Acts of the Apostles 11:1-18
Have you ever told a story in such a way that it seemed clearer, more straight forward, than it actually was?
I have.
I once tried to summarise the plot of Hamlet for teenagers.
I did it. I was concise. And I was quite proud of myself.
The teenagers weren’t impressed.
But the thing was, even though the plot I’d related was accurate, I’d missed out a whole lot of the conflict that drove it. I’d explained what Hamlet did but not why. I’d made it neat and straight forward and easy but in doing so I’d missed out “To be or not to be”, I’d missed out Yorrick’s skull and I’d missed out the thoughts and feelings of the characters that make my favourite play what it is.
I’d given the bones but not enough of the meat.
When I read the book The Acts of the Apostles, I feel the same way sometimes. The story we get is of a group of people who, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, go out, get organised, start a religion and, for the most part, are all in agreement and understanding with one another. When disagreements do crop up they are smoothed away by the wisdom and articulate preaching of either Peter or Paul, and we don’t often get a lot of information about the background of the problems and the people, the reasons why they’re important. Plenty of bones but not enough meat.
And it’s a little too neat. It’s just begging to be delved into and dissected. Just like Hamlet really.
The little conflict we are given today is the issue of circumcised men eating with uncircumcised men (not as much of an issue today as it was back then) but it is hardly even put forth as a problem at all. Some of the other leaders are narky at Peter and so Peter gives a short speech, 14 verses, in which he explains that he had a vision in which God told him it was ok not to stick to the old Jewish dietary regulations anymore, followed by the appearance of three strangers who escorted him to a Gentile’s house to whom he preached the word of God. Upon seeing that they too were now filled by the Holy Spirit, Peter realised that salvation through Jesus is open to everyone, not just the Jews, therefore eating with uncircumcised men is no longer an issue. And the other church leaders say, “Ok. Good, glad we got that sorted out. Right, onwards and upwards.”
Now I’m pretty sure it wasn’t as simple as all that. I’m pretty sure that Peter’s words, his short though enticing explanation, would not have won over everyone. We only have to look at Paul’s letters to see that the issue of clean and unclean foods and who you were allowed to eat with and interact with - who was in and who was out - was a topic of great concern and contention. Paul writes about it time and again, often in frustrated tones, because the communities he’s writing to just don’t seem to get it.
So what was the problem?
Well, for the Jewish people being circumcised was a way of defining themselves and their community as different. The food laws served the same purpose. There were set apart, God’s chosen people, waiting for God’s salvation. And it came, in the form of Jesus Christ, and for those who realised this it was amazing and exciting and life altering, but it didn’t stop them being Jewish. They didn’t want it to. Jesus was their Messiah, their anointed one, and the good news was for them. Wasn’t it?
They had spent, as a people, hundreds and hundreds of years identifying themselves against others, by how they were different and now one of their leaders was doing the unthinkable and telling them it was now time to define themselves by what they had in common with other people.
Ok, Jesus might have shared meals with some rather unsavory characters but surely they weren’t expected to do the same?
Eat with Gentiles? Eat the same food as Gentiles?
But that would make them almost the same as Gentiles!
And Peter explains that once, he was the same. Once the thought of sharing a ham sandwich with a bloke from another ethnic and cultural background would have turned his stomach. Until God showed him that: it’s not about what we eat or where we’re from or the particular quirks of our society against theirs. It’s about God, being God’s children. It’s about knowing that through the life and love of Jesus Christ we can live better, fuller lives. And part of our duty as followers of Christ is to spread the good news that God loves us with all people, regardless of where they come from, or who we think they are.
When Peter says that he remembered Jesus saying that John baptised with water but that he would baptise with the Holy Spirit, he’s remembering more than a quote. Baptism was an old Jewish tradition. It was an act of repentance, a symbolic washing off of sin to make one clean and ready in the sight of God. And so, in the lead up to Jesus’ ministry, John had baptised the people, making them ready for what was to come. And when he did that he did it for the Jewish people, as a Jewish person. And that was important. But Jesus baptised people with the Holy Spirit - wind and fire and courage and faith - and he did it for all people, and he did it as the resurrected son of God.
And I’m sure that there were plenty of Peter’s followers, colleagues and companions who heard his words and said, “Ok, when you put it like that, I am convinced. Eating with the uncircumcised, I’m sure I can get used to that.”
But I’m also sure that there were plenty of people who walked out of that meeting with Peter and immediately forgot what he said, or didn’t see it’s relevance, or just plain didn’t want to accept this new world view. I’m sure of it because, as I mentioned earlier, Paul’s letters are full of his own struggles to help people understand that God’s salvation is not reserved for just a few or locked away behind rules or regulations. In the letter to the Galatians, a particularly fiery letter by Paul and one of my favourites, he stresses this point by telling us that there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free, because in Christ we are one.
There is another reason why I’m sure that not everyone walked away from that meeting convinced by Peter’s words. And that’s because we still do the same thing today. We still define ourselves by our differences against other people. The story is not as clean or simple as Luke, the author of Acts would have us believe. We didn’t all get the message back then and hold to it.
How many times have we heard the story of Peter’s vision?
How many times have we heard that story and not realised that it’s about more than all animals being clean and good to eat?
It’s about people too. God is telling Peter, and us, that there are not greaters or lessers among people. We are all God’s children, created in the same image, saved by the same act, worth the same.
How many times have you heard the words of our Gospel today? How many times have you heard the commandment: “Love your neighbour as yourself”?
How many times have you conveniently forgotten that command when to follow it seemed too difficult, frightening or unpalatable?
I have.
And I’m not proud to admit that.
I, for example, disagree with this country’s policies regarding the treatment and processing of refugees and those who come to this country by boat. But too often I have turned away from the situation because it seemed hard and scary to try and do anything. When people tried to tell me that “boat people” are not worthy of this country’s mercy and compassion I should have recited to them Peter’s vision. Instead I’ve said nothing.
And I wonder what would have happened if, instead of explaining his actions and getting through to at least some of his companions, Peter had said nothing. Would people have gone on believing that segregation and superiority were necessary for salvation? Would people have interpreted Jesus’ command as an instruction just to love our immediate neighbours and those like us? Would the gospel have ever reached our ancestors? Or us?
I’ve been warned about getting political in sermons but Peter’s message is political. We can’t treat people as if they don’t matter, like they are unclean food, just because they are different to us and different is scary. Especially not when they’ve come to us for help and need saving.
I know the situation is far from simple or clear.
When is it ever?
Well, when God tells us there’s no clean or unclean, that the Holy Spirit comes to all who believe, that we are all one in Christ, and that we should love our neighbours as we love ourselves, that’s pretty clear.
When people are suffering, suffering to the point of taking their own lives, and we as a nation and a people can change that by treating them as our equals and our neighbours, that’s starting to look simple and clear too.
Not easy, mind. And this issue is just one of so many that the words of our reading and our gospel could be applied to today. It’s not easy.
It wasn’t easy for Peter, or Paul, or Jesus. But that shouldn’t deter us.
We might think that by doing nothing our lives will be better and neater but really, it’s all the other stuff, the messy stuff, that makes our lives what they are. That’s how we glorify God, and learn, and teach, and love.
Like a good play.
It’s the meat of the story.
God’s story, and ours.
Amen.
