Open the Gates

Scripture:  Acts 10:34-43

It is well known and established that I am a huge Star Wars fan, so it sometimes comes as a surprise to some that I am also a fan of Star Trek.   They are very different takes on science fiction, and I clearly think there is room to really enjoy both.  However, I was not always a Star Trek fan.  What really pulled me into Star Trek was the reboot movie starring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk that came out in 2009.  Initially I liked this movie because honestly it has a lot more in common with the action and high adventure of Star Wars than the cerebral, hard sci-fi of classic Star Trek.  However, watching that movie led me to wanting to see more Star Trek. Thanks to streaming service I could, and that is what I did. Series after series, movie after movie.  I expanded into reading Star Trek novels and playing Star Trek games.   Within three to four years, I went from not caring much about Star Trek to considering myself a  big and invested fan.  This probably would not have happened if it were not the 2009 movie.   

In 2015, a local movie theater was doing a screening of my favorite Star Trek movie: The Wrath of Kahn.   We attended one of the showings with a group of people, one of which was a big enough of a Trekkie that she had a star trek uniform.  Before the movie started I was talking with her, and we were interrupted by some guy behind us saying something to the effect of “why are you wearing that?”

It was said with a derogatory tone, full of vitriol.  Capturing our attention, we turned to him, and he immediately apologized.  He saw that she was wearing an original series uniform.  He had initially mistaken it for a uniform from that 2009 reboot movie, and he was concerned that she was not a “real fan” of “real Star Trek”.   I guess in this guy’s view anyone who liked the new Star Trek movies, the ones that pulled me into Stark Trek, did not count.  They were not real fans.  They did not belong.   He was apparently so concerned about this that before he realized he mistakenly misidentified the uniform he was going to call out a woman he had never met.  This guy was looking to be a gatekeeper.   Gate keeping is when someone takes it upon themselves to decide who does or does not have access to a community or identity based on their standards.  Unfortunately, gate keeping happens a lot.  For instance, if you are a diehard fan of a sports team then you have likely heard someone else complain about “bandwagon fans”. 

Unfortunately, gatekeeping has long been a problem in faith as well.   From close to the very beginning of Christianity have been people who have appointed themselves as gatekeepers who spend a lot of energy and effort to determine who is adhering to doctrinal purity and meeting their arbitrary standard.  It is somewhat odd that this has been a reoccurring problem in Christianity, because this is an issue that was hashed out at the very beginning of the Christian faith.   In the very beginning, there was a real question about who salvation was actually for.  For Peter, this question was definitively answered in this morning’s scripture.   There are no outsiders to God’s love, and sometimes for people to experience it we need to get out of the way. 

It may seem obvious to say that salvation through Christ is for everyone today, but that was not so clear in the first century.   The question, “who is grace for?  Is it for the Jews or for everyone?” is a question that is addressed in the gospels, in Acts, and in several of the epistles.  Again, the answer seems obvious to us today, but if we try to place ourselves in the context of the first Jesus followers, we can see how it becomes less clear quickly.  We need to remember that Jesus was a Jew.  The apostles were all Jews, and all the members of the early church that formed in Jerusalem were Jewish.  The God that Jesus called Father is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of the twelve tribes of Israel.   Especially when compared the religious attitudes and culture of the greater Greco-Roman culture, Christianity did have more in common and probably felt like an offshoot of Judaism. 

This becomes clearer when human tribalism comes into play, because the Jewish people of the first century made a clear distinction between Jews and Gentiles.  The key difference is that the Jews were God’s chosen people and the gentiles were not.  The Jews followed God’s law outlined in the Torah to maintain ritual cleanliness and the gentiles did not.  By the time of the first century this had developed that Jews were not to eat with or even associate with gentiles so that they did not become unclean by transference.  There was a strong “us and them” sense in first century Israel and it was strongly enforced by cultural forces.   All indications are that at least for the first several months, the early church- those who followed Jesus- followed these same cultural lines, and salvation through Christ was only presented by the disciples to fellow Jews.  

