May 5, 2024
The Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 5, 2024
The Rev. R. Allan McCaslin
Readings: Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; I John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17
From the Acts of the Apostles, “(And all) were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” I speak to you in the Name of God our Creator, risen Redeemer, and Sanctifying Sustainer. Amen.
Have you noticed that throughout these Fifty Days of Easter our scripture lessons seem overly focused on love? Love for God, love for neighbor, love for one another, and love for our own selves. I have to admit that for me, this constant emphasis on love is kind of becoming monotonous. I mean, after all, isn’t Christianity far more than love?
Well, there is more to our faith than love. The Christian way of life is a constant struggle, a constant pruning away of all that hinders our relationship with God and with one another. It is a daily challenge to rethink how we speak and live, how we demonstrate our commitment to God’s ways, God’s values, God’s commands. It is a conscious choice each and every day to live as Jesus lived, even giving our own lives in order to proclaim God’s good news to the world in Christ. But the root, the basis, the heart of God’s good news to the world is Love. And as our Presiding Bishop, the Most Reverend Michael Curry, has said over and again, if what we do and say here isn’t “about love, it’s not about God.” That truth came to mind as I was meditating on today’s scriptures lessons.
See, there are two words in our reading from Acts that stick out to me as if they were neon lights! Those words are “astounded” and “even”. The context here is that some Gentiles had heard Peter preach the good news of God in Christ and were so deeply moved by that good news, they came to believe that Jesus is, indeed, the Christ: the Christ who welcomes all who believe regardless of who or what they are, or from where they come. And Acts tells us that the established Church was “astounded” that God’s Holy Spirit would be given “even” to Gentiles. In other words, the Church had no clue. They had no idea what God was doing and is doing, what God is capable of, or who God is able to reach. And the sad thing is that instead of being open to the infinite possibilities of what God’s love can do in this world to transform whole communities, the Church was closed-minded, thinking that the only way to God is the way they came to God; that their way, our way, is the only right way to even encounter God. So the Church created ways to exclude others.
See, the great theological question for the early Church was this: “Can one follow Jesus without being Jewish or becoming Jewish first?” And that question sums up a struggle that is addressed over and again throughout the New Testament between Jewish and Gentile Christians and that question remains a struggle for the Church still today: who is welcome, and do you have to say and do and pray and worship in the same way that I worship, that we worship.
This wonderful story of the conversion and welcome of Gentiles urges us to imagine being Church, doing Church, differently from what we already are and have. And that sort of imagining has always made the Church uncomfortable. So much so, we will go to great lengths to cling to barriers that prohibit people from coming through these doors or, if we do let them in, bar them from particular ministries. The reality is this reading from the Acts of the Apostles offer us a glimpse into a mirror this morning: A mirror that shows that just as the early Church couldn’t see the manifestation that God’s love is forever expanding God’s Kingdom to include all people, couldn’t see beyond their own view of possibilities, neither can many Churches today. Nevertheless, there is good news in this story from Acts: The Church wasn’t disgusted or repulsed, but rather, “astounded” at just how simple the conversion of Gentiles had become. Yes, “even” Gentiles. All one needs to be welcomed into the Church is faith in Christ, not adherence to our way of thinking or doing things our way, all one needs to grasp is the depths of God’s love revealed in the person of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. And that got me wondering: what astounds me, what astounds you, when God does something unexpected in our lives? And how do, how should we respond?
One of the things shown over and again throughout scripture is that God will do what God chooses to do. God’s Spirit goes where it pleases and pours itself out upon whom God desires. And God is always surprising God’s people, forever urging us to open our hearts and especially, our eyes to God’s grace, God’s new work around us, God’s presence even in the most unlikely of persons. That is the power of God’s transforming love.
Peter understood, “if it isn’t about love, it’s not about God.” So, he chose to love as God, in Christ, had loved him – loved him in spite of his denial of knowing Jesus at his trial and crucifixion. And choosing to love as God loves enabled Peter to see something greater at work in this world - something that brought these words from John 3:16 to life: “God so loved the world” – not just the covenant people of Israel, not just the congregation at Holy Cross in Valle Crucis, but everything and everyone God created, created in God’s own image. Peter understood that if it’s not about love it’s not about God because love changes everything. And in choosing to love as God loves, a whole community – a community of Gentiles considered by Church and Synagogue as no better than dogs - was saved, a community that, in the words of Jesus, found their search and hope for joy complete. And Acts tell us everyone was “astounded!” – Astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on “those people.” This text affirms that in Christ, there is no more “us” versus “them” in the Church nor in the world. All are welcome and welcome by faith alone.
That message is at the heart of today’s reading from the Gospel according to John and affirmed in John’s first letter to the Church. Jesus says the only true and life-giving sign that we are his followers is how we love God and one another. You know, sometimes in my desire to exclude people who make me uncomfortable, I wish Jesus had been more discriminating. But he wasn’t and he still isn’t. No. Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide (you will embrace and live) in my love.” And what are those commandments? He says, “… that you love one another as I have loved you.” And Jesus goes on to say, “I am giving you these commands (not so that you maintain an image in this world, or create a whole system of dos and don’ts and ways to exclude people or turn a deaf ear to their needs, but) so that you may love one another.” Love for God and neighbor is the sole proof of our faith in Jesus Christ. “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” And we need to remember that Jesus spoke these words on the eve of his arrest and eventual crucifixion. He wasn’t being cavalier or “pie in the sky” with all this love talk, but rather, he was being intentional.
See, when Jesus speaks about love he is speaking about that divine love born from the very heart of God that doesn’t care about who or what you are. It is simply a gift of God for the taking and living. Jesus says that divine love is at the core of the commandments. Those commandments that speak about choosing to be so completely loyal to the values and ways of God, that it changes how we relate to God, to one another, our families, and neighbors: changes all of us, our communities, and the world for the better – even communities torn apart by protests and hate.
Like many of you, I was horrified this week at the physical violence and hateful speech spewing from the mouths of protesters on college campuses and in communities throughout our nation. Protesters on both sides of issues that continue to foster the war in Gaza and produce dreadful human carnage. And I wondered where is God’s love in this mess and if we can see it, how should we respond?
John says in his first letter to the Church, “whatever is born of God conquers the world.” And what conquers the world every time is Love: It conquered sin in that crucifixion and death, and it conquered the excluding nature of the early Church, just as choosing to love God and all that God loves, even that obnoxious neighbor, choosing to love can conquer everything that gets in the way of any sense of community today. And God’s love can offer a path to peace in the middle east if people of faith – all people of faith - will choose to recognize both friend and foe as created in the image of God, and then open our eyes and our ears to the experiences and voices of others – especially others with whom we disagree – because that’s how God’s love is made manifest in you and me. That’s what happened and changed the early Church, and it can still happen in our communities today because love changes everything and forever offers to astound us.
“(And all) were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” May God astound us today and show us how to be God’s loving presence in these days of overwhelming hatred, fear and distrust. If it’s not about love, it is not about God. Astound us, O God, at the work of grace that still unfolds within and around us, grace that calls us to love as deeply and as passionately as you, in Christ has loved, and continues to love us, even me. And that, my friends, is astounding! Amen.