Thursday, January
31, 2019
Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked, “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” So, he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days. Acts 10:44-48(NLT)
I have wonderful memories of
church services that so vividly proclaimed the mystery that is God’s church,
when, as one in the bond of love, we joined hands and sang Blest Be the Tie That Binds. I also have a few nightmares that mark the
times when it was more like Cursed Be the Knot That Blinds.
It’s been a couple of thousand
years since Jesus built His church, starting with just two beams of wood. Over that long a time it’s a little too easy
to forget the struggle with which the birth took place. We forget such things as the passion of
Christ during that holy week of Hosannas with palm branches,
as well as the Horror of crucifixion.
It’s no wonder Jesus gave that Last Meal image to us and told us never
to forget it was His body, and His blood that purchased our freedom. We also tend to have the memory of power
struggles fade out, becoming an indeterminate mist, a shaded spot that we just
don’t talk about.
One of those shaded,
easily-discarded misty memories is the reality that the Church of Jesus Christ
was originally a sect of Judaism. Lest
we forget, Jesus was a Jew, and those 12 who followed him around were also
Jews. And when that early church of
Apostles, persecution, wonder and miracles was faced with accepting the Goyim (Gentiles),
into the club, the tie that binds got a little tangled. The tie of God’s salvation which binds us to
Heaven quickly became the knot that blinds human eyes to the dangers of Hell.
In the months and years after
Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to Heaven, the church had to
face whether Jesus’ words come unto me…ALL, really
meant those not born into a Jewish family too.
Back then it was what family
heritage you had; later it was what part of the world; much later it became whether
you had enough money to buy the dead church’s indulgence for sin. In the last few centuries the color of skin,
or just how far you’ve wandered into sin has been a sticking point. Today the church and gender/sexuality issues
are the forks in the road.
Standing against all that human
division is that one misty, but ultimately rock-solid truth of Jesus’ high
priestly prayer that we be united, not un-tied:
I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. John 17:21(NLT)
As those words hang in the air,
they both convict us of the division of our times, and they call us to come out
of spiritual blindness; to be united by being untied from our selfishness – and
be better.
For You Today
Just like the
choice Adam and Eve had to receive and trust God’s way, over what looked like
it was a good deal, we also have the choice to be obedient disciples or
renegade. It’s like having an alphabet
at your disposal with the letters u-n-i-t-e-d.
Those
letters can spell
UNITED
or
UNTIED;
It
all depends on where you put the “I”.
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