Christian DNA

      I think we are all aware by now that the original ‘plan’ was that Jesus came only to the children of Israel, the Jewish community. Jesus was Jewish after all. Of course Jesus’ life attests to much more than that. He spoke to low class Jews (Samaritans), women, sinners, the Roman Centurion and so many others that were outcasts.  It was after Jesus death, with Paul's influence, that formally opened The Way to all others, gentiles and the entire world. 

          As the word spread to whomever the ‘other’ was, there was the immediate need to address the in-your-face reasons why those others should not be converted. The Jews were generally scrupulous about rules, who did and who did not. Face it, there is always a reason why  a ‘they’ are omitted. There is one justification or another. This has been so throughout human history.  There has always been a reason ‘they’ are incapable of self determination, that ‘they’ don’t have souls, that ‘they’ are uneducated barbarians or whatever. 

        Some rationalizations seem so reasonable and the reasons are so insidious that we easily accept it as gospel truth from God. 

        Today’s passage is yet another nail in the coffin of our own erroneous religious fervor. In truth, if we call ourselves Christian, our desire is to emulate the life of Jesus Christ. We will therefore always be on the side of the outcast; we will always be a welcoming smile, hand and shoulder to those viewed as outcasts. Hell, Hebrew scripture is abundantly clear that we are to be welcoming, loving and accepting of immigrants and foreigners. Acceptance and welcoming should be in our Christian DNA. Perhaps that is even redundant. 

        I’m not so sure rules and rubrics or lack of understanding of the ‘other’ is a reason to marginalize or say someone (or whole peoples) are not worthy ( or are even incapable ). It takes a keen eye, an open mind and a loving heart to know the difference between man made rules and God’s true wishes. Whoa are they that masquerade their own justifications and fears as the will of God.  In God’s eyes we are all equal, everyone, no exceptions. It is no challenge, it is a calling as Christians, nay, as humans, to embrace everyone as equally called, equally loved brothers and sisters. Remember, God loves you at least as much as God loves the bloke next to you.

Acts 11:1

Now the apostles and the believerswho were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believerscriticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 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?’ When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’