This all begins to change in Acts chapter 10.  This morning’s scripture comes from closer to the end of that story.  It began though with a gentile who honored God but had not converted to Judaism, reaching out to Peter.   To prepare Peter for this encounter God gave him a vision which communicated the greater truth of God’s grace for all.   Peter goes to Cornelius’ house.  His encounter there begins to change Peter’s heart and mind.   Peter expresses as much in this morning’s scripture.  In verse 34 when he begins to speak, he says, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”  

 Peter then goes on to give a recount of the basics of the gospel message that he himself was a witness to.  The message, the good news had not changed, what changed was Peter’s understanding of it.  He began to realize that the good news was not just for one people group.  It is in this scripture that he realizes that when Jesus said, “I will draw all people to myself”, that Jesus really meant all people-not just his people.  This morning’s scripture is when Peter realizes that he needs to get out of the way, open the gates, and not hinder people coming to Jesus.  While we stopped at verse 43, this culminates in verse 47 when Peter declares about Cornelius and the other gentiles, “surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water.”

In the narrative of the bible, this morning’s scripture is the turning point where the good news truly starts being proclaimed for all.  This morning’s scripture is only the first movement though.  Starting in chapter 11 the narrative of Acts begins to turn from the acts of Peter and the other original disciples to the acts of Paul as the apostle to the gentiles.   The book of Acts records how the good news of Jesus Christ was shared with Jerusalem, then all of Israel and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.   This was the plan of Jesus laid out at the beginning of Acts, and that plan always included extending grace to all the peoples regardless of their ethnic or religious origins.  It is in this morning’s scripture that Peter begins to grasp that even the gentiles can be saved, this is where he realizes the fundamental truth that God does not show favoritism and there are no outsiders to God’s love.   

Even though Peter began to move in this direction the issue between Jews and Gentiles and salvation in Christ comes up again in Acts.  It is also an issue that Paul wrote about extensively in several of his letters.  While the issue does eventually get settled, it does not take long before for the followers of Jesus were once again asking who salvation is for. 
Looking back on our Christian history, we have done this in very formal ways.  Sometimes Christians have attempted to divide themselves into the right kind of believers and the wrong kind of believers, but most often we make walls between believers and non-believers.  Historically, these walls are not formal declarations, but they are beliefs that are held up by cultural norms.  We create expectations of how we think good Christians are supposed to act, but often these added expectations are based more in what makes us comfortable and less in grace. 

There can be an expectation that to follow Jesus someone has to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, vote a certain way, or hold a specific set of cultural values.  This is a form of gatekeeping; it is trying to define who salvation is for.  When this happens, then people who do not fit the mold, the people whose identity falls outside the lines are left to feel that church is not for them, Chistiantiy is not where they belong, or Jesus is not meant to be their savior.  Our preferences, our sensibilities, and our comfort can get in the way of people getting to Jesus.  Stories of church hurt, stories of people who have had communities of faith hurt them, by communicating they do not belong are far too common. That is not how it should be.  Friends, if our personal preferences, if our comfortability is getting in the way of people getting to Jesus, then we must get out of the way.    God does not show favoritism, and neither should we. 

Our baptism liturgy does a great job of reminding us of this. It always begins with “through the sacrament of baptism we are initiated into Christ’s holy church.  We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit.  All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.”  As this morning’s scripture proclaims, “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Salvation and the forgiveness of sins is a free gift offered to all people.   To receive this gift does not require anyone to have it all figured out.  No one has to meet a certain threshold of good actions or specific behavior before God will accept them.  That is true for each and every one of us, and it is also true for everyone else out there as well.  We should not expect other people to have conform to a standard that we create to be accepted.  The good news that we believe, the good news that we are supposed to proclaim is that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  There are no asterisks or exceptions to that good news.  God sent Jesus because God’s love was for everyone.  God does not show favoritism.  There are no outsiders to God’s love. 

In this morning’s scripture Peter first realized that God’s love was for the gentiles as well as the Jews.   Today, we need to more fully realize just what it means that God love everyone.  We all have our own personal preferences, we all have our own viewpoints of what we think is best, and we all have people that we tend to be more comfortable with.   While that is a true, may we not let our personal preferences hinder the gospel.  May we not stand between people and Jesus.  May we not gatekeep the good news.   May we realize that every person we will ever interact with is a person that God loves so much that God was willing to give God’s son for.  If God loves them that much, then perhaps we should as well.  May we open the gates of God’s love wide.  For the early church the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the non-Jews in this morning’s scripture was confirmation that there is grace enough for the Jews and the gentiles.   That is still true today.  There is grace enough for everyone, so may we boldly go and share the good news of Jesus Christ.