Facing Our Prejudice

Acts 10:1-33

Introduction

How common would you say prejudice is? We might be inclined to think that we are not as prejudiced as some other people. But then that is a form of prejudice. Here is an example.

I find that Canadians point to Americans as people who have really struggled with racism. We hear stories of the KKK, lynchings and stores and restaurants for whites only. We hear those example and we thank God we are not like those Americans.

Sadly we have our own history of racism. The most obvious example being the treatment of indigenous people. I hope you have taken time to learn about the residential schools. It is heartbreaking to hear those stories but hear them we must. But it has not just been with indigenous people. Canada does have a history of systemic racism against blacks and Asians, even if Canadians have done it somewhat different from our American neighbours. I can remember through my childhood, waves of racism depending on what new immigrant group arrived in Canada. And of course women are still fighting to get equal pay for equal work.

You might be wondering why I’m talking about this. We expect that in the world, but we are the church, we are islands of righteousness in a sea of wickedness. If only that were so. The church has been complicit in much of the discrimination that has taken place in our culture. Remember those terrible residential schools? The Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and United churches were all involved in running those schools. We are not innocent just because Baptists are not a part of that list.

For as long as there have been churches, there have been churchgoers who have believed that certain people are “the wrong kind of people.” It may be ethnic groups. It may be gender. It may be some other characteristic that labels the person as “the other.” There have always been sort of group that is not fully welcome or included into the fellowship of the church.

This has been going on since the beginning and we are going to look at how God made one man face his prejudice and how God continues to make us face our prejudice.

Peter and the Gentiles

Much of the first half of Acts has focused on the Apostle Peter. How has Peter been portrayed? Unlike the Gospels, where Peter seems to always say the wrong thing at the wrong time, Peter seems to have turned a corner in Acts. Having received the Holy Spirit, Peter has a new confidence and wisdom. He seems to have overcome his awkwardness and has grown into a strong and talented leader in the church. While no means perfect, Peter is a good man.

Slowly, God has been chipping away at the prejudices of the church. We saw God working on the differences between the Hebrew and Greek Jewish believers. We saw God welcome in the Samaritans, who were sort of half Jewish. We saw the welcoming in of the Ethiopian eunuch. Now God was going to do his most radical work yet and he was going to use Peter to make it happen.

What I love about this story is that God was proactive in addressing Peter’s prejudice rather than waiting to hear Peter’s objections. So what did Peter think about the Gentiles or non-Jews? Did Peter hate the Gentiles? Probably not in general, although he may have not appreciated the Romans for occupying his nation. Like most Jews, he would have seen the Gentiles as unclean. This is not the same as being sinful. What it meant is that there was a difference in purity that required Jews to keep a certain separation from Gentiles. He may have been able to do some business with Gentiles, but he would not want to come into their homes and definitely not share a meal. Everything about Jewish culture would have reinforced this and it would have been ingrained into Peter since childhood. God knew this wouldn’t be easy to break.

So God did something creative. Peter was praying and he was beginning to feel hungry. This was the perfect opportunity. God gave Peter a vision of a bunch of animals and told him to kill and eat. This would have been fine if they were clean animals that were appropriate for Jews to eat. But this included all sorts of things that a good Jew would never consider. We might think, “Come on Peter, it’s just a pig. The bacon will be delicious.” But imagine visiting a friend and they bring out the family dog, a beautiful black lab, and they announce that will be dinner. That is the kind of revulsion that Peter felt. It was important for Peter to experience those feelings because that was going to be the gateway for what was to come. If God said it was clean, it was clean, no matter what emotions Peter experience. That was true not just for what went on the barbecue but for relationships with people. This was all a set up to prepare Peter for his meeting with the Gentile Cornelius. Before this, Peter would have thought it was normal to consider Cornelius “the wrong kind of people.” God forced Peter to face his prejudice and to see there is no “wrong kind of people.”

Our Prejudices

This passage is both a reassuring and challenge passage for us today. It is reassuring because in some way, we are spiritual descendants of Cornelius. The story of Cornelius is the welcoming of the Gentiles into the church and we are largely Gentile. Two thousand years ago, we would have been the “other” and so we are thankful that God broke down that prejudice.

But this passage is also challenging to us because prejudice within the church has not disappeared with the welcoming of the Gentiles. We may no longer be the “other” but new groups have risen to take our place.

You may think that you have no prejudice. There is no ethnic or other group that you hate. You have no problem with people who are different from you. That’s great but here is a test. I want you to imagine that we had a potluck lunch after a worship service one Sunday. Who would you want to sit at the table with you. Would it be someone who had a similar background and interests to you? Is there any type of person you would not want to share a meal with? How would you feel if the person had extremely different theological views? What if they were transgender? What if the person was covered in tattoos and body piercings? What if they were homeless? What if they were a sex worker? Is there anyone who you would consider to be the “wrong kind of person” to share a meal.

I need to be clear. I am not saying that you are a bad person if there is anyone who makes you feel uncomfortable. I am often preaching for full welcoming and inclusion of people with disabilities. But there are certain people with disabilities that have made me uncomfortable. I have shared meals with people who experience significant mental illness and addictions and didn’t enjoy it at all. To be honest, even after all God did to prepare Peter, I suspect that he felt some discomfort when he entered Cornelius’s home.

What this is all about is facing our prejudices. Let’s do this one thing before we do anything else. That’s what God did with Peter and that is what God wants from us as well. We need to ask three questions:

1. Is there a group that we consider the “wrong kind of people”?
2. Why do we see them that way?
3. What would it take to get us to experience table fellowship with them?

Conclusion

Peter was a good man. But he was a human who was shaped by his culture. He may not of hated Gentiles, but he did not see them as his kind of people. God gave Peter a vision designed for one thing: to get him to face his prejudice. It was only after Peter faced his own prejudice that he could be used to welcome Cornelius and the Gentiles into the church.

We all have our own prejudices. Some may be more hidden than others. If we were honest, we would admit that it is harder to be fully welcoming than we would like to admit. God wants us to face those prejudices. God wants us to look at those that we consider the “other” and to challenge us as to what it would take for us to welcome them into our fellowship.