BLAMING THE HOLY SPIRIT

      In the tenth chapter of Acts, Luke tells a story that shook the very foundations of the early church. The Holy Spirit had come and had begun to work in the lives of the disciples and the newly formed church. Up to this point, the church was centered primarily in Jerusalem and made up of a large majority of Jewish Christians. There was a strong feeling among the members of the early church that Jesus had come to them, the only chosen people on earth. 

      But God had different plans for these leaders of the early church, and he began with Peter. God used his Holy Spirit to change the thinking and the hearts of these men and women so that the story of who Jesus is and what he came to do for all people could be told beyond Jerusalem. It is with this mindset Luke gives us the story of how the Holy Spirit can and will intrude upon the lives of people in order for God’s purpose to be fulfilled.

      The story that changed the direction and thinking of the leaders of the early church is found in Acts 10. In the first scene of our story, we meet Cornelius, a Roman army officer. Cornelius, a believer in God, has a vision in which, the Holy Spirit tells him to go find a man named Peter who will help Cornelius move beyond the first step of believing in God, to a personal relationship with a Jewish man named Jesus.

      Meanwhile, Peter also has a vision in which he is shown all kinds of animals, many of them unclean, and told to “kill them and eat.” Kosher Peter refuses saying,“What?! I don’t do that “unclean thing,” Lord! We Jews can’t do that!” And God said to Peter, “What I have made clean and pure, you should not call unclean.” Peter is bewildered by this vision, especially when it happens three times. Divine emphasis!

      When the two men finally get together at Cornelius’ house, they compare their visions and decide it is time for a prayer meeting. But first, Peter is asked to preach to this diverse congregation. He begins, “I’m really beginning to learn that God does not show partiality to one group of people over another. He does not play favorites. As long as each person worships the true God through the revealed person of Jesus Christ, he/she is acceptable to God. No matter social or economic level, skin color, nationality, or language, God accepts all who go through the cross of Jesus. I know Jesus is real because we heard his teachings, saw his crucifixion, ate and drank with him after his resurrection. So we are determined to carry out his command to share his story with all people.”

      This is a story about the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church by changing people. The Holy Spirit brought Peter and Cornelus together into the same church, two very unlikely people. Peter’s eyes were open to the endless possibilities of those outside the walls of First Church Jerusalem. And Cornelius’ hunger to know Jesus as his personal Savior was satisfied. We have the Holy Spirit to blame for the outcome.

      Just as God spoke to Peter to get up and go, he speaks to us. Yet, sometimes we cannot see the infinite possibilities because we are looking at ourselves. There are new things to be done, visions to be carried out, and hungry people to be brought into God’s kingdom. God wants us to stir up the good that is left in the world and tell the Jesus story to all the people we can, in all the ways we can. Peter found out that the gospel story about Jesus was to be shared. It is a universal story to be told in all languages. All are invited to become full members of the family of faith. And we have no one but the Holy Spirit to blame.

Rev Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, October 13, 2013