My wife and I recently applied for a Global Entry pass for travel back into the United States. It speeds the process through customs when re-entering the country. We’re a little dismayed that we have to wait several months for an interview in Portland to complete the process, but fortunately we are not traveling anywhere out of the country soon. When done, it will be handy to be known as a “trusted traveler.”
In our text for this week, Acts 21:17-26, Paul returns to Jerusalem from a long journey in Gentile territory and found that he was not entirely trusted by Jewish brothers and sisters in the original Christian church. They feared that in bringing Gentiles to Christ Paul was denigrating Jewish faith and customs and teaching Jews to ignore the Law of Moses.
So Paul “cleared” customs in Jerusalem by submitting himself to joining four men in a Jewish purification rite and paying their expenses for the needed sacrifices. He thereby demonstrated his continued Jewishness and observance of age-old customs of that faith.
Casual reading of the text in comparison with what Paul says about the Law of Moses in his epistles might generate a question. How does Paul’s epistolary arguments that grace trumps law square with his willingness to engage in Jewish custom for the sake of public relations? The answer is that there is really no contradiction at all. As Paul says clearly over and over, and as Jesus Himself affirmed by saying He had not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, the supremacy of grace in no way invalidates the Mosaic Law or casts aspersions on it. It was perfectly consistent for Paul to preach grace while showing himself to be a model Jew in terms of the rules and customs of that faith.
It’s a lesson for Christians to remember as we navigate the customs and traditions that have arisen in our own faith in its various expressions. The newness of life in Christ is not an excuse to denigrate or entirely throw out expressions of Christianity that are simply older or traditional. Forms and styles of worship may change, but expressions at the heart of who we are ought to be cherished and respected. As I’ll say Sunday, the celebration of Holy Communion and the “words of institution” spoken in that context is one such custom. It’s not to be neglected or tossed out in a confused notion of what Christian freedom is about.
More loosely, Paul’s willingness in Jerusalem to accommodate himself to his practicing Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ for the sake of peace in the church is a demonstration of what he taught about behaving in ways that respect the feelings of others (in regard to diet, etc.) and about adjusting his approach for the sake of sharing the Gospel.
All in all, we need to beware of tossing out the old in the church in favor of the new as well as damaging fellowship by insisting that customs change for everyone in whatever direction we feel God is leading at the moment.