Acts 11:1–18 / Psalm 148 / Revelation 21:1–6 / John 13:31–35
This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, May 18, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“COOTIES AND OTHER DISGUSTING STATES”
(Homily texts: Acts 11:1 – 18 & John 13:31 – 35)
As people relate to one another, and
particularly as they get to know one another well, some level of back-and-forth
banter often begins to take place. For example, there might be some sort of
mild teasing. Or, some sort of an “in” joke might develop among these friends
as their relationship develops.
Grade school children often do this
with their classmates. Recall in your own life experiences your time in grade
school…did you accuse other people of having “cooties”? One way I recall this
word being used was to say that boys had “boy cooties”.
In today’s reading from the Book of
Acts, St. Peter is being accused of hanging around with Gentiles. The party
within the Church that advocated the strict adoption of all the requirements of
the Law of Moses (Torah) were essentially saying to Peter, “You shouldn’t be
hanging around with those Gentiles. Don’t you know that they have cooties?”
As the young Church grew, it – and the
Good News of God in Christ that it carried and shared with others – was bound
to attract a wide range of people, including Gentiles. The question before the
Church was to determine who could become a member of this new movement, and on
what grounds could they be admitted.
So serious was this matter that a
council was convened to sort out the various approaches to this subject. You
can read about it in chapter fifteen of the Book of Acts. The council met in
Jerusalem in the year 49 AD.
It’s interesting to note how Luke (the
writer not only of the Gospel account which hears his name, but also the Book
of Acts) describes those who were accusing Peter of bad behavior by hanging
around with non-Jews. Luke uses the term “circumcision party”. We will see this
term again in chapter fifteen as Luke describes the decision-making process
that took place at the Council of Jerusalem. We also read, in Acts 15:5, that
it was the party of the Pharisees who were maintaining that a person couldn’t
enter the Church unless they adhered to all the requirements of the Law of
Moses.
(Did you know that the early Church was
composed of varying sorts of people and groups? Furthermore, it’s worth noting
that – though the early Church was united in its witness to Christ – the Church
varied from place-to-place in its method of organization, theological emphases,
and so forth.[1])
The decisions that were reached at the
Council of Jerusalem amount to a series of compromises. (Surprising? Shouldn’t
be, I don’t think...the Church, at various times in its life, has had to make
compromises on a number of issues.) I commend to your reading and contemplation
the account of the proceedings at the Council of Jerusalem: Acts 15:1 – 29.
As we think about the convictions of
those of the “circumcision party”, we might come to the conclusion that they
had missed something – something important – in Jesus’ own conduct and His
decisions about whom to associate with.
Our Lord hung around with some pretty
disreputable types: Tax collectors, prostitutes, and – yes – Gentiles. Recall
the Lord’s encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman.[2] This woman confronts Jesus’ own perspective,
challenging Him to see that God’s intent was to fold into the divine plan not
only Jews, but also non-Jews, Gentiles.
Moreover, the Lord’s consistent
message, during His earthly ministry, was one of outreach, and one of love.
(See today’s Gospel reading for our Lord’s emphasis on the requirement to
love.) Possessing such a love will be – our Lord says – a marker of discipleship.
If we think about it, we all, every one of us, have “spiritual cooties”. We – in our unredeemed state – are separated from God by our sinful nature. Holy Baptism is the means by which that unclean state is washed away, and we are raised to a new life.[3]
The decisions reached at the Council of
Jerusalem amount to a radical welcome to those who had come to faith in Christ,
but who were not blood descendants of Abraham.
The Council affirms our Lord’s call to amendment of life in its
decisions. The early Church, in its radical welcoming of all persons, also
maintained that becoming a follower of Jesus meant that there would be changes
in life, a change in perspective, growth in the faith, and an abandonment of
the ways of that life that existed before coming to the Lord.
Maintaining a balance between the
radical welcome that marked the early Church’s life, along with its insistence
on a new and holy way of living, one that was marked with the pattern set by
our Lord, isn’t easy. In our own day, such a balance is often missing, either
by those who think the Church is a country club for saints, or by those who
think that “anything goes” for those who are welcomed into the fellowship of
Christ’s body.
AMEN.
[1] With regard to the makeup of the early Church, I commend to you an
excellent book by the New Testament scholar (and Roman Catholic priest) Raymond
Brown, who maintained that there were no less that seven different models of
Church organization and outlooks in the early years of the Church’s existence.
His book (still available) is “The Churches the Apostles Left Behind”.
[2] See Mark 7:24 – 30.
[3] See St. Paul’s description of Baptism in Romans 6:3 – 9.
