How do you respond when someone goes back on an agreement they’ve made with you?
Today on Daily Read Paul and Barnabas return from their missionary journey to tell of all the ways that the Holy Spirit was moving among the Gentiles. It’s happening! What began with Cornelius is now happening in far off cities and towns. But certain folks are not completely satisfied with the news. And they let their disapproval be heard. They say that the gentiles who come to faith in Jesus need to be circumcised and follow the Law. The only problem is that’s not what they said about Cornelius when Peter came telling of what the Spirit had done in him and his household, and Peter speaks up about it.
But we need to try to understand where these pro circumcision folks are coming from. Circumcision was a visible sign that marked out God’s people in the world. God promised to make them a nation that would bless all the other nations and so (pardon the details but) everytime a jewish child was conceived, keeping that covenant hope alive, it was done so with a visible reminder that it was God that was multiplying them and who would sustain the next generation. So to do away with that practice is a big deal. How can you be covenant people without that marker?
The point is, Jesus fulfilled the role that Israel was given by God, and in his flesh, all the nations of the earth could belong to the family of God. It’s this act of Grace that is the new act of inclusion in the redeemed people of God, and to impose the former covenant marker on the nations that are now marked out by the Spirit is to fail in seeing that the hope that the sign pointed to has finally come.
----------REFLECT----------
1. What word or phrase stood out to you?
2. The leaders who bring up circumcision are going back on what Peter thought was settled with Cornelius now that they see that it’s not a one off conversion. What do you think was motivating their suggestion that the gentiles be circumcised and keep torah?
3. Sometimes our adherence to certain rules and regulations, even ones that gave us a deep sense of identity can turn out to be a way to discriminate between us and them. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever done this to another? Bring this before the father who knows your name.
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