Easter 5 2007

Acts 11:1-18

Psalm 148

Rev 21: 1-6

John 13:31-35

My favorite cartoon character is Snoopy because he makes me laugh. His sponsor, Charlie Brown is an accident waiting to happen, more goes wrong for Charlie than for most of us. It doesn’t help that Lucy is generally lurking in the shadows ready to inflict more hurt on poor Charlie. Linus is Charlie’s friend – he understands when Charlie is hurt, upset, confused, disappointed. One day, Linus saw Charlie looking at the little red haired girl on the school bus. Charlie had been more quiet than usual, his appetite was poor, and he seemed to daydream a lot. When Linus saw Charlie watching the little red headed girl, he asked his friend, “you like the little red headed girl, don’t you Charlie?” Charlie was embarrassed that another person knew that he did like her.

The only other problem was whether she liked him. Charlie thought and thought about how he could find out. The summer vacation was very near, only two more days of school, and he could not stand to wait through the whole summer without knowing whether she liked him. Charlie was deep in thought when the teacher called on him to read his report. He got up and in his haste, he read a note he planned to give to the girl: “Dear little red headed girl, do you like me? Yes or no! Charlie Brown.” Everyone in the class laughed and Charlie was devastated. He walked home, ignored Snoopy who tried to dance to make him smile if not laugh, the next day was the last day of school.

Charlie decided he would get up early and he would sit with her on the bus and just ask her directly. He went to the bus stop early, before the sun was up, and fell asleep. When he heard the roar of the bus as it pulled away from the stop, he awakened. He missed the bus. He failed again. But he trudged on to school, waited all day, and had one more chance – to get on the school bus and find her. He got in line and in all the pushing and crowding he nearly missed it again, but he made the bus. Once on he could not find her and as he looked at the window, there she stood on the curb, waving to him or someone on the bus. He put his hands in his pockets, dejected, disappointed, and discovered a note. He took it out and opened it. It said, “Dear Charlie, I like you. The little red headed girl.” Oh Charlie was so happy that he jumped, he danced, he clicked his heels in the air, and Snoopy danced with him, ears high, rejoicing with Charlie Brown.

We all need love. Jesus knew that the one thing that would hold the new community together was that single commodity you couldn’t buy or sell but only give as gift, love.

The passages today suggest that Easter is about creating community, new life, and not the up away in the sky mansions prepared for us but here in this world. Revelation 21 describes a New Jerusalem coming down to earth from heaven and announces God dwells among mortals. The new life in God directs us to think what new life and new community are. Acts 11 tells us those persons who have been seen as “unclean” are included in God’s new community. In a similar vein John 13 tells us Jesus offered only one new commandment for the new community: love one another as I have loved you.

Peter learned the hard way not to call another person impure or unclean. It took both miracle and message to turn Peter’s hard head. Peter offers God theological traditional and time-honored justification for his resistance to associate with folks he clearly thought less important to the mission of the kingdom. Who do we exclude or ignore when we are thinking about our faith community? Are there persons not here today that you miss? Have you told them by call, card, or email?

Psalm 148 reminds us that our vision of community can be too narrow or too partial. It is easy to limit community and ignore those who are different or distant. When Peter is told to kill and eat beasts he would consider unclean, he is reluctant. I wonder if the image is not pointing in multiple ways to human community and the health of our ecosystem. In the Genesis account of creation, God created the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, every living creature and declared it was good.

Acts 11 is a story about how the early Christian community formed. It is also linked to John 13:35 where Jesus commanded as new the maxim to love one another as Jesus himself loved us. There was a command to love in Torah (Lev 19:18; Dt 6:4) but Jesus calls this command NEW. Gail O’Day in New Interpreters Bible writes, “What is new is that the commandment to love derives from the incarnation. The “new” turn in the commandment of 13:34 is that Jesus’ “own” are asked to enter into the love that marks the relationship of God and Jesus. Their participation in this relationship will be evidenced the same way that Jesus’ is: by acts of love that join the believer to God. Keeping this commandment is the identifying mark of disciples (v 35), because it is the tangible sign of the disciples’ abiding in Jesus (15:10).”

We are being told not to “hinder God” but to expect newness that God is still revealing day by day. The new commandment overrides all previous distinctions made in previous commandments according to John’s account. By loving one another we are witnesses of Christ’s love to the world. In Acts 4:34 we find that all the resources were shared in common so that there was no one left in need. In Gal 3:28 Paul says the united community transcends race, economic status, and gender. In some communities, churches, the greater struggle may be between the old and new members or between those who believe that the congregation’s primary ministry is to its members and those who believe that the congregation’s ministry is to the unchurched.

Peter is in the middle, between the old purity requirements and God’s new verdict on what is “clean.” Look at the purity rules of Leviticus 11:2-28 and Deuteronomy 14:3-20. Consider your list of who is unclean and abhorrent. What are our purity codes?

If we would be open to the new vision of God moving in new ways, open to the spirit directing us to love them – those unlike us – in Christ we would find ourselves in a new life and new community and God would dwell with us. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) in an editorial cartoon about religious fighting in India said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”

If we would take Jesus seriously, we would have to nurture a new and special love towards our brothers and sisters in the faith. We should be more intentional in declaring our unity and solidarity with Christians throughout the world. We would not reject Palestinian Christian or ignore the common ground we share with Jews and Moslems.

To love as Jesus loved us is not a path of denial but a life of full identity and vocation. It is finished he said from the cross, not defeat but glory. To love as Jesus loves us is to be shaped by a love that knows no limits, by a love brings us closer into relationship with God, with Jesus, and one another. It is a love that offers a whole new concept of community. We like Snoopy can rejoice when one of us is happy because he or she is loved. The good news of the gospel is simply that, you are loved, with an abundant love, overflowing from the source of all love. It is plentiful enough to share.