So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
“The only good so-and-so is a dead so-and-so.” Fill in the nationality of your choice and you are a member of the sinful human race with billions of members. We have problems with other people and for the Jews in the early church, the Gentiles were those so-and-so’s. Here Peter, no stranger to getting it wrong, is shown in a vision that there is no one who is out of the reach of God’s grace, even the Gentiles. His exclamation, “Truly I now understand…” is a big one for Peter. Jesus constantly corrected Peter’s misunderstandings. Here, the Holy Spirit cleared up what the prophets foretold, that God would draw the nations to himself. With the help of the Holy Spirit and the vision, Peter was able to learn this lesson well.
We would do well to also learn this lesson. The tribalism in the church shows the world that we look like a bunch of so-and-so’s that hate other so-and-so’s in the church. In other words , we look no different than they do. Absolutely, there are truths that need to be defended and wrong is just plain wrong but, on the minor points, we need to take it to heart that God shows no partiality. This calls for humility. Do I know I am right? Is there a possibility that I just think I am right on a given issue? The early Jews were certain the Gentiles were excluded until Peter understood that they are accepted. We should accept those the Lord calls to himself and not call them so-and-so’s but…
Saved and sent.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church