Love One Another!

Easter + 5

Year C

18 May 2025

Acts 11:1-18

Psalm 148

Revelation 21:1-6

John 13:31-35

Risen Christ,

your wounds declare God’s love for the world

and the wonder of your risen life

gives us compassion and courage

to risk ourselves for those we serve,

to the glory of God the Father.  Amen.

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Looking at it, todays reading from Acts is able to be so profound in a world where we continually draw lines and build walls.

It’s profound in a world where we strive to define the company we will keep by whether or not they look like the image that stares back at us from the mirror.

In Acts, today we see that Peter returns to Jerusalem, and he needs to face those who think that Christianity needs to be kept only among those who come from Jewish roots, and who were raised with Hebrew traditions like them, like Jesus.

“The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him ³ and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”” (Acts 11:1-3)

And we have to look at where they’re coming from. They don’t know of the vision that Peter had on the rooftop. They don’t know of God’s directions, to Peter through that time of vision. They don’t know of the committee who came to Peter there and asked to become Christians.

Rather, they’ve stayed in Jerusalem. They’ve continued worshipping in the temple and praising God. They’ve continued to tell the accounts of Jesus’ birth, life, teachings, death, and resurrection.

But they don’t see why those who are ‘uncircumcised’ would not just choose to join the community of believers in Judaism but instead would choose to be counted among their numbers as Children of God.

To them, the logical route for all converts to Christianity would be via the rites of the Hebrew faith.

In some ways this is like a faith community whose building is only accessible by stairs who can’t see why they need wheelchair access to their building if no one in their current membership is in a wheelchair. It’s not a thought they have until one of their members needs such access.

But Peter, following the vision from God, following the urging of the Holy Spirit baptized this family of uncircumcised followers of the living Christ, and this is the explanation that he brings to the community at Jerusalem.

“⁴ Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story.” (Acts 11:4)

He told them of the vision on the rooftop.

He explained his following where and how the Holy Trinity leads.

And this is the key.

When we leave ourselves open to how, where, and why the Holy Spirit leads, then our participation in the world is so much greater than we could ever imagine.

“⁴ Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. ⁶ I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. ⁷ Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

⁸ “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’” (Acts 11:4-8)

Now, lets get this straight, Peter didn’t easily choose to accept the will of God when it came to him in a vision.

In verse 8, he balks, he stops short, he tries to turn away and take refuge in the laws governing Hebraism, laws that God gave through Moses to the people.

“⁹ “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

¹¹ “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.” (Acts 11:9-11)

Through God, this vision came to Peter three times in his session of prayer and meditation. Through the vision God opened Peter’s mind to embrace the variety of hearts and lives that yearn for God, although they come from different backgrounds and heritages.

Remember the centurion at the foot of the cross? Mark’s gospel tells us: “³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. … ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”” (Mk 15:37-39)

And so, we return to Acts, to Peter’s explanation of the working of the Holy Spirit, of God for all who desire, as do we, to be children of God to the community of believers at Jerusalem.

Peter tells us: “¹² The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.: (Acts 11: 12)

Now, I grew up in the Canadian German tradition of the Lutheran church, and to be honest, I wasn’t even aware that the Lutheran tradition was expressed through other cultures until my time at Seminary.

But with that increased knowledge came an appreciation of what these other cultures, other perspectives are able to bring to the worship of God in and through our Lutheran tradition.

In the world, in our lives, we are able to see that through Peter’s vision, God encourages us to take down walls.

Rather, we are encouraged to build bridges. We are encouraged to expand our relationships, to widen our base of experience so that our presence in the world is saturated with the Holy Spirit, and so that God is able to be present in the hearts of all who continue, today, to yearn for the love of God in their lives and their hearts.

Peter tells us of his time with the gentile family who came to him and asked to become part of the Christian community.

He tells us: “¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”” (Acts 11:15-17)

And we are able to see this reflected in the passage from Revelation, for today, as well.

St John tells us, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Rev 21:1-3)

We are in a time of change. God is making all things new, and this begins with how we see the world. It begins with urging us to build bridges, to take down walls.

We are urged to reach out to those who may not look like us, or worship like us but still have the same yearning for God’s participation in their lives as we have for our own lives.

During his life, Pope Francis urged all believers to take down walls, and to build bridges, not just in reality but in every facet of life in this world. To not erect barriers, whether physical or economic, between peoples so that all have the same chances for life and prosperity.

And this is a gift from God, that we are able to strive to improve ourselves, our lives, and to give different challenges to our children than we faced in life.

Pope Leo XIV in his first addresses to the faithful, gave the same message: to build bridges, to take down walls, and to treat each other fairly.

Even Jesus urges us to love, and to grow in that love throughout the world, today.

Jesus tells us: “³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”” (Jn 13:34-35)

Now, looking at this we are able to choose to look only within our walls and to love each other with God’s love, but how does that build bridges? How does that take down walls?

How does that encourage God’s love to be an active participant in our lives and in the lives of all those whom we meet in the world?

Rather we are urged to leave the upper room. We are encouraged to get out and step into paths that we may not have encountered previously and to love each other in the light of God’s love unconditionally, as we are loved by God unconditionally.

Peter defends his actions to those who, in their minds are still in the upper room. They’re afraid of what might happen should they step away from the locked room and into the world. And they have this apprehension with good reason. They saw their Lord and Master, Jesus Christ arrested, crucified and buried because of the politics of the day.

“¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸ When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:17-18)

This, this is a brand-new day.  Today we are able to see the world in such a new light, thanks to God’s love, thanks to the working of the Holy Spirit, and thanks to Peter who follows where God leads.

We have such examples before us; we carry them within us. How will we, each one of us, go where we cannot see the ending?

Will we trust God to lead us into the future that God can see but that is veiled to each one of us?

Sure, its scary, but we aren’t alone. We walk in the light of God, in the presence of the Trinity, and we encourage others as we build bridges from those former walls.

Revelation tells us: “⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, … To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.” (Rev 21:5a, 6b)

We are able to offer others the chance to stand before God, as we do, trusting in the urging of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and for our future, together.

Amen.