Outlining Justice

 Acts 10                Psalm 120           Exodus 21-22

The story of the early church continues in Acts 10 as the stories of Gentiles, non-Jews, begin to experience God in a new way and the Jews are forced to begin dealing with the changes that are coming that will change their way of life as well. A Roman centurion, who fears God along with the rest of his family and has supported the local Jews but donating to the local synagogue to help the poor has a vision from God that becomes a story of change and new relationships.

Told to send those he commands to another town and to find a man named Peter and bring him back to him and his family because he has a message for them. As I read this, I thought about how each person in the story is challenged to do things that go against their normal beliefs and way of like.

The centurion has a vision in a dream and told to send for someone he doesn’t know because his prayers and gifts have been well received by God. When he awakes he sends for Peter.

As the centurion’s men approach the house where Peter is staying, the home of a tanner, Peter is resting on the roof before dinner. Finding him in the home of a person that deals with dead animal skins is in itself interesting since good Jews avoid those that touch the dead. Now Peter has a vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven and it is filled with unclean animals with the command, “Kill and eat!” This goes against everything Peter has been taught his whole life is proper and his response is, “Never” God’s response is “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

Peter wakes up confused about what all this could mean. It challenges so much of what he has been taught about God, life and holy living. While thinking about this the Spirit told him there were three men looking for him and he should go with them. He is not to worry about going with them because the Spirit sent them. When he goes down to meet them, Gentiles, he invites them into the place where he is staying for the night.

The next morning Peter gathers a few others up and they begin this journey back to the centurion’s home. The gentile centurion tells Peter of his vision and that he is ready to hear the message Peter has for him and his family. Suddenly, Peter understands what the Spirit was directing him to do. He shares the gospel with this family, they are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in tongues exalting God. The Jews that are with him are amazed that God is working, without their intervention, and transforming lives in ways they never expected. The family is baptized into the Kingdom of God.

As I read through this today, I couldn’t help think about each of the people in this story that followed God’s leading, through the Holy Spirit, in ways and to places they would not have chosen to go and to people they would rather not be seen with. When each were obedient to the Spirit God did amazing things in their midst.

Psalm 120 quickly reminds us that the people of God reside in the midst of those that would seek to destroy them and will use lies and deceit to accomplish their goal. While our desire is for peace it must be because we seek God’s will and those opposed to God will seek war.

In Exodus 21 and 22 God begins laying out the outline of the laws to how they are to govern the people, both the people of God and gentiles. These will challenge our thinking, and many will find them disturbing because our lives, expectation and beliefs in what is right and wrong are in such great conflict with much of what is here. First, we must remember that what was normal practice and acceptable in this time was very different than we believe today. I found reading this after reading the passage in Acts 10 to show that God does adjust his demands on us based on the context in which we live. What doesn’t change is the expectation that we will treat others with respect and dignity and as a child of God. There is great wisdom here when we look to God laying out the relationship and the demand for justice to prevail. There is great difference between intent and action, between accidents and intentional destruction.

Today’s reading reminds me that God is always working through the Holy Spirit to challenge us to live the life that more nearly reflect Him to the world around us. In the end, judgement will be made on our obedience and that judgement will be just.