i'm catching up a bit...this is a sermon i preached back in may with acts 10 and john 15 as the main texts.
acts 10:44-48
44while peter was still speaking, the holy spirit
fell upon all who heard the word. 45the circumcised believers who
had come with peter were astounded that the gift of the holy spirit had been
poured out even on the gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in
tongues and extolling god. then peter said, 47“can anyone withhold
the water for baptizing these people who have received the holy spirit just as
we have?” 48so he ordered them to be baptized in the name of jesus christ. then they invited him to stay for several days.
john 15:9-17
9as the father has loved me, so i have loved you;
abide in my love. 10if you keep my commandments, you will abide in
my love, just as i have kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11i have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be complete. 12“this is my commandment, that you love one
another as i have loved you. 13no one has greater love than this, to
lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14you are my friends if you
do what i command you. 15i do not call you servants any longer,
because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but i have called
you friends, because i have made known to you everything that I have heard from
my father. 16you did not choose me but i chose you. and i appointed
you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the father will give
you whatever you ask him in my name. 17i am giving you these
commands so that you may love one another.
today we find peter with cornelius,
a gentile centurion. god has just shown peter that no thing god has made is unclean or wrong. so, peter came, at cornelius’ invitation, to caesarea and
he’s speaking to the gathered crowd about god. this god is one who shows no partiality; who picks no sides,
who declares all things clean. a god who is neither democrat nor republican. and while peter was
still speaking, the holy spirit fell upon all who heard the word.
the truly astounding
thing for the jews present, who were still trying to figure out what “no
partiality” really meant was that the gift of the holy spirit had been poured
out even on the gentiles.
the gentiles!
now,
the gentiles were basically anybody who wasn’t jewish. as the church was beginning to take
shape, there was debate about the requirements for being part of the church. since the church grew out
of a jewish movement, the questions were things like: was circumcision necessary
or unnecessary? what was the place
of the law? did everyone have to
follow the law? what food could
they eat? what food was not
allowed? did they have to be jewish first in order to be christian?
the questions still exist today,
but in different ways. while we’ve
figured out most of the early questions about stuff like circumcision, today we
still ask who can be part of the church. what language do you have to speak? who do you have to love? how do you have to love? how much money do you have to make? where do you have to live? how do you have to live? do you have to give money first in
order to be christian?
we still ask with peter: what can
prevent us from being god’s church?
nothing.
god still says: nothing.
absolutely nothing can separate you
from the love of god.
god stepped in with the early
church, and god steps in with us as well.
while peter was still speaking, the holy spirit tumbled down upon all
those who heard.
she didn’t wait
until peter finished, or check if they were circumcised, if they followed the
law, if they were jews. the holy spirit came down on everyone,
even the gentiles!
luckily peter already had his
conversion to a god who shows no partiality and was able to ask the important
question. peter doesn’t always say
the right thing, but this time he did. he didn’t ask them to see if they were the right kind of people, if they
did the right things, if it was the right holy spirit, instead he asked,
“can anyone withhold the water
for baptizing these people who have received the holy spirit just as we
have?”
can anyone withhold the water for baptizing? the holy spirit has come upon them and can anyone even consider withholding water for baptism?
the answer, of course, is no. baptism is a gift of grace, freely
given from a god who shows no partiality, and so peter orders them to be
baptized in the name of jesus christ.
this grace is apparent also in the
reading from john as jesus points out to us, his followers, “you did not choose
me but i chose you.” (v. 16)
grace is a crazy wonderful
thing. we don’t get to choose who
gets god’s grace and who doesn’t, which is probably good, because
then, we might not make the cut
ourselves! jesus chooses. he chooses you and he chooses me and
then we get to ask the question. it’s not “who did jesus choose?” but instead it’s “what did jesus choose
me for?” jesus chooses us to bear good fruit. to love one another as he loves us.
jesus loves us and commands us to
love each other. how simple and
how freeing that is!! christ loves
us into loving each other!
now, don’t get me wrong. love is hard. it took jesus to the cross for us, and especially on mother’s day we can easily recall the difficult love of raising a child, of caring
for children, both ours and those of other folks.
love is work and it means pushing
ourselves, but at its heart, love is freedom. we don’t have to depend on anyone else for it. love comes from god in jesus and jesus
chooses us. he chooses us for love. jesus chooses us even when we wouldn’t choose each other
or ourselves. even when we
struggle to get up in the morning or we look into the mirror and do not choose
ourselves. no matter how unstable
life gets, jesus has chosen us for love.
right now the world is
uncertain. the environment is in
deep need of our care, we’re going to be electing new leaders this year for our
city, our state, and our country. anything
around us can and probably will change: our life, our church, our work, our
community, but no matter what, the truth remains: jesus has chosen us. he has chosen us for love and we are
free to love each other, even when it means something as simple as loving each
person as they walk in the door!
just as the early church struggled
with understanding what it meant to be church and who could and who couldn’t,
we struggle to grasp jesus’ love and grace for us. and so the holy spirit fell upon all those around peter and
the question was
“can anyone withhold the water for
baptizing these people who have received the holy spirit just as we have?”
today jesus tells us “you did not
choose me but i
chose
you.” and he answers our question of “for what?” with “so that you may love one
another.”
amen and thanks be to god.
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