May 5, 2007                                            

 Pastor Judy Bangsund

 

"Fracture and Frontiers: Blessed to be a Blessing"

Acts 11:1-18

 

One of my favorite CD’s is a collection of Peter, Paul, and Mary albums.  Although they are a folk group from the 60's, their music is still popular today, and until recently they have continued to do concerts together.  When they do that, they not only sing but sometimes they also invite the audience to sing along, and young and old alike – all generations–  join in enthusiastically, because they know these songs– many of which have become part of our culture.

 Well, one evening they were teaching the audience the various parts to “Rock-a my soul.”  You probably know it; fun song.  Of course, the content is about zero, but the song is easy to sing and fun to do in parts.  Paul introduced the song by dividing up the audience into two groups.  He said, “All of you on the right side, you are the In Group.”  And he proceeded to teach them the melody.  Then he turned to the other side of the auditorium and said, “All of you on the left side, you are.... the Out Group.”  In good American style they all cheered.  In the 60's, to be in the Out Group was a badge of honor!  Then he said, “Of course, the Out Group always sings better than the In Group –” And then the entire audience cheered and laughed and then they all really rocked that song!

 In the previous two weeks we have heard how the Gospel was spread, beginning at home, in Jerusalem; and then out to the surrounding countryside, Judea.  Although the circle had certainly widened, the Gospel was still contained within the In Group, that is, the Jews, God’s chosen people.  Gentiles, that is, everyone else, were still pretty much excluded.  Today we have heard in our text of an amazing new frontier:  that the Gospel is also for “Gentiles.”  In the words of our key verse from Acts 1, this is a move beyond people who are like us (Jerusalem and Judea) towards people who are unlike us (Samaria).  In plain terms, the Gospel is not only for the insiders but also for outsiders.

Samaritans, by the way, were a special class of Gentile.  They themselves probably would not consider themselves to be Gentiles, but rather part of the Jewish family.  They were a group that had historically split from the nation of Israel, intermarried with foreigners, and developed their own version of the Scriptures, while still worshiping the God of Jacob and observing the Torah.  Jews considered Samaritans to be half-breeds, therefore, contemptible.  We read in the New Testament of an on-going enmity between Jews and Samaritans, whom we might call half-brothers. 

Anyone who has experienced alienation within the family would agree that bad feeling finds its worst expression within families.  So Jesus’ command to spread the Gospel to Samaria was important.  Who wants to bring good news to their worst enemy?  If Gentiles are the outsiders, so much more were Samaritans.  Another fracture – a fracture of mindset, of world view – was required in order to overcome long-held barriers to this new frontier.

This new frontier required some pretty fancy footwork on God’s part, and that’s what we are seeing in our text today, with Peter and his vision.  God had to fracture yet another world view, a world view that said God’s chosen people is exclusively the Jewish nation, whose identity was bound up in following the Law.  God had indeed chosen– in fact, created– this nation to be holy, to be different from surrounding nations– and the Law made them see this difference.  Certain laws prescribed certain kinds of dress, certain kinds of food, and certain rituals for cleanliness.  These laws– some of which are dealt with in our text today– emphasized the difference between the Jews and everyone else.  Over time, these laws became an end to themselves.

However, God’s intention, right from the beginning, was not to create a group of insiders, but rather to be a point of contact with the rest of the world:  a holy people, a nation of priests, who were blessed to be a blessing.  Often, the Jews forgot about that part, and from time to time God would remind them– as in the case of Jonah (those of you who have been studying this book know what I’m talking about).

Way back in the beginning, God made this promise to Abraham:

"Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Now, thousands of years later, God had fulfilled that promise through Christ.  Jesus, himself a Jew, became a doorway for all peoples to gain salvation.  But God had to convince Peter and the other Jewish Christians of this truth.  In order to reopen the borders to a this frontier, God sent Peter a vision which fractured his view about Gentiles.  As it turns out, they weren’t outsiders after all!  No longer were there Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but, as Paul later proclaimed, all were to be one in Christ.  This fracture of the old world view was an enlargement of the prophesy of Hosea, when God said:

“I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. ' I will say to those called 'Not my people, ' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'"

Later, in one of his own letters Peter announces this great truth to Christians– both Jew and Gentile,

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.   Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.

The Jews were chosen, not to be the In Group, but to be a blessing to others.  Blessed, to be a blessing.  Blessed with the Messiah, himself a Jew, to bring the message of the Gospel to others– Jew and Gentile, Jew and Samaritan, alike.

