April 28, 2013
That I Could Hinder God
- Acts 11:1-18
- Dr. Teri Thomas
April 28, 2013
Acts 11:1-18
That I Could Hinder God…
There was a great teen movie about eight years ago called Mean Girls. Cady Heron arrives as a new and naïve student to a high school that is run and dominated by an inside clique of girls called “The Plastics.” These girls are the richest, prettiest, and the most popular. Cady and her misfit friends decide that she should infiltrate this group to expose and potentially embarrass their way of life.
But once Cady gets accepted into that inner circle, she starts forgetting that original plan and starts behaving and looking just like the other Plastics. She starts speaking the same language, wearing the same clothes, and to the disillusionment of Cady’s first friends, using the same tactics of exclusion.
She’s become “better” than her first friends; Cady has become a Plastic.
The movie is good, partly because it was written by Tina Fey, but also because it reminds us of how good it feels to belong. It feels so good, in fact, that sometimes the fear of being excluded makes us exclude others. And it is not only in the movies that we let that fear take hold. We all get pretty good at drawing a line, creating a fence, building up barriers so that we can stay on the inside and keep “them” (who ever the them currently is) on the outside.
When we see how easy it is for us to exclude, it’s hard to believe that inclusion has always been part of God’s plan. But it has, and even while countless efforts have been made and continue to be made to hinder that plan, I still believe God’s plan of redemption for this world follows a trajectory of inclusion.
I believe it has always been God’s intention to include. Always.
And today’s scripture tells us of one God’s groundbreaking, pivotal moments of inclusion.
Peter is in hot water, he is called on the carpet by the circumcised saints.
They are standing at the gates of the city, with fire in their eyes and their hands on their hips,
waiting for Peter to arrive.
We can imagine someone looking Peter squarely in the eye and greeting him,
“Buddy, you have a lot of explaining to do!”
The divisions between the Jews and the Gentiles ran deep.
They were reinforced by traditions, by Scripture, and by religious law.
Peter knew that he was breaking the law when he went to the home of Cornelius,
stayed as his guest, and shared meals with the household of Gentiles.
The Jerusalem saints confront Peter,
demanding to hear his reason for breaking the law and offending the faithful.
Peter explained-
it all started with this crazy dream.
Down came this blanket with those creepy, crawling snakes
and vultures and other weird animals on it.
In fact, this blanket came down from heaven three times.
And each time the blanket descended, Peter said, "No, not me!"
Peter's response to God's picnic was not mere squeamishness.
Peter found the menu repulsing.
I am an observant Jew,
I have spent a lifetime trying to remain ritually clean.
Unclean food has never crossed my lips and never will.
But somehow God managed to break through
and Peter heard the command to go to Caesarea
and he entered the house of six brothers
and began to tell them about Jesus
and as he spoke the Spirit came to these men
and Peter could see it was the same spirit that had come to him
it was the same spirit that had come to the other disciples
it was the same spirit they received when Jesus stood among them
it was the spirit of God
that same spirit
and if God was giving that spirit to these Gentiles
who was I, Peter said, that I could hinder God.
This breaks all the rules.
This changes the church as we understand it.
But who am I to hinder God he said.
Jesus had warned him.
Before he was arrested and crucified,
knowing he had little time left to get his message across
knowing he had just moments
to remind them of everything he had spent three years
teaching and preaching and living
These are the words Jesus leaves with his disciples.
He could have said, go out and die with me.
Or, keep the faith.
Or go out and teach and preach.
Or remember the way I did things and never change.
But no, he just said love.
A new commandment I leave with you, he said.
Love one another, as I have loved you.
It is a new commandment because this love is his own radical brand of love:
If you love the way I have loved,
with welcome, respect, forgiveness, sacrifice, honesty, impartiality;
if you love as I have loved you will not hinder God.
The first Christians considered the Gentiles unclean and excluded them. Peter loved as Jesus loved and chose to eat with the Gentiles.
The Christian Church supported the submission of women for centuries. Pope Francis loved as Jesus loved when he ignored church tradition and washed a woman’s feet.
The church used biblical texts to support the slave trade from Africa. Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce loved as Jesus loved when they followed God’s leading and began the battle to stop the sale of human beings.
Loving as Jesus loved will always make us reconsider who is in and who is out.
Loving as Jesus loved will force us to ignore long held traditions,
call us to change laws and legislation,
cause us to break with once accepted policies.
If the church is loving as Jesus loved the world will see it in our actions.
The world will know we are Christian by our actions on immigration reform,
on same sex marriage,
on health care reform,
on education, head start, and charter schools,
in our relationships with Muslims and Jews.
Peter was not trying to break the rules.
He didn’t set out to cause a ruckus.
He never intended to change the accepted teachings of the faith
but God called him to a broader vision of ministry.
Inclusion has always been part of God’s plan, and even while countless efforts have been made and continue to be made to hinder that plan, I still believe God’s plan of redemption for this world follows the path of inclusion.
God said- this is the way I see the church- it will include everyone even those you have been taught to reject. Peter said- Who am I that I could hinder God?
Who am I to hinder God?
Thanks be to God.
Amen.