In this post-modern world--a world where we no longer
believe that human civilization is continually improving--we find that people
of good will and a strong faith in Jesus Christ do not agree on how social
issues should be addressed. How can this
be? Shouldn't we be able to consult the Word of God and all come down at the
same place? Apparently not.
And we shouldn't be surprised at this state of affairs
either. Our reading from the Book of
Acts about Peter's vision in the city of Joppa deals with the conflict between
certain religious practices and a different way of looking at scripture and
tradition.
This is a small portion of the Jewish dietary laws from the
11th chapter of Leviticus: "Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying
to them, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying, "These are the animals
which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: Among the
animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud;
that you may eat. Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew
the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud
but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the rock hyrax, because it
chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the hare,
because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you;
and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not
chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their
carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.'"
The dietary laws of Leviticus and the Jewish tradition of
not sharing a meal with Gentiles who did not have to observe such laws put
Peter's belief that he was to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all
people under great tension. How far did
Christians who came from the Jewish faith have to go from their usual practices
in order to accommodate Gentiles?
At the time depicted in our reading from the Book of Acts
Peter believes his encounter with God in the vision of the sheet with
"unclean animals" was leading him to set Christ against the religious
and cultural norms of the Judaism. Being a faithful Christian meant acting in a
way that would bring a person into conflict with certain cultural
practices. Christians would be acting in
a way that set themselves apart--which meant they, like Jesus, might expose
themselves to the wrath of those with power.
We are no longer living in the world of first century
Palestine controlled by the Roman Empire.
We are not breaking away from mainstream Judaism to practice our faith
in Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God.
Yet, concern about cultural norms and our response to them as people of
faith continues to this day
If any of us today is asked to describe the culture in which
we live, we may well come up with as many different answers as there are people
in this room. However, the question
remains: how will we practice our faith in the world--in the community--in the
family--where we live? I believe our
readings today are directing us not to "circle the wagons." There may be something "new" to
which God may be guiding us.
Even more than today, people in the first century disliked
change. Tradition had great value; something new could not be trusted. Yet
Peter insisted he now finally understood what God wanted. Here is what he said: "The Spirit told
me to go with them [the Gentiles from Caesarea] and not to make a distinction
between them and us . . . And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them
[the Gentile household which Peter had entered] just as it had on us at the
beginning . . . 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?"
All these were part of Peter's understanding about this new
approach: an unexpected vision, listening to God's leading through the power of
the Holy Spirit, and not rejecting the request of people he might have
dismissed as outside God's blessing.
Peter's example enacts what Jesus taught the disciples after Judas had
left the last supper: "Just as I have loved you, so you should love one
another."
Jesus called this the "new commandment," because
it created a community based—not primarily on holiness, but on agape—a love
that empties us of selfishness and propels us into community where we can be
free to accept even those folks who may be quite different from us. How might we
put Peter's example into practice today? When we should no longer make a distinction
between “them” and “us”? And to whom can we offer in unselfish love in order to
build a stronger community among us? Let
us ponder these questions as we consider how we—as followers of Jesus Christ—should
respond to the cultures (both local and world-wide) in which we live.
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