What's a Witness to Do? Love Everybody.

Acts 11:1-18, John 13:31-35

"Meanwhile, Peter stayed in Joppa with a certain Simon, a tanner." That's where the Book of the Acts of the Apostles left us, last week, in the exciting saga of the first Christians. Peter and all of the disciples were just figuring out what to do, post-Jesus. When Jesus was with them, he was at times incomprehensible, maddening, but at least he was there, and they could follow him. In this post resurrection world, they were finding their own way, with the help of the Holy Spirit and angels and visions. Like us, they were sometimes blind, but sometimes they could see.
And I truly see, Peter said in the 10th chapter, that God shows no partiality. This is not new information, this is something from way back in the law and the prophets, that God is the God of all the people, not just "us" but also "them." God is the God of Naomi of Bethlehem and Ruth of Moab; God is the God of Jerusalem and of Nineveh. God is the God of Judea and Samaria. Love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus said. How simple is that? Simple, to understand. As we know, difficult to practice. Because, it just seems like there is something at work in us that looks for somebody to hate, somebody to blame for all our troubles, somebody to stand against. The gospel writers themselves could not avoid demonizing somebody. In the gospel of John it is "the Jews," for which I prefer to substitute the term "the religious authorities" because, really, almost every character in the gospel is a Jew, including Jesus, and his mother, and the beloved disciple John, and Peter and all of the disciples. Except for a few minor Roman characters, everyone in the gospel is a Jew. Two thousand years of Church-sanctioned but not Christ-sanctioned violence against Jews and Muslims, women and homosexuals: this is evidence of how difficult it has been to follow this simple commandment, love one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. And who is my neighbor?
Into the mind of Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, into the mind of Peter flowed this vision, three times. The vision seemed to be all about food, and it was puzzling. But when the messengers came from the centurion's household, perhaps Peter remembered what Jesus had taught him in the parable of the good Samaritan. Who is my neighbor? Whoever is in need, whoever shows compassion. Cornelius is both in need of and a provider of compassion. Aren't we all?
We need the church, as much as Cornelius needed the church. Cornelius didn't need conversion, the way Saul/Paul the persecutor of the church needed conversion. Cornelius was already a righteous man, a worshiper of God, a generous man full of good works. And yet, he lived on the margins of the community of faith. Until he sent for Peter, and became a part of the vision of the church without boundaries.
The church needed Cornelius, as much as the church needs us. Peter needed Cornelius to complete the interpretation of his vision. We need each other, we all need each other.
As we come to this table today, we remember that we feed each other with the presence of Christ. We are Christ-bearers and interpreters of visions to each other. In our relationship to one another we practice Christ's command to love one another, because as simple as it is, it is so difficult. Beloved, let us love one another.