Thursday 11 May 2023

Background

Yesterday's reading spoke of inclusivity, a theme that continues in today's passage. We read that the Holy Spirit came on all who were there. All are part of how God was at work. And here we get a clear reminder that individuals don’t respond to God as and when they wish. Rather God is sovereign and individuals are caught up and at times are overwhelmed by what God is doing.

There can be no human limits on how God is at work in the world. Peter and the other followers of Jesus who had a Jewish background found it amazing that Gentiles could be part of God’s plan and scope. They had been brought up to understand God as their exclusive property, despite so many pointers in the Hebrew Scriptures to the breadth of God. Here they were confronted with the evidence that God included Gentiles in salvation. This wasn’t easy to accept and it took a general Church gathering recorded in Acts chapter 15 to reach recognition on how Gentile believers might be included. In this passage just what had happened was clear to Peter and to those with him. Their stories matched up. This would become the sort of evidence needed to help the Church make their major step in understanding.

Often Peter and others relate how they have witnessed God at work, and this helps determine their belief and practice (faith and order). Today Christians are very focused on what Scripture reveals about God. Or is it actually how individual Christians or churches have concluded how God works and so any evidence to the contrary is ignored? John Wesley, among others, taught Christians to focus on Scripture with interpretation helped by reason, tradition and experience. This was a way to enable Christians to wrestle with Scripture so that they might better understand what God is revealing through the inspired word.

To Ponder:

• Whom do we place outside God’s grace today?
• How important is experience to your faith?
• How can people use tradition, reason and experience to help understand Scripture?

Prayer

Gracious God, we pray that the Holy Spirit may overwhelm us today as we are caught up in all that you are doing. May we be ‘lost in wonder, love and praise’.