Pushing Back Boundaries

"When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, 'Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

(Acts 11:18)

Who's in? Who's out? Are you with us or against us? Us vs. Them! We humans are really good at drawing lines of demarcations between us and "the other." The Church is no exception. God has constantly been expanding our understanding of who's in and who's out.

Acts chapters 10-11 comprise a wonderful story of how the early church wrestled with this. The early Christians were all Jews who came to see Jesus as the Messiah. But the "Jesus movement" was much bigger than simply our Jewish brothers and sisters alone. Soon, others (aka "Gentiles," or non-Jews) came to the faith. Peter, one of the original disciples, had a dream where God challenged his understanding of clean vs. unclean. Then an encounter with a Roman Centurion (Cornelius) cements that teaching. Peter witnesses firsthand the Holy Spirit's power among the Gentiles and goes back to Jerusalem to convey what he's seen.

In the end, the believers in Jerusalem change their minds. They backtrack on their belief that only Jews can become Christians... and testify to God's (surprising) movement in the lives of all people.

Of course, we in the Church today have no preconceptions about needing to be Jewish first before coming to the faith. But I dare say we still like to draw lines of who's in and who's out of God's kingdom (as if it were our place to make those designations). The reality is, however, that God's boundaries are always much wider than ours. It's not our job to determine who's in and who's out. We're called to love others. To welcome others. To engage in life-giving activities and actively work to advance God's Kingdom.

May it be so.