An Open Door

PROPERS: 6 EASTER, YEAR B

TEXT:       ACTS 10:44-48

PREACHED AT THE 8:00 AM SERVICE AT RESURRECTION, STARKVILLE, ON SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2024 (The 10:30 service was Youth Sunday)

 

ONE SENTENCE:        Regardless of our pride and territoriality, the Kingdom of God is open to all people.

 

            There is a joke that comes in various versions that has St. Peter escorting a newcomer around the streets of heaven.  He comes to a sizeable mansion and asks the newcomer to be very quiet.  The newcomer asks why.  And St. Peter responds, “That’s the Baptists (or you can say Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, etc.) and they think they are the only ones here.”

 

            That joke is funny, but it contains a lot of truth.  A lot of churches think they have a corner on the truth.

 

            I remember when I was rector here, we placed an ad in the Starkville Daily News.  It was an ad that had been developed nationally and was thought-provoking.  It emphasized the human aspect of Jesus, keeping in mind that we profess belief in a fully human and fully divine Jesus.

 

            The ad was summarized with this line: “Don’t worry about your doubts. Jesus had them, too.”

 

            It set off a firestorm in a local church.  The pastor preached a series of sermons of how we were wrong and maybe even heretical.  I was mentioned by name in the sermons.

 

            Clearly, he was of the opinion that we were not of the heavenly bunch.

 

+ + + 

 

            It’s nothing new.  The controversy about who’s in and who’s out goes back to at least the early church… and maybe even before among the Jewish community.

 

            We really don’t see much of it in the lessons, but the first lesson – from Acts – is the heart of it.

 

            Peter had been asleep on a rooftop in Joppa – a community north of modern-day Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean Coast.  He had a dream or a vision which featured a sheet being lowered from heaven. On the sheet were various animals, reptiles and birds, clean and unclean. A voice told Peter, “Get up, Peter.  Kill and eat.”

 

            But Peter being a faithful and observant Jew declined to eat the unclean animals. “Lord, never.” The voice from heaven responded, “What God has made clean you must not call profane.”

 

            Shortly, Peter was called to the house of the Cornelius the centurion.  Cornelius wanted him and his whole household to be baptized.  But there was a problem – a problem not previously encountered.  They were pagans, and not Jews. They had none of the marks or rituals of being Jewish. The leaders of the church in Jerusalem would object.

 

            Peter reflected on his dream. “What God has made clean you must not call profane.”  He baptized Cornelius and his household.  They broke the barrier; they became the first non-Jewish Christians.

 

            Even though it was clear to Peter at that point, it was not resolved. Adhering to the Jewish Law continued to be an obstacle for a time. It was not until later – a council in Jerusalem described in Acts 15 – that the matter reached some resolution.

 

            No doubt, other controversies would follow. But Peter’s words speak to us this day: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.”

 

            Wrap your minds around that. No partiality. Between you and me.  The person you dislike the most. The stranger on the street. Your Ole Miss cousin. The homeless man that wanders University Avenue. Republicans and Democrats. People with your political views and people with the exact opposite.  You and they are accepted.

 

            Keep that in mind the next time someone cuts you off in traffic or breaks in line at Starbucks. Peter’s dream lives today. We are all children of God.