“A total change of paradigm”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, July 13, 2023
Acts 10:17-33 (Forward, p. 76) CEV p. 1146
So, how is it that we can change our way of thinking, our mental paradigms, from a pattern that we have inherited and that has shaped our thinking and conduct ever since? I ask this because for centuries the Jewish people had been conditioned to avoid Gentiles ‘like the plague’ and have as little as possible to do with them. They were not supposed to eat with them, much less share accommodations, and their continued association with them was one of the reasons that tax collectors were considered unclean and not admissible in public worship.
So, in today’s passage all of this changed, at least for Peter. He has received the three-fold vision of the sheet containing unclean animals, the delegation from Cornelius, and a direct ‘word’ from God. All of this, piled in upon each other, reinforced the notion to Peter that he should not consider any of them ‘unclean’, but that he should go with them.
So, Peter does the unthinkable—at least by normal Jewish standards! He invites the emissaries to stay the night, and presumably shares one or more meals with them. He then travels with them for two days at least, and even stays over at Cornelius’ house in Caesarea Maritima. And while sharing God’s message with them, God does the ‘unthinkable’: He bestows the Holy Spirit upon these selfsame Gentile believers—as evidenced by the initial sign of speaking in tongues. It was, as Peter later explained, just in the same manner as how the apostles had received the Spirit back on Pentecost. Obviously, then, God was at work in these Gentiles, accepting them, just as He had with them at Pentecost, so who was he to hinder or oppose this?
This, then, raises a profound and important question for us today, for us in this deeply polarized and divided world, one that is divided not only politically and spiritually, but racially, economically, and sexually as well. Today there are so many division points—maybe they were there previously--but just didn’t seem to be evident even a few years ago. My question then is this: how can people change? How can they change their points of view, their mental paradigms, so that they can see and hear each other and live in harmony? And, maybe more to the point, how can God
engineer such changes, for perhaps it is only He that can ‘pull this off’? After all, it was only He had was able to do this with Peter, who was probably just as stubborn and resistant to change as most of us. Let us, then, pray for an openness to God, and to whatever God wants to do in our lives, so that we, you and I, might be used powerfully by God, just as Peter was. Amen.
Forward notes: “And [Peter] said to them, ‘You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean’” (verse 28)
“We should always remember these words by Peter. I came closer to God 25 years ago in an evangelical church for which I always pray. Unfortunately, they reject other denominations and deem the Catholic faith diabolical.
“When I started to date my now husband, he was a Roman Catholic, and many in my evangelical church repudiated me—especially the young people. I didn’t stop seeing him, because I felt his love for God was the same as mine. After getting married, we both abandoned our churches and continued our faith journey in the Episcopal Church, which welcomed us as family.
“God doesn’t love some more than others because of religion, race, sexual orientation, or gender. Many of our perceived differences are subjective or the product of social norms. We are all equally worthy of God’s love.”
Moving Forward: “This week, make plans to work on a project with someone who comes from a background totally different from yours.”