“A TRYING KIND OF FAITH”
ACTS 11:1-18
11:1 Now the apostles and the brotherswho
were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of
God.
2 So when Peter went up to
Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying,
3 “You went to uncircumcised
men and ate with them.”
4 But Peter began and explained
it to them in order:
5 “I was in the city of Joppa
praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet
descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to
me.
6 Looking at it closely, I
observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.
7 And I heard a voice saying to
me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’
8 But I said, ‘By no means,
Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9 But the voice answered a
second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call
common.’
10 This happened three times,
and all was drawn up again into heaven.
11 And behold, at that very
moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from
Caesarea.
12 And the Spirit told me to go
with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and
we entered the man's house.
13 And he told us how he had
seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who
is called Peter;
14 he will declare to you a
message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’
15 As I began to speak, the Holy
Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And
I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
17 If then God gave the same
gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who
was I that I could stand in God's way?”
18 When they heard these things
they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also
God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
I felt sorry for the woman.
I’d never met her before but she stopped
by my office many years ago because she had a problem. So we sat down and talked. Her problem
was simple. She was grieving the
death of her husband. Even though
five years had gone by though she was still going to the cemetery every day. Other than that and a trip to the grocery
store every now and then she didn’t go out at all. She was depressed and lonely. So, I suggested that
she spend some time at the senior
citizens’ center. “It might do you some good to be around other people,” I said. “Oh, I can’t
do that,” she replied. “I don’t have the energy to do that.” When I pointed out that she
had the
energy to go to the cemetery every day she said that that was different. Well, to make a long story short she
rejected every suggestion that I made.
So, I finally had to say to her, “I’m really sorry but I can’t help
you.” The woman was surprised and
asked “Why not?” “Because,” I
said, “every time I make a suggestion there’s a reason why it won’t work for
you. So, either you can’t change
or you don’t want to change.
Either way it means I can’t help you. I really sorry.”
Change is one of life’s
realities but sometimes a change is the last thing you want to see come your
way. On the other hand, sometimes you might welcome a change with open
arms. For example, things change
when you get married. Things also
change when you go off to college or you get a new job or you buy a house or you
have a baby. People generally
welcome those changes with open arms.
Then again sometimes you
don’t have a choice in the matter.
The change is going to happen whether you want it to happen or not. For
example things change as you get older.
You can’t see as well as you used to and you have to start wearing
glasses. You can’t hear as well as
you used to and you have to get a hearing aide. Your energy level isn’t what it
used to be and you have to take life a little slower.
That last change is the
reason why someone once said that it’s easy to identify when you’re getting
old. You know you’re getting old when
you bend over to tie your shoe and you ask yourself, “Is there anything else I
should be doing while I’m down here?”
Of course, it’s also true that old age brings with it some positive
changes. Take the woman, for
example, who was celebrating her 102nd birthday one day. When someone asked her what she liked
most about being 102 she smiled and said,
“The best thing about being 102 is no peer pressure.”
If you’re a person who
has a
hard time dealing with change you might want to take a closer look at what
happened to Peter. It all started
when Peter had that vision. In his
vision Peter saw a large sheet coming down from heaven and on that sheet were
all kinds of unclean animals. Peter then heard a voice say to him, “Rise Peter.
Kill and eat.” Now the thought of
doing that horrified Peter.
That’s because Peter was a good Jew. All his life he had been taught that there were some foods
that you weren’t supposed to eat.
So, Peter refused the invitation. “Lord,” he said, “By no means…for
nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.”
God wasn’t about to
take no
for an answer though. So, the
vision came to Peter a second and then it came to Peter a third time. Now let’s not get sidetracked
here. This vision wasn’t about
pork chops and milkshakes. In this
vision God was challenging Peter to change the
way he looked at Gentiles; people who weren’t Jewish. Back then most Jews felt that Gentiles were unclean and
unacceptable. In fact, some of the
rabbis said that if a Gentile walked by you and his or her shadow fell on you
that was enough to make you ritually unclean. God didn’t want Peter to look at Gentiles as unacceptable
and unclean. God wanted Peter to embrace
them and share the Good News with them.
