What God has made Clean

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1 Using the Good Book for Good Week 7- What God has made Clean Acts 10:1-48 Last week, we talked about God expanding the circle of welcome and inclusion in the people of Israel. Those who were formerly excluded were foreigners and eunuchs. The occasion for the change in policy was a catastrophic event, and God s redemptive response to it. The big event was Israel being conquered, destroyed, and exiled to Babylon. The prophets in the Old Testament all interpret this event as a kind of judgment on Israel. Isaiah and Jeremiah even go so far as to claim that what this means is that the original covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai is over. Israel didn t live up to their part of the bargain. But God s redemptive response is to make a new covenant, and though you can still recognize the same God in it, this is different. God decides to act and do something good for the people whether they respond or not. And some of the old laws and ways of seeing things will no longer apply. There s another catastrophic event in the New Testament, another redemptive response from God, and another widening of the circle of welcome and inclusion. But this event is much greater even than the destruction of Israel, and God bringing the exiles home. God has come in person, as one of us, and we killed him. And instead of giving the human race what they deserve after such an act, God has raised Jesus from the dead and announced a new time, a new way, and a new promise. The Acts of the Apostles is a book detailing what happened after Jesus was raised from the dead, how a frightened group of friends and

2 followers came to understand what had happened, and came to devote themselves to telling this story every place they could. The tenth chapter, which we read all of tonight, talks about God bringing together two men, Peter and Cornelius. Peter, of course, was Jesus closest friend in this life, and one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Cornelius, it says, was a Roman soldier, who while he has been stationed in Israel, has become devout. That is, he s one of many people who have become attracted to the religious practice of Judaism. Cornelius has a vision of an angel who directs him to get in contact with Peter. At the same time, Peter has a vision up on a rooftop in the town where he s staying. It s like a great big blanket is being lowered from the sky, full of animals. Many of the animals are those which the Jewish religious tradition has said are unclean to eat. Peter acts like this is a test, to see if he knows how to refuse profane and unclean things. He is invited three times to kill and eat the unclean animals, and each time Peter keeps his resolve not to give in to temptation. But the voice from heaven tells him that this isn t a test. It says, What God has made clean, you must not call profane. Now, when we read this on Sundays, the reading usually ends there, because the liturgical commission doesn t trust our attention spans to go any further than that. But what happens next comes out of Peter s vision as a direct consequence. Cornelius servants come and find Peter, and bring him back up the coast to Cornelius house. When Peter comes to visit Cornelius, Cornelius is overwhelmed, because Peter s visit represents something for him. In his time serving in Israel, he has come to believe in the God of the people whose land he is occupying. But he has never found a way in to the community of this God. He believes, but at the temple and the synagogues, he is an outsider. Peter comes with an announcement - the law has been that he shouldn t associate with or visit a Gentile, a non-jewish person. But God has

3 shown him that he shouldn t call anyone profane or unclean. Note that Peter understands that his vision isn t just about kosher food law- this is about unclean people, not unclean food. And so Peter comes with the story he has to tell about Jesus, and that now he understands that God shows no partiality, that anyone in any nation who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him. While Peter is speaking, his fellow Jewish Christian believers notice the Holy Spirit in the gentiles who are listening. I always wonder what made this evident to them. Was it just their enthusiastic response to the story, or was it something more? At any rate, it impresses them. They recognize in the gentile believers the same spirit that they share, and this contradicts their previous opinion about who are the people of God, and who are not. And Peter asks, can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And so, with a vision on a roof and a visit to a stranger, Peter decides to overturn centuries of Jewish tradition, and admit gentiles to their fellowship, without requiring them to become like them first and be circumcised. All of us here who are not Jewish in our family origin might be grateful for this. But let s look closer at the story, and question it. The biggest question for me is, when did the gentiles become acceptable to God? When were things that were unclean become clean? Was it just the dream Peter had on the roof? When the voice says What God has made clean, you must not call profane, is that the very moment when God has made these things clean? I don t know about you, but if I m going to change my mind about something important, I m going to need something more than you telling me you had a dream saying I should change my mind. But this is about more than just Peter having a dream. Peter has this dream, because the change has already come, and he has not been able

