I would be lying to you if I declared that I do not play favorites. Because all of us do; all of us have preferences and favorites. While one person may prefer constant noise, another prefers constant silence. Some people prefer Coke, while others Pepsi. My favorite musician is Bruce Springsteen, while yours may be George Strait, Garth Brooks, Elvis Presley, Lawrence Welk or One Direction. We have a favorite ice cream, a sports team, a hobby; a favorite radio station, web site, TV channel, clothing store; a favorite car, truck and vacation spot; a favorite restaurant in your favorite city at your favorite time of the year. We all play favorites. We maintain personal preferences. Each of us favors one thing over another.
We may do so, but the God of creation does not. The Good News for you and me revealed to us in our scripture reading from Acts today is given to us by Peter, who says, "God shows no partiality," and by that he means there's no favoritism, no preferential treatment. No one on this earth gets more love from God than any other person. In Peter’s situation, the boundaries that once separated one group from another have been destroyed. We witness the work of the Holy Spirit shattering the boundaries between Jews and Greeks, between the “chosen” people of God and the rest of the world. In this story we forsee the course of the Gospel reaching humans of all nations, bringing the people of the world together as children of God; so that each of us is treated equally in the eyes of God.
There are four crucial themes I want to highlight from our text this morning that I hope will help us better understand what God is doing here with a Gentile, Roman soldier.
I.
Peter declares the impartiality of God and God’s judgment. The Greek word translated "partiality" is uncommon. It is a Semitic idiom that literally means "God is not one who receives human faces." God doesn't just glance at our faces and make a snap judgment, as so many of us do with our neighbors. God doesn't stop with the externals. God looks deep within. Outward appearances do not influence God, for God does not view persons according to human standards. God is interested in peoples’ attitude and what’s in their heart. God is more concerned with the person than the mask we often put up as self-protection.
Think of the last time you were on a busy train or at an airport or even the mall. Remember the sea of faces all around you, displaying a variety of expressions, a range of emotions. Remember, also, the skin colors, the body types, the clothing, the hair styles, the tattoos.
The human mind is a remarkable calculating engine. It draws so many conclusions in the barest instant of time. It makes judgments we're scarcely aware of. Can you even recall a few of the judgments your mind made, based on those faces you observed there, in the station or airport? Did you not pigeonhole a good many of those faces, categorizing them as either a foreigner or native-born, rich or poor, lazy or hard-working, dangerous or benign?
If so, you did what Peter says God never does. You "received human faces." You made a multitude of judgments, based on very little information at all.
Something that's partial is fragmentary, a piece of the whole. Human love is partial in just that sense. So many mixed motives affect our love for other people. Self-interest creeps in, spoiling the selfless, altruistic love to which we aspire.
II.
Peter declares that as Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and did the work of God, he was the very demonstration of the power of God. Jesus is Lord of all. Jesus is the answer to our questions about God and God’s will for our lives. If you want to know God, you must know Jesus and his teachings. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus taught in parables, illustrating what the kingdom is like. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32). “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44), or like a merchant in search of fine pearls (13:45), or like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind (13:47), or like a wedding banquet given by the king who invited everyone but they would not attend (22:2). If you want to know what God is thinking and doing, we must recognize that he is Lord of all and realize that his way of living is to be our way of living. We are called to show no partiality toward anyone. We are called to see ourselves and one another as God sees.
III.
In vv. 38-40, we hear from Peter about how God’s initiative, action and achievement in Jesus Christ, is met with human resistance, rebellion and rejection, which is overturned by divine affirmation, vindication and exaltation of Jesus the Christ. In other words, this is the pattern of the relationship between God and humanity that serves as the framework of our lives. At the start, it’s all about God’s love, but at the heart of this exchange, this relationship is the reality of our sinfulness; our separation from God. Yet we do not have the last word, God does. For God triumphs and grace abounds so that the message we receive is the good news and not a tragedy.
IV.
Lastly, vv. 42-43 declare that Christ commands his followers to witness to the world of God by telling others that God has authorized Jesus to be the judge of the living and the dead. Our God is an awesome God who made Jesus Christ to be so powerful and commanding; so great and mighty. With such power at work, we who believe in him are able to receive forgiveness of our sins through his name. And we who believe are transformed, renewed and made new. We witness this time and time again throughout the Gospel writings and the New Testament. He’s the healer, the doctor, the comforter, the one who has come to make all things new. There is no partiality when it comes to the work of Christ in creation.
God doesn't go by the kind of arithmetic that you and I go by. God has never learned to deal in fractions. God didn't get that far in school. I think he's like the father who had ten children, and one of the children thinks, "Well, my goodness, with a family this big, Daddy can't love me very much. I can only claim one tenth of his love." But the father loved each child with all of his love, not just a fraction of it. It's just that way with God’s love. There is no fraction in it. You can't break it up into pieces; and God wants to love and care for the whole human race. He doesn’t deal in fractions.
We often find in the Gospels that Jesus is constantly correcting these people who were griping and mumbling and grumbling about the fact that he was taking in all kinds of people, bums and drunks and the poor folks and everybody, Jesus was saying, "Well, I just can't help it. God just has a sentimental attachment for his people. And, whether you like it or not, God loves 'em, and it does seem to me that if they're precious in God's sight, they ought to be precious in yours, too."[1]
As the Holy Spirit comes upon Cornelius and his household, Peter baptizes them with water and becomes a witness to God’s intention that the Gentiles become a part of the Christian community. God does not play favorites. God seeks everyone.
[1] Clarence Jordan, Cotton Patch Parables of Liberation (Herald Books, 1976).
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