Texts:
Psalm 102:12-28
2 Kings 8:1-6
Acts 15:36-41
"The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company..."
Divisions in churches and divisions among people are nothing new to the church. It is a miracle - in and of itself - that the church has survived, given how many years of persecutions, divisions, and general bad behavior it has endured.
Today, Paul and Barnabas part community because Paul does not want to travel with anyone who had deserted them. How different a response this is from Jesus' response to Peter. Having denied Jesus three times on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus appeared to Peter and Peter's commission to "Feed my sheep," was instated.
Not so with Paul. In reality, not so with many of us. Out of our pain of desertion, out of our disappointments in humanity's failures to live up to our expectations, we cut ourselves off, protecting ourselves from future disappointment. So Paul and Barnabas part company over their opinions of how they out to engage those who had deserted them.
A similar conflict regarding those who had recanted their faith during times of persecution arose in the early church (see: Donatist Controversy). The church asked, "Were the baptism and sacraments offered by priests or bishops who recanted still effective?" The church answered (rightly, I think) that the sacraments were still effective.
A similar conflict regarding those who had recanted their faith during times of persecution arose in the early church (see: Donatist Controversy). The church asked, "Were the baptism and sacraments offered by priests or bishops who recanted still effective?" The church answered (rightly, I think) that the sacraments were still effective.
Who can believe worthily? Who can serve worthily? Who can approach the promises of God worthily? The gifts of God, namely, the sacraments and the Word that comes to us through the reading, speaking, and preaching, are not rendered effective by human hands or by any other human action. Though we try to grasp and control the gifts of grace, it is not until we realize we receive them as gifts, all the while aware of our unworthiness, that we understand the true nature of grace. Grace is faith that is rendered effective despite all evidence to the contrary.
(Also, it is of note: to be fair to Paul, this reading of him is somewhat challenged by the letters Paul wrote; Paul's letter to Philemon, in particular, might serve to balance this text. In it, Paul suggests that a runaway slave be welcomed back into the home he left, "Not as a slave, but as a beloved brother," which complicates a reading of Paul that views him simply as a man who writes off people with whom he disagrees (aren't we all a bit more complicated than that?).)
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