Easter 5
The first reading from last week and this week from the book of Acts shows the spread of the Gospel to Gentiles, non-Jews. Last week we heard about the Ethiopian government official to whom St. Philip told the good news about Jesus. This Ethiopian official followed the religion of the OT, going to Jerusalem and the temple to worship, but, being an Ethiopian, he was not a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And of course this week we see something similar--although our reading is rather odd because it begins with Peter speaking but we don’t know to whom. We have to go to our bibles to find out who the people are. And there we find out it is to a man named Cornelius with his relatives and close friends in the city of Caesarea. St. Luke describes Cornelius this way: a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. Caesarea was a port city built by Herod and named after the emperor. A cohort--which was 600 Roman soldiers-- was stationed there. And Cornelius being a centurion was in command of 100 of them. This cohort was made up of volunteers from Italy. Cornelius wasn’t typical; he was a devout man and one who feared God. Although Cornelius was “attached” to the Jewish religion--probably like many Gentiles finding appealing its worship of one God, its morality, and life centered around the synagogue--Cornelius wasn’t regarded by the Jews as a “full Jew.” And, of course, he was a Gentile but he and his family professed and lived the Jewish faith: he gave alms generously to the people, because from the Jews, Cornelius received a knowledge of the true God and that glorious promise of the coming Savior; and his faith was living and active: and [he] prayed to God always. So like the Ethopian from last week’s reading, Cornelius knows and loves the true God and is seeking to grow in his faith--but he is not physically a Jew, a descendant from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he is a Gentile.
So what about Gentiles? Are Gentiles, too, to hear the good news about Jesus and be part of His holy people, the Church? The answer to us is an obvious--Yes! But it was a big step for the early Church to go from a predominantly Jewish group to one that would also include Gentiles. And that’s the significance of these accounts from Acts that we have been hearing. It is the fulfillment of Jesus’ words that His word is to go out to and embrace all people with His gifts and blessings.
In today’s reading from Acts, the Lord makes it so abundantly clear that His work and the Gospel are for Gentiles, non-Jews, too. And what is it that we see that points to God blessing the work of missions to the Gentiles? We have a mini repeat of Pentecost: While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out, even on Gentiles. The Holy Spirit came upon these Gentile believers in a way human senses could notice: For they heard them speaking in other languages and praising God. These Gentile converts to the Christian faith did not first have to become Jewish before becoming Christians and receiving the Holy Spirit. Here the Holy Spirit made His presence known in them by giving them the gift of being able to speak in known human languages they had never before studied/ learned--like the disciples on Pentecost. All the circumcised believers who had come with Peter, that is, Jewish Christians, heard the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work! The fact that the Gentiles were hearing and receiving the Gospel is a fulfillment of prophecy that the Jews, because of their rejection of Jesus, would be “replaced” by the Gentiles. And that’s the significance of For they heard them speaking in other languages and praising God. Because Israel would not listen to the Lord when He spoke in plain words in her language, He would address her in foreign tongues as a sign of His alienation from her [Is.28.11,12].
One other note: both last week’s account with the Ethiopian official and here with Cornelius we see the centrality of Holy Baptism. Last week we heard the official say: Look, here is water. What is there to prevent me from being baptized? Baptism, far from being some extraneous extra at the fringe of teaching, was so central to St. Philip’s proclamation, the official looked for the first opportunity for baptism. And today we heard St. Peter: Certainly no one can refuse water for baptizing these people! Baptism is front and center for St. Peter in his proclamation of Jesus.
Remember last Sunday’s Gospel where we heard Jesus tell us: I am the Vine; you are the branches. It is precisely through the water and word of Holy Baptism that Jesus, the true Vine, produces us, His branches.
Today’s Gospel picks up Jesus’ words right where last week’s ended. And now our Lord focuses on love--first His love for us and then our love for each other. In our text Jesus says: This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. Yes, that is a seemingly impossible command. How can we love as perfectly as Jesus loves us? That is something that we will never be able to do, but it is something we will always strive to do and by the working and power of the Holy Spirit in us and as we are united to Jesus as the branch to the vine, our lives will be filled with more and more love toward God and each other. Yes, our old sinful nature will always continue to raise its ugly head to keep us from loving as we should; it will always strive to place us and our desires front and center. But that’s why we fight against sin. That’s why to love is not a mere feeling and emotion; it is an act of the will! Led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we strive not for our own good but desire the good of the other!
