Cutters 5-6-07
Acts 11:1-18
During the 1980s, there were a slew of films that fit the genre called “coming of age” movies. These were movies about kids in their late teens or early twenties who, in the course of a two hour film, learned valuable lessons about life and about themselves and became better people because of their new insights. A few examples of these movies include The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire (both had excellent soundtracks, I might add) and The Karate Kid. However, I think this genre, these coming of age movies actually started to become more prominent with a 1979 movie called Breaking Away. Breaking Away wasn’t a real flashy movie. It didn’t have any really big stars or expensive special effects. It was just a good movie and it was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and its writer took home the Oscar for best screenplay. Many later films copied its premise of the poor kids, who were the underdogs, overcoming the indignities and injustice of the spoiled rich kids.
Breaking Away is set in Bloomington, Indiana and centers on a group of four 19 year old working class boys who, for lack of a better term, are a bunch of slackers. They’ve been out of high school for a year and can’t seem to figure out what they want to do with their lives. They never have any money, but they’re not really interested in working, and they seem to spend a great deal of time talking about their dreams while swimming at the abandoned limestone quarry. One of the boys, named David, has dreams of one day being a professional bicycle racer. In fact, he is obsessed with bicycle racing, especially with a team from Italy. But his parents want him to quit wasting his time and find a real job or go to school.
Along with their other problems, the boys are made to feel inferior by the students at the nearby Indiana University— you know, the rich, spoiled college kids. The college kids call the townsfolk “cutters”— a term originally used to describe the people who worked in the quarry who cut the limestone used to build the college. The term is now used as a derogatory slur aimed at the people of the town who the college kids see as socially, economically, and culturally inferior. Well, as with most of these types of movies, the rich kids always seem to get the upper hand on the unsophisticated people of the town and, of course, the boys are often frustrated that they can never beat those rich college snobs. Tensions between the townsfolk and the college are starting to run high. But, in an effort to smooth out the relations between the college and the town, the president of the university decides to allow a team from Bloomington to compete in the “Little 500”— an annual bicycle race usually reserved for the various groups on campus. When the president tells a group of frat boys what his plans are, one of them angrily protests, “But, you can’t do that! They’re not good enough!” // That one line, in a scene that lasts all of 20 seconds, sums up the attitude of many of the college kids with regard to the “cutters.” They are smarter, more sophisticated and, therefore, better than the people in the town. This also seems to be the attitude of the Jewish Christians toward the Gentile Christians in today’s scripture. The Jewish Christians follow the law. They follow the dietary restrictions and have been circumcised. So, they are better than the Gentile Christians.
The attitude of the Jerusalem Christians really bothers me. Of course, we are reading this scripture with the eyes of 21st century Disciples of Christ, so most of us can’t even comprehend how one group of Christians would even question the work of the Holy Spirit within another group of Christians. But, what bothers me even more is the heading for this particular passage. It is titled, “Peter Explains His Actions.” Again, the sensibilities of 21st century Disciples of Christ, but why would someone have to explain their actions when what they did led someone to a relationship with Christ?
But, you know, I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on the Jerusalem Christians. After all, all of the disciples, and the other people who followed Jesus, were Jewish— raised to obey the Law of Moses and follow the traditions of the Temple. They had been living this way all of their lives and it was probably hard to break old habits. In addition, if we look at the story of Cornelius’ conversion, which is what Peter is talking about in today’s scripture, we can see that Peter also had a problem believing that the “godless” Gentiles could actually receive the Holy Spirit just like the “chosen” people of God.
As we’ve talk about before, Peter had been with Jesus for three years— hearing his teachings, witnessing his miracles and his acceptance of all people regardless of their backgrounds or their beliefs. Peter was actually with Jesus when he spoke to the Pharisees, in Matthew 15, about eating with people who didn’t follow the strict dietary laws of the Jews. You remember what Jesus said, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’” With that one statement, Jesus basically threw out all of the rules that separated the Jews and Gentiles. But apparently, Peter didn’t get it then and he still didn’t get it. He had to experience a vision before he would understand that the message of Jesus Christ was for everyone— not just the Jews “who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,” but for the Gentile believers too. Peter has a vision of animals that, as a faithful Jew, he would never think of eating. So he tells God, “I’m not eating that. It’s ‘impure.’ It’s ‘unclean.’” But God slams Peter pretty hard, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Peter is so dense that he still can’t understand what God is telling him// until he is summoned to the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion— a Gentile.
While Peter was speaking to Cornelius’ household, the Holy Spirit came upon all those who heard his message. The Jewish Christians who came with Peter couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Sure, the Gentiles could believe in Jesus— anyone could believe in Jesus; but to be given the gift of the Holy Spirit? How could such a thing happen? They’re not good enough!! It was really only then that Peter finally understood what God was trying to get through his thick, narrow-minded skull. This was one of those “aha” experiences— those times when a light bulb goes off in our heads and we say, “Oh, now I get it.” And this is what Peter has to explain to the thick, narrow-minded Christians in Jerusalem. Then they have their own “aha” experience and when they hear about what happened with Cornelius and his family and realize that the message of salvation in Jesus Christ isn’t just for people who believe the same way they do or follow the same customs as they do, they don’t mope around saying, “How could this happen. Those people aren’t good enough.” No, they praise God.
In Breaking Away, the “cutters” were good enough. In fact, (surprise, surprise) they won the Little 500 and they also won the respect of those who once thought they were inferior. In the movie, the “cutters” had to prove themselves. In our scripture today, it was God, though the power of the Holy Spirit, that confirmed that the Gentiles were, indeed, every bit as worthy of salvation through Jesus Christ as were those who kept the law and the traditions of the Temple. But, there are still people today who may look at us the way the frat boys looked at the cutters— the way the Jewish Christians looked at the Gentile Christians. They may think that just because we don’t hold to their interpretation of scripture or we don’t worship in the same exact way they do that we are not good enough, that we are not worthy of God’s love or God’s redemption. There may even be a few people here today that once looked at other faith traditions and their theologies as all wrong— that they are too bogged down in ceremony and tradition to really know God. Some of us may even look at certain individuals and say, “what a rotten so and so. I am much holier and in tune with God that she is.” But, I think Peter says it best, “if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?” Who are we to say that one group is better than another or one person is more suited to receive the Holy Spirit than another? God will pour out the Holy Spirit on whoever is open to receiving it. It’s not up to us; it’s up to God to determine who is and who isn’t worthy. I think all we are supposed to do is plant the seed of faith by living Christian lives of love and acceptance, then get out of the way and let God be God. We can’t discount the work of the Holy Spirit within a person or other faith tradition simply because we might have a problem with their personal histories or because we might disagree with their traditions or their worship or even their lifestyles. Instead, we should do what the Jewish Christians did when they heard Peter’s story— praise God. Praise God that they were open to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Praise God that the Spirit is working though them to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. Praise God that we are able to witness a change in their heart, a change in their life. Because, they are good enough. They are worthy. We are all worthy— everyone in the world. That empty cross tells us so.
