not eat with a Gentile. Think about some things you simply will not do – a boundary beyond which you will not pass. And imagine that boundary is established through intense prayer and discernment – it seems to be what God is asking, demanding of you. Now God invites you to cross the boundary. It’s a conundrum. What do you do?

In verse 25, Peter arrives and Cornelius “pays him homage,” a key word for Luke/Acts. Peter quickly sets him straight, and then in v28, he reminds them that for him to associate with them makes him unclean. But then he shares the vision he received and asks for their side of the story. Cornelius relates how he was visited by God with essentially the same message.

This seems to clench things for Peter and, in v34, he launches into a sermon recounting the story of Jesus. In v44 the Holy Spirit visibly comes upon the Gentiles which astounds the other believers. This evidence causes Peter to invite the Gentiles to receive baptism.

One of the things that interests me most about this story is how God’s will is accomplished in the world. We often think that God has a concrete plan and we have to figure out and follow that plan. This story makes me wonder though. Early in the church, God made it clear to the church leadership that Gentiles were to be an integral part of the community. It’s not until Paul comes along that the mission is actively extended to the Gentiles. And we saw last week how that same church leadership initially responded to Paul. In Galatians 2:11-13, Paul will openly criticize Peter for later refusing to eat with Gentiles.

I have often wondered if, perhaps, God initially envisioned the Gentile mission originating with Peter. God invited Peter into a work but Peter seems not to have embraced it. God then invited Paul into that same work and we know that Paul embraced it zealously. What would our church have looked like if Peter had been the spearhead for the Gentile mission? The key takeaway for me in these musings is that God always accomplishes her plans, one way or another. If God invites us into a particular area of work, we are free to reject that invitation. But our rejection does not stop God’s work.

Think about the boundaries of inclusion you have. This is something that requires asking God the grace to open your eyes because we’re not typically aware of our own biases and the ways in which we unconsciously exclude people.

Can you ask God to show you areas where God is inviting you into a new work that you might be unconsciously rejecting?

1 John 4:7-10

Background of the book

The larger context for this passage runs from v7-21. We could summarize this whole passage quite easily: God is love. And when we think of what love is, we have to remember last week’s passage: love is not just words; love is expressed in concrete action.

V7 exhorts us to love one another. In this letter, there has been a sharp distinction between the “in group” and the “out group.” However, coming on the heels of the story in Acts, I would encourage us to expand our notion of “one another,” to widen the circle of who we are willing to love.

V8 reminds us that we can’t know God unless we love others because God’s very essence is love. We must be willing to love in order to know Love. And v9 reminds us yet again that love is never just words. Love is concrete action and the supreme demonstration of love is God giving God’s very self so that we might love God.

V10 presents us with an interesting image that feels a bit out of place: this idea of Christ’s death being “expiation” for our sins. This word is used only twice in the New Testament: here and in Romans 3:25, and there are different ways of translating it:

Propitiation: appeasing a god
Expiation or atonement: making amends for guilt

In extra-Biblical literature, the word is often used of a priest making a sacrifice to a pagan idol, to appease the god’s wrath. The use of this word particularly in Romans led Christians to develop the idea of Christ’s death as an appeasement of God’s wrath over sin. There is a great deal of theological language that we could put around this which is outside the scope of this commentary. What I will say about it is that it traces back, like many things, to our image of God. Do we have an image of an angry God whose wrath must be appeased somehow? A God angry enough to kill his own Son in return for forgiveness? Or is our image of God as one who embodies a self-giving, self-sacrificing love?

What concrete expressions of love is God inviting you into?

John 15:9-17

Background of the book

Today’s passage continues last week’s reflection on Jesus as the vine in which we are rooted.

Verse 10 reminds us (yet again in case you missed it!): love is more than words; love is concrete action. How do we remain in Christ and stay attached to the vine? Keep God’s commandments. Verse 11 supplies the reason for keeping God’s commandment to love: that our JOY may be full (the Greek word plethora). Loving is intimately connected with JOY. Verse 12 clarifies the commandment he is talking about which is nothing other than to love others as God loves us.

Verse 15 makes the startling declaration that we are God’s friends. Servants and slaves do nothing more than follow rules. Friend relationships are something altogether different – there is a mutuality that doesn’t exist with servants. God is continually inviting us into a much deeper relationship with greater rights as well as responsibilities.

Verse 16 echoes a theme from last week: that we can ask God anything and expect to receive it, but it is only in the context of love that this is true.

In what ways can you imagine yourself as God’s friend rather than a slave or servant?

Connections

One theme that stands out for me is the boundaries of who we love. Jesus loved everyone. We are often a lot more choosy. I am often a lot more choosy! Too often I am like the Jerusalem community who views some with suspicion (and perhaps with good reason!). These passages remind me that God calls me to love the other as God loves me.

Questions to ponder