But when we hear: This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you let us not just hear the seemingly impossible command Love one another as I have loved you, as the standard, but let us take that word and treasure the word: as I have loved you because that means what? Jesus has and He continues to love us! His love for us is first! What does He say in our text? You did not choose Me, but I chose you… The very fact that we are Christians is not because we decided to follow Jesus; it’s not because we are so good and holy; it’s not because of anything in us that makes Jesus “have to” choose us. It’s simply His grace and mercy to us that He came to us to bring us to faith in Him, to work that faith in us that says “Yes!” and “Amen!” to Him and His word and promises. That we are Christians depends on divine initiative, not human choice. His love to us was first. He loved us and chose us as His dear Christians without any merit and worthiness in us. What glorious words these are: as I have loved you. We love Jesus, we are His friends because of His love to us first; our friendship is based on Him and His definite/ certain love toward us, not our fickle and fleeting thoughts and emotions, our imperfect love of Him. St. Paul writes of this [Rm. 5.6]: For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. That’s His glorious love; that’s the as I have loved you. That’s why we are His friends now, why we are Christians--His love for us first!
This is important--Jesus loves us and calls us friends even though He knows exactly how we are, what great sinners we are. Think of St. Peter’s sermon to Cornelius and family where he said: Indeed, we are witnesses of all the things [Jesus] did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem, yet they killed Him by hanging Him on a cross. Jesus came to this world--the very God Himself came into our world and became one of us and saw us at our worst. And yet what? --as I have loved you. He still loved us even as all of us by our representatives--the Jews and Romans--killed Him on the cross. But it was precisely in this love that He came, knowing perfectly all that He would endure, knowing what His love for us would cost Him. That is the greatest love, as Jesus says in our text: No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.
So yes, by our sin we killed Jesus! So when St. Peter preaches: But God raised Him on the third day and caused Him to be seen… Does Jesus come back in rage and fury? No! He returned in forgiving love! He came back having, by His suffering and death, reconciled all of sinful humanity to God. Now He comes to each of us, dear Christian, and draws us into a new life--a life of friendship with Him, a life of friendship with God, a friendship grounded on His love for us first.
What is that life like? Jesus tells us: I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I heard from My Father, I have made known to you. Not only does Jesus show us His love as He died on the cross for our sins, but He shows us His love as He reveals to us in holy Scripture who He, the true God, is and what He has done for us and our salvation; He reveals God to us--who He is--His essence and will-- and His love of us. Now, in Jesus, we know God rightly and His thoughts and intentions toward us/ His love for us. There can be no doubt. We, dear Christian, are friends of Jesus.
Jesus so abundantly and clearly shows us His love and that He is our friend. How do we show that we are His friends? Our text: You are my friends if you continue to do the things I instruct you. It is an honor to be called a friend of Jesus. And it is a great joy! Yes, Jesus’ love for us is there first: as I have loved you but now that He is our friend we love Him and now we show Him our love--as imperfect as it may be--by striving to do His will/ striving to fight against sin/ by striving to share His love with those who don’t know Him. We respond to His love for us by giving ourselves back to God by love and obedience. And that’s why it’s important that right after saying You are my friends if you continue to do the things I instruct you, Jesus adds: I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. There is a huge difference between a servant/ slave and a friend. A servant obeys the master out of fear or out of a sense of duty. But a friend obeys out of love and the internal desire to do what is good and right. The outward act is the same, but the motive is very different! So what does that mean? It means that for the Christian, good works are necessary! They are not necessary for us to be saved by them, but they are necessary because they flow from faith and love, they flow from a believing heart, a heart that recognizes Jesus as its dearest friend and wants to do His will. Good works, doing the things that Jesus instructs, flow from a heart that is united with Jesus as a branch to the vine. And there is great joy for the Christian when we work willingly to do the Lord’s will because there we know the Holy Spirit is at work in us, that we are in Christ and He is in us. Our greatest joy is to love Jesus and to love each other; we want our love of God and our neighbor to be as full and perfect as Jesus’ love toward us is. Where there isn’t that desire to love--to be sure our love will never be perfect--but where there’s no desire to love the Lord and obey His teachings and to love others like Jesus loved us, then we have to question whether what we call “faith” is really faith or just a figment of our imaginations/ a deception. Our lives of mutual love--God’s love of us, our love of God and our love of neighbor--is what distinguishes the Christian. Is that said of us? These things I am instructing you, so that you love one another. Jesus’ love for us is first and that we are His friends is shown by the fruit of love. INJ Amen