4 to understand it. God has already made clean the things that were formerly profane, with the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. When we crucified Jesus, we erased any distinction that may have been made between righteous people and sinners. At that moment, we were all revealed to be sinners. When God raised Jesus from the dead, he said yes to Jesus way of love, forgiveness, mercy, grace and peace. He offered a forgiveness that was just as universal as the condemnation we experienced when we murdered the Son of God. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, it opened a new time, a time of God living among us and between us. The Spirit of Jesus would be wherever people heard his word, believed, and were baptized into his life and death. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, there can be no unclean thing, no sin, no condemnation. This is not based on our behavior, but on God s gift. So, even though Peter had been present for all of these things, he didn t understand that the circle of welcome and inclusion had been broken wide open. God had made things clean, God had made people clean, but Peter still called them unclean and profane. In this story, I see a remarkable precedent for the life of our church in the 21 st century. I see a remarkable precedent for what the Gospel means for gay and straight people. Just yesterday morning, I was told again by two of my colleagues that they are angry at the ELCA for abandoning centuries of scriptural and theological interpretation. Over the last 7 weeks, I hope I have made a plausible case that we do not in fact have a real tradition about the bible and homosexuality. It is my conviction that we have nearly 20 centuries of not having seriously asked the question or examined the evidence.

5 I hope I have made a plausible case that in cases where tradition has said that the Bible is speaking about homosexuality, that what is actually there on the page refers to sexually immoral behavior committed by heterosexuals. The law, the Apostle Paul always taught, was like a kindergarten teacher for the whole human race. It was preparing us for something greater in Jesus Christ. God approached a tiny oppressed minority people in the Middle East and said, learn from me. The people of Moses learned who God was by learning a new way of life. The law set them apart, so that they would be seen as different. But this setting apart was not an end in itself. God had a plan for the whole human race. And so the setting apart had to end. Were gay and lesbian people unclean before Jesus? I feel reasonably certain that they couldn t have been accepted in ancient Judaism. I think the whole reason that the human race is dealing with this question now is that prior to this, we were never civilized or enlightened enough to ask it. We didn t have access to science, and the stories of actual gay and lesbian people remained hidden from view and untold. I am convinced, however, that Christ has come to make gay and lesbian, bi-and transgender people and straight people, clean, and free, and acceptable to God. For people who have been saved and claimed by grace in Jesus Christ, we don t do our ethics and morality by asking if something violates a commandment in the Bible. We look at our neighbor and ask if something loves our neighbor, and cares for his or her needs. I had a confrontation on the phone a couple of years ago, a woman who was baptized in this congregation but never came to worship. She was drunk, and I knew that she had had a succession of live-in boyfriends who had made chaos in the lives of her children. But she wanted to tell me that it was immoral to be homosexual. Now she s baptized, and God has made her clean, but I don t think I was hearing the Holy Spirit on the phone with me that night. This is the story that I see repeated again and again in our society, in our politics, and in our churches. The vulnerable

6 minority who are seeking equality and acceptance become the scapegoat for the sins of the majority. Gay people are sinners. Straight people are sinners. It s not our sexual orientation that makes this true, it s our orientation away from God s love. And just like Peter, we could know all about Jesus, his teachings, his life, his death, and his resurrection, and we could still miss the point about who he has made clean. From Easter morning to the point where Peter baptized Cornelius, there was a tradition of Biblical and theological interpretation that excluded gentiles from fellowship in the Church. But this wasn t God s doing. It was the assumptions of the people that gentiles were unclean, that they have to become like us before they can be accepted and welcomed. So, a new word had to be proclaimed. But the gentiles didn t become clean when Peter had his dream, or when he visited Cornelius. God had done this a long time before, and they were just catching up. We have catching up to do, too. Once Peter had his dream, it was not enough to tell his circumcised friends that Gentiles were OK. They had to make a trip 23 miles up the coast to declare that welcome in person. Because Cornelius and his friends had already been turned away from the synagogue and the temple. They knew they weren t welcome. For those who have been intentionally excluded from fellowship, a special effort is needed to overcome that mistake. But see the joy in this story, the joy of Cornelius falling at Peter s feet when he sees that the people of God are treating him as one of their own! See the joy when the circumcised believers see the Holy Spirit where they never expected to see it! See the joy of the Gospel unleashed to overcome our divisions and old prejudices! See the joy of a community made larger by the redemptive work of Jesus! This is the joy that is ours, and can be ours! Amen.

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