The early church did not have an easy time of it. There were persecutions by the Romans and expulsion from the synagogues of those Jewish converts to the fledgling Jesus movement. Even with these difficulties some of our impressions of the community life of the first Christians suggest quite an idyllic life of mutual support, shared possessions and a community of one mind and heart (Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37).
But to add to their external pressures the community also had to deal with dissension from within. For example, the members didn’t all share their goods as equitably as it first seemed (5:1-11). There were even severe doctrinal and liturgical differences and these are hinted at in our Acts reading today.
Peter was reared as a Jew and the first followers of the Jesus were Jewish. The faithful believed that God would keep the covenant God had made with their ancestors. So they looked for and found in Jesus the Messiah they had hoped would free their nation. Peter, like his co-religionists would have been reared to regard Gentiles as religiously unclean and he would have avoided contact with them. For devout Jews the Gentiles were “dogs” — a common reference at the time. Jews did their best not to associate with Gentiles.
Imagine Peter’s surprise when he had visions and heard voices that pointed him towards the Roman centurion Cornelius, whose home he then visits and whose hospitality he accepts. “While Peter was speaking these things the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.” In this and many passages in Acts, Luke makes it quite clear that God is not the exclusive property of a few select, but the God of all peoples.
Peter and those with him, as well as the church in Jerusalem, “the circumcised believers,” have a lot more to learn about grace; the old was passing away. God was moving on ahead, taking the initiative and pouring out grace on whomever God chose — even the Gentiles. The faithful needed to take note, respond and follow. The Spirit, contrary to the beliefs of Peter and those with him, was showing no partiality; all were welcome to hear the word and eat at the table.
When Peter entered the home of Cornelius and the latter paid him homage, Peter demurs and has the humility to acknowledge his own humanity, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” We who are called to public ministry in the church can take Peter as our “ministerial model.” While we are grateful for the respect the faithful often shows us, still we mustn’t think of ourselves as apart from them, on some kind of higher ecclesiastical level. We do well to regularly press the “Play” button in our minds and listen to Peter’s message, which reminds us, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” We could use less clericalism in our church and practice more collegiality among the ones God has called us to serve. Today Peter is a good model for us.
I was watching a special program on the Weather Channel the other evening. It was a look-back over the past year, when we had a more-than-usual number of tornadoes across the country. A commentator referred to those devastating weather events as “Acts of God.” In effect God was blamed, once again, for killing innocent people and destroying millions of dollars of property! While nature often shows the wonder and power of God — a sunset over the ocean, Spring flowers and tiny hummingbirds — I can’t name a killer-tornado as an “Act of God.”
But, as a believer, I can recognize a powerful “act of God” — God took flesh in Jesus and Jesus gave his life for us. As the gospel says today, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.” God’s power was demonstrated for us by: Jesus’ joining us in our human journey; not avoiding pain, but accepting it as one of us and giving his life to prove how much God loves us. Now that’s what I call an “Act of God!”
So, we don’t have to come here to church to pray in order to please God; to earn God’s love and goodwill; to wear God down with lots of prayers so that God will favor us and give us what we pray for. We don’t pray and serve God to earn God’s love. Jesus’ life and death make it very clear: God already loves us, what more must God do to convince us? Jesus is a very powerful message that all can read, loud and clear: we didn’t love God first and God returned the favor and now loves us back. Rather, God loved us first and Jesus is proof positive of God’s love for us — if we have any doubts.
The real issue is: since God already loves us and has given such powerful evidence of that love, what should we do to show we got the message? How can we respond and show that our lives are transformed by that love; for love transforms the beloved? You can always tell when someone is in love, they radiate love. They are cheerful, kinder, and more patient.
If we asked Jesus what we must do in response to the love God has shown us in him, he says to us today, “Keep my commandments.” When we hear the word commandments our mind rushes to the 10 Commandments. We check ourselves: have I broken any Commandments? Have I done anything wrong? But we already had 10 Commandments without Jesus. Jesus isn’t talking about not violating the 10 Commandments. He is telling us, “Don’t worry about doing something negative. Instead do something positive: love one another.
It’s one commandment with many faces, many opportunities to put it into practice. If there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend then we can begin by asking ourselves what part of our lives must we “lay down” for the sake of another? For example: “lay down” my prejudice; my angry feelings; my enmity over what others have done to me; my selfishness; my unwillingness to give up my time to help another, etc.
Jesus doesn’t give 10 Commandments that can be checked off one by one, “There, I’ve done that.” But a broader commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Now can we ever say we have lived up to that commandment? Can we check off items and say, “Well, I’ve accomplish that!” No, because love asks a lot of us. When can a husband or wife say to the other, “There, I have loved you. There’s nothing more I can give or do for you?” Love is a fire that consumes us and leaves us looking for ways to love.
Does this sound exhausting? Jesus says we are not to live and think like slaves, groveling, trying to get everything right, fearing punishment. Instead he calls us, “Friends.” Friendship with Jesus isn’t sentimental or sloppy. Some friendships can close us off and make us neurotic. But friendship with Jesus is one of mutual love and respect. I have a friend who joined a men’s quartet. He became friends with one of the men in that group and his new friend taught him to sing without instruments and introduce him to songs he had never heard before. Friendship opens us to new life. Friends keep us normal: pull us out of ourselves when we close ourselves off; help lift us out of depression; are sounding boards when we need to talk to someone; introduce us to new worlds of food, hobbies, and music.
We are friends of Christ already. “I call you friends.” With the help of Jesus’ Spirit we are enabled to act that way now — to resemble our friend Jesus more and more and, as he tells us, “bear fruit” in our lives.
At this Eucharist today we invite Jesus to show us how we can live and reflect our friendship with him. We ask him to show us what must die in our lives, what we must lay down and let go of. We also ask him to show us how we can blossom with new fruit as we pray, “Jesus teach us to love one another and help us to live that love, so people will know we are your friends.”