Loading...Being an outsider is no fun.
Indeed, it sucks rocks!
You know, being the last kid chosen for the kickball teams.
Or, moving to a new place and not knowing anyone,
yet you don’t want to just sit at home, twiddling your thumbs.
When you know that there’s something good, joyful, life-giving, refreshing, and uplifting, you want to be a part of it, but it’s hard to break into the group.
It’s hard to just WALK through the doors.
And, asking for an invitation is also awkward, and even rude.
At least, that’s what my momma taught me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Being an insider, by contrast, can be pretty easy.
Sure, there can sometimes be disagreements with other insiders,
but you’re all in and you have a place at the table.
You know the rules – written and unwritten.
You are fed; you know the inside jokes, the stories, the songs.
I remember as a little kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old, in the neighborhood playing with the other kids.
We were all part of the group (may be because it was a new subdivision, so nobody had been there “forever”, there were no cliques yet to break into)
We all knew how to play “explorers”, “Pioneers”, and our version of kickball.
We roller skated together and sang the Coca-cola song: “I’d like to teach the world to sing”.
I’d like to think that we welcomed and integrated other neighbor kids,
but I can’t really remember. There was an ever-changing assortment of kids.
Yet, this I knew:
I knew I belonged.
Indeed, I was one of the chief plot makers for our games & a chief story-teller.
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Speaking of story-tellers,
Peter had a doozy of a story to tell.
In fact, in the book of Act,
the writer Luke tells us what Peter experienced and did,
then, he lets Peter tell the whole story all over again when he gets back to Jerusalem and all his buddies back there ask him about the rumour they’ve heard that he baptized some “uncircumcised” people!
Now, Peter is an “insider”.
He is the insider.
He knew he belonged in the group of Jesus followers. He confessed Jesus as the Messiah; he witnessed the transfiguration; he denied Jesus three times and then was brought back into the fold by Jesus
He probably helped remind the group of the rules, the norms, and the stories.
Then, one day he had a vision – a bit of a nightmare – about food.
About unclean food. Three times, the same vision.
While he was still confused and puzzled by the commandment in the vision to eat all of this unclean food,
he’s interrupted by a knock at the door.
There are “outsiders” outside his door.
People who aren’t Jewish and who don’t know the rules, norms, and stories;
people who, in fact, are completely contrary to the rules and norms.
As the Jesus followers in Jerusalem put it, they’re the “uncircumcised”.
(You see, up to this point, those who followed Jesus were all Jewish, the “circumcised”, the “insiders”.)
When these outsiders showed up,
Peter went with them and met Cornelius.
And, on this day, at that meeting, there were
two conversions,
two lives changed (well, more, when you count Cornelius’ family...)
two transformations.
Because, suddenly, Peter got it.
a gigantic light bulb went off over his head!
This “love” thing that Jesus talked about:
not just for “insiders”,
not just for “circumcised”,
not just for those who knew the norms, rules, stories, and songs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, I know this may sound like a no-brainer,
but I think we all need a reminder once in awhile:
God. Loves. Everyone!
The reason we need this reminder is because we say
“Oh yes! Sure, sure! God loves everyone” and we nod our heads.
And, then, we immediately go on to say
“but you have to do this
or believe that
or follow the rules and norms
and learn the stories and songs and... and....”
We forget that what Jesus was about –
what God is about –
is a radical and complete love that has no restrictions, rules, boundaries, asterisks, limitations, footnotes, or requirements.
Peter got it. Finally.
If you’ll allow a paraphrase of Peter:
“D’oh! Of course! God loves everyone – no boundaries!”
And, the people in Jerusalem got it, suddenly:
when Peter finished his story, his re-telling of what happened,
they were amazed and silent,
and then they suddenly began praising God and thanking Jesus!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OH! We get it now!
Love.
Everyone!
This is at the center of our faith: God. Loves. Everyone.
God loves you (yes, you. Even on the days when you don’t think you’re worthy or loveable. Even on the days when you’ve convinced yourself that you are beyond the pale of God’s love. Because on those days, especially, God loves you!)
God loves everyone
including the outsiders (whoever that might mean for you, and whatever line you’ve drawn around race, language, ability, politeness, neediness, socio- economic class, prisoners or ex-prisoners, people who haven’t bathed in awhile, loud people, elderly, noisy kids, LGBT folks, the sick, strangers, mentally ill, etc.).
Boy howdy! When we put our minds to it (or, more to the point, we DON’T), we sure can come up with a lot of folks to exclude.
But, God doesn’t exclude!
Because – God. Loves. Everyone.
This raises the question: why do we find it so hard to love – EVERYONE?
Maybe because we’ve been hurt?
Maybe we struggle to love someone who sees things so very differently that we do?
Maybe because we encounter someone who’s obstinate or even mean?
Maybe we are the obstinate one!
Yet, God loves everyone
and Jesus commands us
(I’d like to say “invite” instead of “command” because it sounds so much nicer, but “command” is the word we have)
to love one another.
And, no, not just the other insiders!
Jesus commands us to love one another.
Not just in theory, or in words alone,
but it action and service –
even in laying down one’s life for others (John 15)
Before you despair or get frustrated or walk away because,
by gum, this is hard!,
I want to remind you of something:
God loves everyone – including you,
even when you’re having a hard time loving others.
You don’t have to make this up.
You don’t have to figure out HOW to love.
You don’t have to reinvent the “love everyone” wheel.
We have the incredible gift of love.
Jesus shows the way -- he lives the way – in all those stories that we tell and retell, the familiar, the challenging, the comforting:
Note in those stories who Jesus talks with, listens to, cares for, heals, and serves. Note who he, in a word, loves.
And then, Jesus is the way of love by laying down his life.
He doesn’t just talk about life-giving love;
he IS life-giving love!
This life-laying-down love changes us and transforms us.
It’s like a light bulb goes off over your head:
“OH! God. Loves. Everyone! Including me!”
You are claimed, adopted, and loved,
never to be abandoned, forgotten, or pushed back out.
We – you – have a place of joy and hope to stand,
and from which you love and serve others, everyone, and the world.
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So, here’s our challenge:
Who do you see “outside” whom you can go sit with, share stories, songs, and joy with; whom can you love as Jesus already loves?
Here’s our challenge:
Open your eyes – use Jesus’ eyes –
to see the beloved who don’t realize they’re beloved of God. And love them.
You don’t have to use “Jesus” language, but love as Jesus loves – in service, in compassion, with patience, in joy.
Here’s our challenge:
Since God loves everyone,
consider how you see and interact –
how are you changed to see and interact with others (especially those who are different from you) as Jesus would?
As beloved and claimed people of God,
we are commanded (or, invited, if you prefer) to love as God does,
and to love everyone.
Even when it’s difficult,
even when we have a hard time loving ourselves as God loves us.
But, this is the gift of God, for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Amen