Do you remember what the
voice from heaven said to Peter in the vision? The voice said,
“What God has made clean, do not call common.”
In other words, the Gentiles are your
sisters and brothers, too, Peter.
Now I can’t say for
sure but
when those messengers arrived Peter must have had his doubts about going with
them. Peter must have had his
doubts about preaching the Good News to that house full of Gentiles. After all, you don’t turn your back on
all those years of teachings and all those years of tradition in a matter of a
few seconds. That’s not the way
human nature works.
When it comes to human nature
consider if you will the debate that took place many years ago when a
congregation gathered to make an important decision. The meeting took place back in the late 1800’s and the
decision that had to be made was whether or not the congregation was going to
purchase one of those brand new electric chandeliers for the sanctuary. One elderly man was dead set against
it. When he was asked
why he was so against the new chandelier he stood up and gave his reasons.
“First of all,” he said, “nobody knows how to spell it and if you can’t spell
it you can’t order it. Second of
all even if we did get one nobody would know how to play it and last of all what
we really need in the sanctuary is more light.”
You can’t just snap
your
fingers and expect people to change. So, I don’t think Peter went from saying “I
can’t do that” to saying, “I will do that.” It’s more likely that Peter went from saying
“I can’t do
that” to saying, “Okay. LORD. I’ll
try.” Peter gave it a try and preached the Good News to that
house full of Gentile. What
happened after he did that amazed both Peter
and all the other apostles. After Peter proclaimed the Good News to those
Gentiles the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began to speak in tongues. They began to speak in tongues just as
the disciples had spoken in tongues on the Day of Pentecost. It was a wonderful grace filled moment
and it was a grace filled moment that happened because Peter was willing to
give it a try. Instead of saying,
“I can’t do that” Peter said, “Okay LORD, I’ll try.”
When you’re dealing
with a change in your life God doesn’t
expect you to go from saying “I can’t do that” to “I will do that.” All God wants is for
you to say, “Okay
LORD. I’ll try.” When you don’t be
surprised if the door opens up to all kinds of wonderful grace filled moments
and blessings. The change might have something to do
with a relationship that’s had it’s problems. The change might have something to do with where moving from
your home to an assisted living facility.
The change might have something to do with a new job. All God wants is for you to say “Okay
LORD. I’ll try.”
A month or so ago there was
a
story in the Boston Globe about a man had to deal with a unbelievable change in
his life. It was a change that
could have left him feeling bitter.
Mark Cronin’s life changed forever on the night of August 23, 2008. That was the night that he was hit by a
drunk driver while riding his motorcycle.
The accident severed his leg and he almost bled to death. Last month a jury found Marybeth
Frisoli guilty of all the charges related to the accident. Before the judge sentenced Marybeth though
Mark Cronin went over to her and said, “I know you’re sorry. I really do.” He then gave her a hug
and forgave
her. He then asked the judge to
show her mercy and offered to go to are high schools with her and to speak to
the students about the dangers of drunk driving. Later on he said, “The reason I’m alive today, I don’t
know
what it is, but hopefully something good can come out of this… He also said
that he forgave Frisoli for his three children. “My kids,” he said, “I don’t want them to grow
up
(bitter.) It’s a lot healthier for
me to forgiven than to be bitter.”
Sometimes change comes slowly
and sometimes it hits you all at once like a ton of bricks. When that change comes all God wants is
for you to say, “I’ll try.” “I’ll
try to forgive.” “I’ll try to let my
daughter or my son help me now that I’m getting older.” “I’ll try to stop
gambling.” “I’ll try to make new friends after we move all the way across the
country.” “I’ll try to go on with
my life now that my husband is gone; now that my wife is gone.” All God needs to bring a little more
grace into your life is for you to go from saying “I can’t” to “I’ll try, LORD.”
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
May 2, 2010
