Acts 10
For us who live in twenty-first century
U.S. American there are probably some strange ideas in Acts 10. We go where we want. We eat what we like. Such divisions as Peter and Cornelius were
dealing with feel foreign to us, but they were main parts of the social order
then.
Such divisions do exist, even today, however. I recall going to a conference in Chicago
with one of my friends, a pastor named Quentin.
He had heard of a great barbecue joint in a certain neighborhood, and we
decided we should check that out. That
certain neighborhood was not in the best part of town, and the restaurant was
not a fancy establishment. When we
walked in, we heard one of the customers at the counter yell, “There’s a couple’a
white boys here.” The message: “You don’t belong here.” We were greeted by a man from the kitchen, “What’choo
want?” In all honesty, my “want” at that
moment was to get the heck out. Quentin
was not deterred however. “We want some
barbecue, and we heard that yours in the best.”
The smile that broke on the man’s face told us that we had come to the
right place, and the feel of the room changed immediately. We were still a couple’a white boys, but we
had common love with the others in the room for smokey spicy pork (and chicken
and beef!).
God pushes past any kind of ethnic
barriers that we have set between us. God
made but one race: the human one. We should not call common or unclean that
which God has cleansed, and Jesus’ blood was shed to cleans all people of our
sins. We have that in common.
At one time God had chosen Israel to be
his special people to shine like a light that all the nations would be drawn to
Him. Now He has chosen to draw all
people to himself through His Son, who was lifted up on the cross as the
rallying point of all time, to gather and redeem all people. Thus Paul liked to say, “there is neither Jew
nor Greek,” for to the Jewish mind of the time those were the two
classifications of people, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Peter and his friends too marveled that the
Holy Spirit and salvation had come, not just to them, but to the Gentiles,
too. Jesus’ love is the thing we have in
common.
Father, give me vision to see all people as
Yours. Forgive my sin; especially the
times I have not loved people who are different from myself. Help me to love all my neighbors, even as you
love me. Amen.
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