I'm beginning to develop quite a soft spot for Peter. The poor man has been through such a journey with us. From the beginning when we saw him, just as Simon being a fisher of men, having seen a miracle, with us. From the beginning when we saw him, just as we saw him, the people, we know him along the same way. witnessed a death in a house near Bethany, and then having been called again by Jesus, and having seen the nets be made full, you know, Peter's life is a series of moments where it seems he knows what ought to be, how his life should unfold, and God's story with him is that of interruption.
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He catches fish in a regular way. God changes how he changes fish, and he can't even handle all that he carries. He thinks he's to be a fisher of fish. He's turned into a fisher of man. Remember, Peter goes through this journey of being high, the rock upon which Jesus will build his church, and he thinks that's all there will be, and then he falls and sins three times.
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He then goes back to fishing, thinking he blew it, and his shot at being an apostle's over, and Jesus interrupts him again, shakes him by the collar, gives him an opportunity to untie the knots in his heart, and Peter is again remade, the rock and pillar upon which Jesus will build his church.
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Jesus ascends, and at this point you're thinking, okay, surely it's over. Peter is fully restored. No more interruptions for Peter. It's all good now. He finally gets it, and what happens? Immediately upon Jesus' ascension, there emerges a fight within the church. Does that surprise anybody, that there could be a fight in the church ever?
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It emerges out of a fundamental tension which isn't fully explored in the New Testament. It's a little bit fuzzy when Jesus ascends, and the question is this. Do Christians have to follow the law? Which is a parallel to this other question related, which is, do Christians need to become Jewish? Is Jesus simply for Jewish people?
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So, Peter and the disciples can be forgiven for initially thinking that they were part of a small movement. They were part of a small Reform Jewish movement, that their ministry was to Jerusalem. Their work was for those who would eat, not eat pork, who would follow the 613 laws of Moses. And those laws were fairly prohibitive. They formed a closed -off society.
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You see in Acts today that the laws create a tension between even being able to eat with the Gentiles, the non -Jews, those of the nations. There was a tension. There was a fight. You know, Peter and the disciples in Jerusalem believed they had it all figured out. And then there emerges this other disciple, this other apostle, who none of them have ever even met before, who happens to have gone blind on a road to Damascus, who used to persecute them. Do you know who I speak of? Saul, who becomes Paul.
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See, they think, hey, we got it all figured out. We are the ones that knew Jesus. We have this ministry figured out in Jerusalem, and then God interrupts them again. God throws a curveball through Paul, who bears a different message. Paul, having not been in Jerusalem, having not followed Jesus, comes to things from a fresh point of view, not unlike a new member coming to a church and having some new ideas and maybe shaking us a little bit.
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In what word does he bring to the disciples? He brings to them word that Jesus came for all the world. Paul bears the news, the revelation from God, which Peter receives in Acts this morning, that those following the Jesus way need not follow the law.
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Why is that so important? It's so important because if it were the case that all who followed Jesus had to follow the law, the Gentiles would be excluded. They would have to radically change their lives. They would have to undergo surgical procedures. They would have to change how they ate. They would have to utterly transform their lives and leave their families. And Paul's message out to the world would have fallen on deaf ears.
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Paul, knowing the stakes of this issue, knowing that his ministry will not succeed if they are forced to follow these laws, receives word from God. That Jesus has fulfilled it. That word then trickles down to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. He receives this vision this morning telling him to eat these animals and kill these animals.
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And what the vision is conveying is that Peter need not as well follow the law, that he can eat the prohibited foods, that he can eat with Gentiles, that he can wear the prohibited clothes. Those are little details, but the bigger point altogether, that his ministry, his legacy is for all the world. You see, Peter thought he was preaching to Jerusalem. Instead, he was preaching to the world for the ages.
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It so often happens to us that we think this moment, this action, this day is only about today. It's only about me. We are always seemingly unaware of the broader narrative, the broader theme that God is weaving in and amongst and through each of our lives.
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I'm beginning to develop a tagline for Peter, the interrupted one, the one who God continually shakes, and what makes Peter special is that even though it takes him a second, even though he stutters and falls three times, he proceeds to get up three times. He proceeds to continue to go, and he finds a way not to hinder what God is doing.
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This ancient fight has long been settled, my friends, although sometimes it seems we've forgotten it. Christians do not have to follow the law. We do not do this. We do not follow it. In fact, I imagine amongst us this day, there are something to the order of 100 or 150 violations. The prescription of which is, the resolution of which should mostly be death, which makes you wonder who gets to throw a stone first, right?
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We sometimes forget that. God, we sometimes, in our frailty and smallness of perspective, begin to want to pick and choose our favorites and apply them to the vulnerable, to the oppressed, to those marginalized. When we want to, we'll dig up a passage from Leviticus, the book we've never actually read, and start throwing it at someone, calling them evil, not realizing that what we're throwing is a boomerang that's going to come around and hit us too.
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Oh, my friends, we must take heed that the new law we receive in Jesus the Christ is a love of neighbor and a love of God and a love of self, and after that, we have got to discern the rest. the Holy Spirit. Very often people essentially ask me some version of, give me the rule, give me the law, give me the list. Can't it just be as simple as the Ten Commandments? And I say, Jesus says no.
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Jesus says, Paul says, Peter says that the work of the Spirit is still unfolding and we cannot place a period where God has placed a comma. Sometimes we yearn like Peter to be settled and undisturbed. We want the world to be how we think it ought to be, but yet God comes, takes us by the collar and shakes us and interrupts us, at which time we may as well be called Peter.
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For that is what happens to him. Today's visions from Peter teach us a few things. One, they remind us that God is for all of us, for every congregation, and that alone should widen our gaze beyond just these pews. That's one kind of message.
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Another kind of message is that when we become too settled, when we become too stubborn, we can find ourselves a hindrance rather than an aid to the unfolding of the symphony God is playing and conducting. That should be something we take home with us.
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And I also think it teaches us something about the Holy Spirit. I said this in Bible study earlier in the week. I think it's important. I think every one of us, unless you're an angel yourself and I don't know it, has some sort of struggle with the Holy Spirit if we're honest.
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What do I mean by that? I mean that the Holy Spirit is knocking on the door of each of our lives, no matter where you are in life. And all of us are struggling to respond. Me included. Pope Leo included. Literally all of us. Peter included.
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I think the struggle we have can be basically coming down to two sorts of problems. The first is one of confusion. Someone will say to me, Pastor, I know the Holy Spirit is doing something. I know I'm being interrupted. I know I'm being called, but I don't know what to. And I say, then pray for clarity. Pray for discernment. That's one kind of challenge.
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Then there's a second kind of challenge which I faced regularly in my life, which is I know what the Holy Spirit wants, but I don't want to do it. Or I don't have the courage to do it. Deep down. I know I'm not called to this. I'm called to that, but I can't do that. At that moment, we must pray for courage and for support. There's no turning back.
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Once you've seen what the Holy Spirit wants you to do, you will do it, or God will send a fish, or God will come and interrupt you. Now, the lesson I want us to take is that we're all, Peter, being shaken awake. We are all being called by the Holy Spirit to do, whether we are confused or whether we are in need of courage, we are struggling to respond.
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I pray that we will find the courage and clarity we need. I pray that we will continue to promote rather than hinder the themes God is laying out, that our vision would be worldwide and that we would proclaim the gospel to all, for all, and we won't get stuck on any laws.
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All these things I pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, who lived and died and resurrected for all, who transforms all, who gives all the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us be clear and let us be courageous. Amen.
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