Throughout the book of Acts, if you read it through and I highly recommend it—it’s a great read—you will see some themes and messages being carried through and repeated articulated, some that were also present in Luke’s gospel.
The one that we read about today is the one that is probably most prominent, it begins right away at in the story at Pentecost (which is in a couple weeks, and we will look at more closely then), it is the one I think we celebrate the most for ourselves, but it is also the one that is hardest to live into and accept for others. The love of God gives a sacredness, a worth to our lives. In Jesus you are clean, you are holy, you are enough. Your life is sacred. And your worth is determined by your existence, not your existence dependent upon your worth. That is Jesus’ message for you. A wholly precious message. And that is Jesus’ message for all. In Acts, the story goes like this... Peter is hard at work spreading the Good News of Jesus and his Kingdom come to earth. He is preaching, and performing miracles—he even raises the dead (which was a hazard of preaching too late in the evening and one of his listeners falling asleep in an open window well). Peter, and all the apostles, until about our story today, has done this in exclusively Jewish crowds. But something happens one day that will start to change that. The Holy Spirit starts working outside the approved circle. One day, this Italian centurion named Cornelius, over in Caesarea, has a Spirit inspired dream to call for Peter, whom he does not know yet. In his dream he’s told that his prayers and alms are well received, and that he should go find this guy named Simon, who happens to be saying at the home of another guy named Simon, by the seaside in Joppa. Well, he does. He sends some slaves and a soldier of his to find Simon, staying with Simon who is a tanner, in the city of Joppa in a house by the sea. (Wouldn’t an address be nice?) So while the Holy Spirit is working on this God-fearing Gentile, as his cohort approaches, Peter is on a rooftop praying. He’s also been fasting. And he is REALLY hungry. But lunch wasn’t ready yet, so while he was waiting he was praying. And then he fell into a trance. And he has this crazy vision of all these animals on a sheet—birds and reptiles, four legged animals—which he’s told to go butcher and eat. And his response is something like, “no thanks God, I don’t have a taste for iguana!” He says, no, I know those are unclean (not supposed to be eaten by Jews) and I’ve never been one to break the dietary laws. But in his vision God answers him “don’t call unclean what I have made clean.” This whole thing happens three times. Now, Peter is super puzzled by this but here’s what’s happening: God is at work in new places, naming new people clean, and expanding Jesus’ kingdom in places and ways (in people) that Jesus’ followers haven’t even gotten to yet. At this point, the followers of Jesus are still not really associating with non-Jewish people. Most of them are still keeping all the dietary laws, they don’t go over to the gentile’s houses to eat, because of that. They don’t share a table, they keep their distance. St. Paul is going to really change all that in the next couple of chapters, but here we see the God pushing Peter to start that expansion. So the story finishes with Peter going to see Cornelius and the Holy Spirit confirming her presence on Cornelius and his gentile comrades. And they are baptized into the body of Christ. I like reading the book of Acts right now because it challenges me to see church in a different light. In Acts, the Holy Spirit is on the loose in the world and it’s kinda like the church is just trying to keep up. We see that The Holy Spirit makes clean whatever, or whomever, she chooses. In this story, God is working outside of the normal, established, expected bounds, to bring God’s kingdom about. That is exactly how God continues to work today. Our baptisms are the action of God making you clean, adopting you into Jesus’ mission and his body in the world. Jesus lived the life that brought new life and expansive love everywhere he went, in the name of God’s love for the world. When Jesus healed, forgave, pardoned sinners, he declared them as they already were in God’s eyes: clean, holy, enough. The gospel, the good news, that Jesus’ brought was an inclusive and all-encompassing love. That love included equity and justice for the world. But when that kind of love challenged status quo, when it not only liberated the downtrodden from their burdens, but also started to unburden the powerful of their might, it led to Jesus’ death on a cross. It was Jesus’ love for the world—the whole world, that led him to ceaselessly bring the Good News in the face of opposition and violence. It is God’s love for you and for the world that kept that death from being the end. Christ is Risen, and his kingdom remains. Christ is Risen, and his body, his church, continues his message of love. Our baptisms mark us as furtherers of Jesus’ kingdom and mission. Jesus’ love gives a sacredness, a worth to our lives. In Jesus you are clean, you are holy, you are enough. Your life is sacred. And your worth is determined by your existence, not your existence dependent upon your worth. Sometimes that’s the most powerful thing a person can hear. “I see you. You matter.” Interact moment: leave a comment “You are here, you matter to God”, or if you need to hear that for yourself today, “I am here, I matter to God”. Our baptism into the body of Christ, into his mission and kingdom, charges and empowers us to reach out to share that message with all. In all we do, in each little action and in the bigger systems we create, can we live into and create that kingdom and world. That message is Good News. It is good news to us who need to hear of our worth. And it is Good News to us who need to set aside our own inflated sense of worth in order to create more equity or justice for someone else. As I said earlier, the particular articulation of the gospel today is one it is the one I think we celebrate the most for ourselves, but it is also the one that is hardest to live into and accept for others. We somehow think that love and value are things that have finite supply. Somehow if someone receives a fresh supply of value, we lose some of ours. This is most certainly not true. God’s love comes in absolute unfathomable abundance. And the Holy Spirit is at work all around us, in this expanding little corner of the world, working in people’s lives, helping us create a world where Jesus’ kingdom of love rules. Where every child is valued and given what they need to succeed. Where every adult is honored for who they are, not what they can contribute. Where systems are just and peace prevails. God is out there creating that world in people. Sometimes through the church, sometimes outside of it. Where do we see that action of the Holy Spirit taking place? Where can we find ways of echoing that message? Where can we join and participate, as witnesses or as speakers of, pointers-to, the Holy Spirit’s work at-large? These questions are ones we will keep asking ourselves as church, and as individuals. In our Gospel, Jesus tells us of the kind of love he anticipates for people who are his followers. He commands his followers to love one another. That’s a love that is for you, and others who look and act, and gather and love, like you. And it is a love that is for those who think, act, love, worship, vote, and look differently from you. Peter accepted the value of Cornelius and his people—people even the law said to avoid—and looked at them as fellow siblings and partners in Christ. Hear that message for you today: God’s love is for you. You are valued, loved, and worth so much. You matter. Now, tell that message to your neighbor. To all, but more powerfully and specifically the one who needs to hear it, right now today. Jesus’ love is for you, and you are accepted as you are, even among us. Amen? Go tell ‘em! Christ be with you! Comments are closed.
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AuthorRev. Chris Sesvold is currently the pastor at Halfway Creek Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Holmen, WI. Archives
October 2021
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