Hard to Lead? (Easter 6B, Acts 10:44-48)
Scripture: Acts 10:44-48
OK, for those who might be unacquainted with the lectionary, let me note that the Acts passage takes the place of the standard Old Testament reading this week. To keep things together, I therefore categorize it as Old Testament. Acts is in the New Testament, obviously!
How hard is it to lead you into some new idea of way of thinking?
The interesting thing about this chapter, I think, is that it shows just how hard it was to lead the folks in the early church. The Holy Spirt has to push and push. First Peter doesn’t want to go. Then he goes, but he’s reluctant to be there. Finally, the Holy Spirit has to fall on the people first, before they are baptized or have had hands laid on them, and only then does Peter decide they should be baptized.
It’s easy to miss what’s going on because we read with modern eyes. We already know where Peter is going to end up, so we may miss the resistance to crossing this barrier. But even further, we may take a modernistic look down our noses at the poor primitives who didn’t realize that God intended to include everyone in his kingdom.
But before you look down your noes (or into the past) and condemn Peter, ask if there is person or group, or perhaps some style of ministry that God is just waiting to bless, but you are too slow to discover. You might have trouble working with the poor, homeless, the uneducated (or the very educated), people of other nationalities, people of other races (yes, that problem still exists), youth, senior adults, or gays and lesbians. Irrespective of our theology, all of those groups are children of God and we are supposed to be prepared to minister to them. If the inclusion of any one group on the list offends you, consider that the point at which you may need to do some praying!
Perhaps the Holy Spirit is as far ahead of you as he was of Peter!
