Being led by God's love listening to the Spirit

As I read Acts 11:1-18, I note that the Judean Christians are just like us. The most important thing is keeping the status quo. The rule was not to mix with persons ho were not like you. So they ask why was Peter choosing to eat with the gentiles, these unclean people? Even while the Jews were not penalized for such an action, it was not the done thing. Remember Jesus used to be heavily criticized for eating with ‘sinners’ and tax collectors. Similarly, these Judean Christians do not eat with persons who are unclean, because they are uncircumcised; persons who are different from them.

There are 3 things that stand out in this passage:

• Firstly, the outrage that was expressed.

• Secondly, how easily they accepted Peter’s explanation.

• The third thing is the importance of leading of the Holy Spirit.

The persons in the story recognized God at work. Would we have done the same? Could we have done the same? This story of Peter understanding what God wanted him to do and the movement of the spirit in the men to go to Peter is mind boggling. It means that he was open to a different way of thinking. They were open to the leading of the Holy spirit. He understood that he was to be open to the new thing that God was doing. He was not to fit what was happening into the old way of life, but to see life as an new adventure of goodness and love.

This is something I find that we as Christians do not do. We are reluctant to view life through the lens of God’s love. We do not trust the spirit within us enough. We think about our feelings first. What others will say? That becomes more important than doing the will of God. Like Peter’s brethren we fit the things that happen around us into our understanding instead of being open to the movement of the spirit and understand that God is doing a new thing.

Sometimes I know it is hard to let go of what we have become accustomed to. It is hard for us to accept things that are different. It is hard to accept rejection. We like the old and do not trust the new. You see it when somebody new comes into the neighbourhood. We may be polite with the hello, but we watch them, and we keep our distance unless circumstances drive us together. God’s love calls us to be open to the spirit of God in others. It requires and open mind and to embrace the world with God’s love and grace. We are not called to bottle up our life or to put in a box, but to be open to new things as God reveals it. If Peter had said no to the people of Joppa because they were unclean, would the people have learnt about Jesus? We drive away people with our close-mindedness. We drive away even our own by not including them into things. We drive them away because they have done things that we do not like. We drive people away by how we treat others. They say ‘if that is how you treat her or him and they are your own how then will you treat me.’

The passage from revelation helps us understand that what we are doing is bringing the new earth and heaven coming into being. It is not something we do tomorrow, but it is to be done now. It is what God does when God reveals an understanding we never had before. Peter understood that God was saying, what God sanctifies, what God blesses, accept it. We should note that God sometimes blesses the things we have always understood as ungodly. In verse 17 Peter says “Since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

Sometimes God’s revelation is different. Sometimes what we thought was ungodly we have to make holy. We do not agree with the act, but we treat the person with dignity. We are called to make the ungodly godly, to make the unholy holy. It is understanding that we are not the only ones that God loves and to whom God is revealed. It is understanding that wherever we are God is always there. And therefore, wherever we stand is holy. Anyone and everyone can experience God, they just need to be open, and we need to lead them there by our acceptance of them as a fellow pilgrim through respect. It is how we love one another. While we do not condone the wrongs that others do, we are called to love the person: the prisoner, the adulterer, the child born in sin, the thief and the murderer even while we go to shut the prison door behind them. We understand they must face the consequences of their action, and we are not there to cushion the blow. We are there to say that God loves you and I love you with the love of the Lord. We are there to reassure them that all will be well.

All our readings speak to God's love and how the Holy Spirit transforms us to be better persons.

God’s love includes everybody. Nobody is left out. All can access it. Jesus showed us that as he never shunned anyone. He was friend to all. We are called to be friends to all.

Psalm 148 tells us that we are all connected. God splendour is seen in the mountains, the seas and in all things, as they too praise God by just existing. By just being themselves the sea-monsters, all the deeps; Fire, hail, snow, fog, the tempestuous wind, all do God’s will.

John 13:31-35 tells us that as Christians we must love. The first letter of John tells us God is Love. God loved us first. God loved us so much that God sent Jesus to show us how to love each other. We as Christians, as individuals,o even if others are not loving we must love. We must be different. We must show God’s love to others and make them experience it. We are challenged to live as God reveals, we are called to accept different, we are called to change the world with love one person and situation at a time. Let us now go in love.