"Easter Is For Everyone!" based on Acts 10:34-48
The
Sixth Sunday of Easter
- May 17, 2009
Pastor
Troy Slater - Our
As we
continue to march through the Easter season today, we are confronted in our
first reading, with one of those great truths of Scripture. For as we live our lives in the joy and
security of the Gospel message of Jesus, we hear that this Gospel message has
no bounds, no limits, no exclusions. Tonight we hear that when Jesus said, "God so loved the world that He
gave His only-begotten Son," he meant it; "the world" including
everyone - no one excluded. Christ died
and was raised that "whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Yes tonight in this Easter season we rejoice
in the truth that "Easter is for everyone." …
Although as
we hear from the book of Acts, chapter ten - the last part of which serves as
our First Reading for this evening - it even took the apostle Peter a bit
before he caught on to this great truth.
In fact it took a vision from God and a visit to the house of a Roman
centurion by the name of Cornelius before he caught on to this truth that
"Easter is for everyone." You
might recall that the book of Acts tells us that Cornelius - a Gentile Roman - a
"God-fearing" Gentile Roman but a Gentile nonetheless, he received a
vision from God to send his men to Joppa to get "a man named Simon who is
called Peter." They were to go get
him that Peter might then come to Cornelius' house that Cornelius could then hear
what Peter had to say about Jesus.
And you might also recall how right before
Cornelius' men had reached Peter, Peter had a vision of his own. A vision of a big sheet
coming down from heaven which held all sorts of animals, reptiles, birds, many
of which were deemed to be unclean according to Jewish ceremonial laws. They were the kind of animals that Peter
ordinarily would have had nothing to do with let alone eat as a devout Jewish
man. But the voice of God said, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." But, being a good Jew, following the laws of
Moses, Peter at first refuses this command as he replies, "Surely not, Lord! I have
never eaten anything impure or unclean." But the voice of God says back to him, "Do not call anything impure that God
has made clean." And this scene
repeats itself twice more before Peter gets snapped out of his vision. And then as Peter was "wondering about the meaning of the vision," the book of
Acts tells us that the men sent from Cornelius come knocking on the door to get
Peter. And of course Peter goes; against
the laws of Moses Peter went with these Gentiles to visit the home of the
Gentile Cornelius. …
But Peter
did not have to go with those men. When
faced with the opportunity to visit the home of a Roman centurion - a Gentile -
Peter could have exercised the kind of ethnic prejudice which says, "Why
would I want to go and tell these Gentiles about Jesus. After all they're not like us, they're
different than us. Why should we have to
let those people in? After all, it will only bring about problems
if we start filling the church with their
kind." … No Peter did not have to go.
In fact it's quite interesting that
the city where Peter was staying when he had this vision and when Cornelius'
men come for him - it was Joppa. And if
you know the Old Testament very well then you know that it was Joppa from which
the prophet Jonah had boarded a ship and sailed into the
And so Peter could have run - just
like Jonah. He could have high-tailed it
out of that place and let someone else worry about Cornelius and those of his
household - those Gentiles. But he
didn't. Peter went. He went and spoke those wonderful words that
we have recorded for us today - that great truth of Holy Scripture: "I now realize how true it is that God
does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do
what is right." By the grace of
God, Peter was brought to realize that the Gospel, the good news of Jesus
crucified and risen, the Easter message of life and of victory is for everyone. Easter is for everyone, Peter came to know. And so he preached the Word. He shared the Word - even with Gentiles, even
with THOSE kind
of people. …
If only Christians
in all the church today would believe and - like Peter - live out that simple,
yet profound truth that Easter is for everyone.
It's often said that the Sunday morning worship hour is the most segregated
hour of the week in our land. And I
think that is probably true and certainly there are a lot of different reasons
for that including that people tend to go where they're comfortable - including
to what Christian tradition they are used to.
But I also think that part of the problem is us inside the church. For I think we tend to reach out only to
those who are like us; those who look like us; those who have similar
socio-economic backgrounds as us; those who think like us. In other words I think we forget the fact
that Jesus died and rose so that "whoever
believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life."; we fail to live out the wonderful
truth that "Easter is for everyone." I mean for example how
easily do we accept people of a lower economic status than most of us enjoy? Or, would we find it difficult to treat
people as brothers and sisters in Christ whom we know have past histories for
example of drunk driving or burglary?
Can we give a genuine, heartfelt welcome to those whom "polite
society" has shunned? If not, then shame
on us. Shame on us for Easter is for
everyone.
And really,
when you think about it, it's rather fortunate for us that Easter is for
everyone. Thank God that Jesus died and
rose for all. For if He didn't, I'm
probably in trouble, you're probably in trouble. I mean none of us are anymore deserving of
Jesus and His work of salvation than anyone else. I don't care their background, their
nationality, their ancestry, their history, their sin. It's not because of my birth or your birth,
my deeds or your deeds, my title or yours that the Lord God has had mercy on us
and brought us into His church - and that's right "into HIS church". On my own I'm nothing but a poor, miserable
sinner, deserving only of God's temporal and eternal punishment. If Easter is not for everyone, then I'm in
trouble; WE are in trouble.
But thanks be
to God, it is as Peter discovered. It is
as Peter was brought to realize and to confess, "God
does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do
what is right." … In His grace "God
does not show favoritism." Jesus
died for everyone, even for me, even for you, even for the drug-addict, even
for the prostitute, even for the rich and for the poor. Jesus rose on the third day, even for those
who don't look like us, even for those who have a questionable past, even for
those who may not fit into our idea of a "polite society".
Easter is for everyone. And so let us join with Peter, not keeping
the good news of Christ crucified and risen to ourselves or to "our
kind"; let us drop our
ideas of the church and embrace the
Lord's purpose for His church.
Not showing favoritism, not excluding as if the church is some club of
our own making, but rather faithfully proclaiming the Gospel message, the
Easter message of Jesus to everyone. For indeed, Easter is for everyone. Amen.