A reading from The Acts of the Apostles (11:1-18)
The Apostles and the brothers who
were in Judea heard that the Gentiles (Greeks, who were not Jews) too had
accepted the word of God. So when Peter
went up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,
"You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them." Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying, "I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when in a trance I had a vision, something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. Looking intently into it, I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
I also heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.' But I said, 'Certainly not, sir, because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But a second time a voice from heaven answered, 'What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.' This happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into the sky. Just then three men appeared at the house where we were, who had been sent to me from Caesarea. The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house. He related to us how he had seen (the) angel standing in his house, saying, 'Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, who will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.' As I began to speak, the holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon us at the beginning, and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy Spirit.' If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?" When they heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, "God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too."
When I was seven I was in Nepean Hospital having my tonsils
out and a little boy was being wheeled into the same room. He looked terrified.
He asked me what I was in for. I told him I was getting my tonsils out. I
reciprocated by asking him why he was in hospital. “I am getting circumcised”
he said faintly.
“Whoa!” I yelled, “When I had that operation, I couldn’t walk
for a year!”I didn’t tell him I had it done when I was a baby!
But apparently many people do still have their boys
circumcised but no longer for religious reasons. It’s mostly done for the
aesthetic appearance and hygiene or because ‘Dad had it done’. Well, in Jesus’s
time it was a big issue for the Jews. It was a rite of identification and Jews
did not associate with the uncircumcised as is evident in today’s reading from
the Acts of the Apostles (but for the life of me I can’t imagine asking someone
“show me your pee-pee before I will talk to you”).
But Peter in this reading explains that the old rules of the
Jews are no longer relevant for followers of Jesus, and in fact serve as
obstacles to bringing people closer to God. In the reading we hear Peter
telling the stubborn rule-enforcers that he had seen the Spirit of God descend
on people who were not official members of the “Church” community (those not
directly appointed Apostles or one of Jesus’ immediate group of disciples) and
he therefore ordered them be acknowledged because God can give His Spirit and
leadership to whomsoever He chooses. God is not bound by our laws.
Although Catholics will insist that He is, by quoting our
Lord after He assigned the “keys to the kingdom” to Peter, “Whatever you bind
on earth is bound in Heaven” (Matthew 18:18). They say this teaching means that
whoever is appointed Pope (and is therefore a successor of Peter) will inherit
this divine authority and has the power to tell God what to do.
In this fallacious teaching the Catholic Church prohibits
certain things (e.g. gay marriage, contraception, euthanasia) which Jesus never
taught and forbids certain people from things (e.g. divorced and re-married
people are not permitted to receive Holy Communion) and expects God to enforce
those regulations when it comes to the final judgment of humanity.
The Church still forbids the eating of meat on Ash Wednesday
and Good Friday but in my youth, you were not allowed to eat meat on any
Friday, but you could pile your plate high with salmon and prawns as I
witnessed in some presbyteries on Good Friday!
I have seen so many hypocrites wearing all
the religious regalia of a priest or bishop as to be able to discern that they
do not follow God’s ways and I have seen many whom the Catholic Church calls, “heretics”
or “apostates” doing service for the poor and walking in the Ways of Jesus,
giving spiritual guidance and care to those who most need it.
I choose to interpret this excerpt from Acts as directing
Catholics to be careful in whom they trust and to whom they follow when it
comes to religious leadership.
You don’t need me to tell you, there have been so many good uncircumcised
and non-Catholic Christians who have led holy lives while there are many
donning the robes of self-righteousness in the Catholic faith who have raped
and abused the vulnerable.
You be the judge of whom God’s Holy Spirit has been given
to.
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