All are welcome

 

The talk of circumcision, as it was discussed in the Acts of the Apostles, probably makes most of us creepily uncomfortable.  However, the struggle of the Apostles to understand who was and who wasn’t included in the Kingdom of God was all tied to who was or who wasn’t circumcised (Acts 11:1-18).  Obviously, the reference only pertained to males.  But that’s not really the point.

What is the point is that Acts is really a story about how the Apostles made sense of what they knew about Jesus and His teaching; how they applied what they knew to new situations as they developed.  Jesus promised them the gift of the Holy Spirit not a roadmap.  They had to figure things out as they went.

In Acts, Peter relayed a revelation about the generosity of God welcoming all—Jews and Gentiles—into the Kingdom of God.  Peter says, “Who was I to be able to hinder God?” And those who doubted then believed.  They understood that all are welcome, circumcised or not.

In our own time, we pretend to be so sure about who’s in and who’s out.  Who’s right and who’s wrong. Who’s included and who’s excluded.  It may not be about circumcision, but it might be about conservative or liberal, gay or straight, Black or White, rural or urban, documented or not, married or divorced.

We say “Well, yes, there’s room for everybody.  But first you have to be this or that, and obey all the rules, and change this or that . . . After all, that’s what God wants . . .”

Are we sure?

Perhaps what’s needed is a little humility here.  In several places the Gospels tell us that Jesus went off by Himself to pray.  Almost certainly that prayer to His Father was “What is Your will in this situation? What do you want me to do?”  We should do no less before deciding we know God’s will.  How many times – and in how many places – has God told us “My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts”? (Isaiah 55:7-11, Mark 7:21-23, Romans 8:6, among others)

When we become alert to this theme of inclusiveness, we find it in many places throughout the New Testament (John 11:52; Acts 10:34–35; 11:17; Romans 10:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 3:2–6) and even the Old (Isaiah 60:1–7), but most clearly in Paul’s words to the “stupid” Galatians (3:28–29): “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

If that seems somehow wrong to us, well . . . it should.  Paul calls it a “mystery” and says that this insight came not through human sources but by direct revelation from God.  It’s one manifestation of what is meant by the phrase “a new creation”.  God has made something completely new – unprecedented. This understanding could not have had human origins.  Humans reject the other, the stranger.  For humans, it’s “them” and “us”.  But for God it’s just “us” – always “us”.

What gives me hope is that God is gracious and welcoming no matter who we are.  And the Apostles began to realize this.  They lived in a culture that defined itself too often by who was in or who was out, a part of their community or not.  Soon, they began to understand that Jesus was calling them—and us—to include, not exclude.  Let’s welcome, not shun others and rejoice in how the Spirit draws diverse peoples together into community.