Brief synopsis of the readings: The story of the earliest days of the church continues with Paul and his companion Barnabas traveling from Perga to Pisidia. On the sabbath they went to the synagogue where many of the synagogue members urged them to “remain faithful to the grace of God.” They were still there the next week and there was a much larger crowd which caused jealousy among the leaders. This lead to a heated discussion where Paul told them it was necessary that they were the first hearers but since they rejected it, “we now turn to the Gentiles.” The Gentiles then glorified God and Paul’s message then spread. The Jews then incited “the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the city.” Paul and Barnabas were then expelled from the area. In John’s Gospel Jesus spoke about how his sheep hear his voice. They will be given eternal life and never perish. “No one can take them out of my hand.”

Most of the time reading the Acts of the Apostles can seem almost formulaic. Jesus rises from the dead, his apostles form a cohesive group, and they evangelize everyone in sight. And we all lived happily ever after. If only it were that easy. Today’s first reading gives us a glimpse of how complicated, and even how chaotic it must have been.

The narrative shows Paul and Barnabas in a town in what is today Southern Turkey, teaching at the temple. But Paul sounds downright angry at the Jews gathered there, telling them that they had the chance to believe in Jesus and they blew it. Now Paul spoke to Gentiles and told them they were the chosen ones. But if they were in the temple, why were there Gentiles there? Only Jews worshiped there after all.

Well, here’s where it gets a little complicated. The Roman occupiers were pagans and worshiped several gods, but they did not force their beliefs on people they conquered. There were people in the area who weren’t Jews but found Jewish beliefs interesting, and when they began to hear about Jesus they were also fascinated by those beliefs. They called themselves “God fearers” and it wasn’t surprising to find them in the temple. And we can understand Paul’s frustration; after all Paul and others began their ministry hoping to convince all the Jews to follow Jesus as Jesus was the logical next step in the progression of their faith.

When that didn’t happen it may appear that Paul just “changed audiences” but I suspect he really just enlarged the tent. Ironically we know that Paul was a Pharisee, a learned and respected Jew, part of a group that often opposed Jesus. To see Paul then turn his attention to include Gentiles must have been doubly puzzling to those in the temple. But that’s who he was, and that’s why we are who we are. Of all of the original followers of Jesus, they were all Jews, but it’s interesting that Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles, even to the point of arguing with the other apostles on how to welcome them. I can only imagine God had a twinkle in his eye when he chose Paul for this.

In large part because of Paul’s travels the early Christian community was not an “either/or” of Jews or Gentiles, but a “both/and.” Judaism gave them their roots, a community of history and tradition, and the Gentiles gave them a world of people ready for evangelization, a place to grow. I don’t know why Paul told the Jews they had condemned themselves as unworthy of eternal life but it certainly does not give justification for antisemitism today. Perhaps it was just Paul’s frustration. We know this because Paul never stopped evangelizing the Jews.

As recipients of that message we do our best when we enlarge the tent just as Paul did. Not everybody is going to be open to our message and even fewer will decide to conform their lives to this message but that’s OK. God’s love is bigger than all this.

This sounds counter to much of what we’ve been told. For so long we’ve looked through the lens of “you’re in or you’re out.” But if we look at the Gospel perhaps there is another way. John often speaks in terms of Jesus being the shepherd and us being the sheep. But sheep don’t choose the shepherd, and if they wander off the shepherd brings them back. This doesn’t pen the sheep in so much as it gives them the freedom of safety. Too often we hear the phrase: “You made your bed, now go lie in it.” But if there’s any phrase that runs counter to discipleship in Jesus, it’s that one. We never run out of chances to follow Jesus and it’s never too late.

We don’t know what happened between the Jews and the God fearers but within a few generations there was virtually no difference and they had become one community. The Jewish community eventually divided between those who believed Jesus was the Messiah and those who didn’t and that difference continues to this day. But if we believe that we are a “both/and” people and ” no one can take [us] out of the Father’s hand” we have the opportunity to include everyone. So often we think of belonging necessarily includes exclusivity. We pay extra for earlier access at events or for a better place in line. And that’s fine for concerts or the TSA line at airports. But it’s not OK in our beliefs.

Contrary to what it may look like in our first reading we’ve never said to anyone: “You had your chance and now we’re moving on from you.” We can be certain that some of those gathered in Pisidia didn’t accept Paul’s message at first but did later. Maybe the rethought what they heard, or maybe they saw the difference Paul and the others were making. Maybe a loved one convinced them. But once they chose to become disciples, they were disciples.

We are all Paul when we enlarge the tent instead of deciding who belongs.