| May 1, 2010 - Fifth of Easter Season - Year C |
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Fifth Sabbath of Easter Season Identification, even when hidden is important. So there is turmoil in early Christianity when Jesus has left. He no longer is there to direct who belongs to the group and who is an outsider. Not that he was into exclusivity; but people still liked an official word on the matter. It was also somehow nice to be part of a group in which some people, like the Pharisees, were not allowed to be important or even really join. The Jews that followed this new way have vivid memories of the passages on what not to eat. On how to be a special people. On how Israel is to be set apart for the Lord. Leviticus 20:22-26 22Obey my laws and teachings. Or else the land I am giving you will become sick of you and throw you out. The nations I am chasing out did these disgusting things, and I hated them for it, so don't follow their example. I am the LORD your God, and I have promised you their land that is rich with milk and honey. I have chosen you to be different from other people. That's why you must make a difference between animals and birds that I have said are clean and unclean --this will keep you from becoming disgusting to me. I am the LORD, the holy God. You have been chosen to be my people, and so you must be holy too.
But here is Peter behaving as if that doesn't matter anymore. He was eating with them. It was making the whole special group thing less special. Being part of a special group is well special. Interestingly, growing up I always got the sense that Adventists (in their specialness) brought up the story from Acts about the unclean animals because they wanted to talk about unclean animals. Though in general there was unease about this story so it was avoided. But when it did come up a person would essentially say, "The unclean animals were used as a symbol in the story. For a symbol to have meaning the original activity or item must be in use. Therefore the original admonishment to not eat unclean animals must still be in effect." So I read the story and gathered the dual meaning that the leaders intended. 1) Don't eat unclean animals. 2) Each person can be a Christian regardless of heritage. (Yes in that order.)
While the second point is actually a good one, I think both actually miss the actual point of the story. Some of you are wondering how I could possibly say that 2 isn't the point. Peter is even saying it is the point. The story goes on to offer proof of how that is the point. (Acts 11:15-18 15After I [Peter] started speaking, the Holy Spirit was given to them, just as the Spirit had been given to us at the beginning. I remembered that the Lord had said, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." God gave those Gentiles the same gift that he gave us when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So how could I have gone against God? What people forget (or perhaps never knew) was that God set apart Israel, chose the disciples, selected the Adventists for love. Not to make them better than other people. Not to make them more perfect than other people. Not because others were incapable of being loved. From John 13:33-35 33My children, I will be with you for a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but you won't find me. I tell you just as I told the people, "You cannot go where I am going." But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples. God set apart Israel as a way to show them that he does, did, will love them. We all need a little special time with our heavenly parent. They wanted rules, needed rules. Though we can find snippets of healthful living in those rules they were not set to make Israel a super healthy nation. I feel empathy for the Israelites wanting rules. Rules provide order, predictability and clarity. God set apart the disciples and the early Christians to show them that he does, did, will love them. They needed clear evidence that they weren't abandoned even though his physical presence had left them. Though we can find bits of information on how spiritual gifts function in the church those examples were not meant to be the only and always needed ways that The Spirit must function in his believers. I feel empathy for the early Christians wanting to have a physical manifestation of their selection. It is reassuring to know that you have God standing behind what you do. God set apart the Seventh-day Adventist church to show them that he does, did, will love them. We needed a clear reminder that God's word is actively relevant and truthful. Though we can find crumbs of truthfulness in the Advent message the present truth was not meant to be the immovable, concrete truth. I am part of the Seventh-day Adventist movement and have a need to see God at work today so that I know that 2000 years after his death, people are still relevant. All of these things are ways that God shows he loves us. They are not the end of everything or even universally useful. What I find comfort in--rules, physical presence, active truth--may not be of any comfort to other people. I commented to Fritz a week ago that I hate the phrase, "Fall in love." What a ridiculous idea. I choose to love, there is no accident about it. Sometimes I don't choose to and regret it later. But really it is a choice to love. God gives us the possibility to find a reason to choose to love him. And others. I don't like the word love. The sound of the word not the meaning. It just isn't as fun to say as autocatalytic or as fun to spell as xylene. But the meaning is important to me. Choose to mean love don't choose use love. God chooses to love us. We are loved in a way that we will understand. There is also a way for us to misinterpret, malign that love. We can choose to find other people as unlovable. We can choose to find what they find comforting as something we don't like. But God let the Israelites have their rules (and their kings). God let the early church have fire. God let the SDA church have Ellen White. Why can't we choose to find love in all of those events instead of division? Choose to love him the way he chooses to love us. He loves without boundaries. But some of you complain still. Love is hard to pick out and define. How can I identify those I shouldn't love or at least how can I identify those I should consider as part of MY group. That is perhaps why Jesus chose to say you will know by love. It isn't easy like fire. It doesn't have a check list like rules. Others of you think you know how to pick out love. But Jesus threw people out of the temple because of love. Love involves being connected to other people, interacting. To feel hurt if they hurt or joy if they have joy. That is how Jesus asks us to identify believers, to love people first (okay technically second, but don't quibble with me). So Peter and his sheet of unclean animals wasn't pointing out just who Peter was supposed to love and how. It is a reminder that God continually loves us all and we shouldn't keep narrowing that group, we should continually broaden it. Jesus was most mad at the people that were exclusive. Not those that were breaking the rules. He asked people to follow him and show love. Not to form a new exclusive club. He was a dynamic person, adapting to the situation--healing, gathering on the Sabbath. Not following laws without love. My great grandmother Carol was married and divorced, married and divorced and married yet again. Once, when my mom was visiting her, Carol muttered under her breath, "I could have been as happy with any of the three." We should be happy enough with any of the messages God has provided to us. God gives us choices to let us figure out this whole love thing. But really it comes down to our choice in love no matter how many ways God presents his message. Do you choose love? We can talk about the endless smaller messages--that are relevant and important--but we should always see and choose the larger message of love. |