Well, what does this mean for us?  You might say, “Well, Pastor, that’s a very nice message.  But I have no enemies.  We’re all in the In group, I guess. I pretty much get along with everyone.  There’s no issue here for me.”  We, as Americans or westerners in general, pride ourselves of being rather egalitarian peoples, don’t we?  We live in a class-less society, don’t we?  No outsiders here.  We are all insiders.... right?

I wonder.  I wonder if each of us has, in some way, drawn an imaginary line regarding who is in and who is out.  In society, in politics and in other areas of life, certain unnamed lines may be drawn.  And how about our faith?  Where do we draw the lines?  When it comes right down to it, who may be saved, and who might as well not apply?

Let me try to bring this home for you.  I read a story in the NY Times about a month ago, that brought it home for me.  It was about Jeffrey Dahmer’s pastor, Roy Ratcliff.

Do you remember Jeffrey Dahmer?  In 1991 Jeffrey was convicted of the murders of 17 men and boys.  I won’t go into details; they’re pretty gruesome and not fit for polite society.  Suffice it to say that Jeffrey was the worst of criminals, and that even in a day and age when violence has become commonplace, people were appalled and shocked by his crimes.  Most people today would not consider Jeffrey to be a candidate for heaven; he would probably be in the same category with Hitler or Saddam Hussein.  Maybe worse.

Well, one day while in prison, Jeffrey asked to meet with a pastor.  Rev. Roy Ratcliff was the one that was called to come in.  Not ever having met with a prisoner before, the pastor was apprehensive.  But he was called and so he went.  And after a number of visits and several long discussions, an amazing event took place.  Jeffrey Dahmer requested baptism.  This at first gave Pastor Ratcliff pause, of course.  But he became convinced that Jeffrey understood some key points: first, that baptism wasn’t a ploy to get out of prison; even though baptized, Jeffrey would still have to serve out his sentence.  Second, that Jeffrey admitted to and deplored his crimes and repented of all his sin; and third, that Jeffrey was looking for God’s forgiveness, a chance to be reborn, to be made a child in God’s family.  "He was seeking redemption," Ratcliff says, recalling how Dahmer often spoke of being the worst of sinners. "He was seeking forgiveness."  So Pastor Ratcliff baptized Jeffrey.

Not long after his baptism, Jeffrey was murdered in prison by some of his fellow prisoners.  The story made the press, of course, and Pastor Ratcliff’s name surfaced before public view as the one who had baptized Jeffrey Dahmer.  And then something very thought-provoking took place.  A few people supported Pastor Ratcliff for his action; but many more shunned him, denounced him; saying that they did not want to go to Heaven if Jeffrey Dahmer was there.

Well, how do you feel about that?  Can such a hardened criminal, a killer, repent?  Is the Gospel for them, too?  Would you have joined other Christians in denouncing this pastor for baptizing Jeffrey?

I have to admit, it’s tough meat.  Tough to chew, hard to swallow.  But it puts the In Group and Out Group into a new light, doesn’t it?

Let me tell you another, similar story, one told to me by a student evangelist in Africa. This evangelist had accompanied his bishop to a prison, where the bishop preached and then offered Communion.  One prisoner stood up and asked, “What are you saying?  I am a murderer.  I killed someone.  Are you saying that I can come forward and take the Lord’s Supper?  I am not worthy!”  And he sat down, his head bowed in shame.

There was complete silence in the room.  And then the bishop walked over to that prisoner, put his hand on his shoulder and said, “The Lord’s Supper is meant for people exactly like you.  It is meant for you, and for all who admit their sin and who know that they are not worthy.  I’m not worthy either.  But Jesus is, and he is the one who invites us.”

You know what?  The truth is, not one of us here is an insider– if, by that we mean, worthy of salvation, better than anybody else.  We are all outsiders, outside of God’s standard of worthiness.  Whether bishop or prisoner, good guy or bad guy, Jew or Gentile, we are all outsiders.  The good news is that Christ has declared us to be insiders.  He took our sin on his own shoulders, there on the cross, and died in our place.  He became the ultimate Outsider, crucified outside the city, so that we could be made Insiders, God’s own people, God’s holy nation, blessed to be a blessing.

You know, Peter was surprised by that vision that day.  He never expected it.  Pastor Radcliffe was surprised by a call from a prison to visit the worst of criminals; and by that criminal’s request for baptism.  You may be surprised, too, by a contact you never expected, perhaps from someone you consider to be an “outsider.”  When that happens, stop and listen.  God may be trying to do something new in your life, and in the life of someone else.  He may be fracturing your current world view in order to expand your frontiers– for Jesus.

 Today we are called to the Lord’s table.  We come, not because we are worthy, but because Jesus is.  We all come as outsiders, and we come to be blessed; we leave as insiders, to carry that blessing to others. Blessed, to be a blessing.  AMEN.