“Playing Favorites”

April 04, 2010

(Easter Sunday)

Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 I Corinthians 15:19-26

Pastor: God is good!

People: All the time!

Pastor: And all the time…

People: God is good!

Do you have any brothers and sisters? How about bosses at work, do you have any of those? Friends,
family, coworkers, teachers, politicians? In just about every aspect of life we run the risk of running into
an authority figure that, while they should treat everyone equally, they clearly have a preference for one
child over another, one coworker over another, one friend over another or any number of other “favorites”
over the regular folk. As a parent, it is difficult sometimes not to show favoritism and likewise as a leader,
it is difficult not to show some preference to the people who are nice to you or who work hard. We all
have been witness to bosses that had some slimy suck-up who always said nice things and was always
trying to get on the bosses good side. History tells us that ancient kings had similar people who hung out
with them and tried to smooth-talk their way into an easy lifestyle. As Christians, this line of thinking will
inevitably lead us to wonder if Jesus plays favorites. Of course our reflex is to immediately say that Jesus
would never play favorites, but if we think a little longer some reasonable questions emerge. Jesus was
and is Jewish. In Matthew 15, Jesus meets a Canaanite woman whose daughter is possessed by a demon.
When she asks Jesus to heal her daughter, Jesus replies "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
Ultimately, Jesus heals the girl because of the woman’s great faith but this exchange reminds us that Jesus
was sent first to the people of Israel and second to the Gentiles. The Gentiles, of course, are any people
who are not Jewish by birth or by conversion. We also remember that God repeatedly calls the people of
Israel his “Chosen People” and we can appreciate that some favoritism might well exist. Just how God’s
favoritism plays out in that case is a far deeper subject that we have time for today but I point it out just to
help us understand that perhaps not everyone is entirely equal in the ways that we might expect. Jesus was
human after all, and he had friends. The twelve disciples saw more and learned more than others. Peter,
James and John were even closer and saw things that the other disciples didn’t. Jesus wept at the death of
Lazarus and stayed in his house but we don’t really know if Lazarus and his family got any special
considerations from Jesus, well, aside from being brought back from the dead.

This morning, I want to take a look at the favoritism of Jesus. I believe that Jesus does play favorites and I
believe that scripture shows this to be true. What you will find, however, is that the favoritism of Jesus
may not be what you think it is. The writer of Psalm 118 (v1-2, 14-24) wants us to remember something
even before he tells his story. God is good.

Pastor: God is good!

People: All the time!

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1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2
Let Israel say: "His love endures forever."
14
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
15
Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous:
"The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!
16
The LORD's right hand is lifted high; the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"
17
I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.
18
The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
19
Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.
20
This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.
21
I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.
22
The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;
23
the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

The psalmist tells us that above all else, God is good, yesterday, today and forever. We are told that God is
our rescuer, we will live so that we can tell the world of the good that God has done. We are told that God
has allowed bad things to happen but has not allowed death to gain a victory. God is our rescuer. God has
seen to it that the one who was rejected has become the most important of all. We are told that God is a
god who answers prayer and for all that he does, we give thanks. We understand that God sometimes
allows bad things to happen. He allows things to happen that we don’t understand, but all the time, God is
our salvation, our rescuer, our friend and all the time, God is good. Say it with me…

Pastor: God is good!

People: All the time!

Pastor: And all the time…

People: God is good!

To be fair, my contention that God shows favoritism is contradicted directly by the disciples. In Acts
10:34-43, Peter seems to say exactly the opposite…
34
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts
men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. 36You know the message God sent to the people
of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37You know what has
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happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and
healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39
"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by
hanging him on a tree, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.
41
He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and
drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that
he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him
that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Peter had clearly been of the opinion that God favored the people of Israel over the Gentiles and that the
rules of his church were favored over what he saw as the bizarre and offensive practices of the Gentiles.
God had been at work on Peter though. Peter had had dreams and heard God’s voice and he had learned
that eating pork and other foods he had previously known to be despicable could be acceptable. Over the
course of time, God brought Peter to understand that God’s call was to all persons and not just to the
people of Israel and that the worship of God might not look exactly the way that it looked at home, and
God was okay with that. In fact, Jesus was perhaps a unique messenger against favoritism. If we search
Jesus’ genealogy, we find that among his ancestors were Rahab, the prostitute who aided Joshua’s spies in
Jericho and Ruth who was a widow from the nation of Moab. Tamar is mentioned in his family tree and it
is probable she was also not an Israelite as were several others.

The whole idea of racial purity was not something that existed for much of Israel’s history and so any ideas
that modern people may have about God favoring one people, nation, tribe or race over another has little or
no basis in scripture. For much of its history, Israel was at the crossroads of two main, international trade
routes, the Via Maris (Way of the Sea) that wrapped around the Mediterranean Sea and connected Europe
with Africa and the King’s Highway that connected with Syria, Babylon, much of Asia and a host of other
major caravan routes. God deliberately placed the nation of Israel in the center of a place that was always
very multicultural and multiethnic.

Peter had, like many Jews, thought that God’s message to them made them special. They believed that
because God loved them, they were unique because God loved them and only them. Peter’s realization is
not that God loves people of different colors, because by this time there were Jews all over the world that
had intermarried and so there were Jews of every color. Peter’s realization was that God loved people who
weren’t Jewish. Peter’s realization was that while God had sent the message of Good News to the people
of Israel, the message was for everyone. Even though the birth, life, death, resurrection and all the events
of Easter happened in Israel, the people who had seen and heard were supposed to tell everyone including
the Gentiles. Peter’s realization was that race wasn’t important, that genealogy wasn’t important, that
geography wasn’t important but that it was the message that was important. What was important was to
tell the world, to tell all the people that Jesus died and rose from the dead and to tell the whole world that
God has appointed Jesus to be the judge of all people both living and dead. Peter says that the message of
God throughout the centuries is clear, that all who believe in Jesus will be given forgiveness.

And so Peter says that God does not show favoritism but at the same time I believe he had proved my
point. Likewise, in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul sees it too… (I Corinthians 15:19-26)
9
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For
since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam
all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he
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comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the
Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all
his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The Psalmist said “20 This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter,” but are any of
us righteous, do any of us truly live “rightly?” In Romans 3:9-10, Paul says, “9What shall we conclude
then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all
under sin. 10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one.”

So what are we to do? If we’re not perfect and none of us is good enough to be righteous, then what? WE
believe that the gate of the Lord is not a place or a thing but a person.

Peter said, “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Paul says that when Jesus returns, those who believe in him will rise from the dead and be made alive.

God plays favorites. He is partial.

All have sinned, all fall short and no one is righteous, no one is good enough to say they are good enough
but that isn’t all there is.

None of us is good enough but thankfully God is good. In his partiality, God plays favorites and his
favorites are those who believe in his son Jesus. God forgives sin through the name of Jesus and only
through the name of Jesus.

This is the good news of Easter morning.

None of us is perfect, but God has provided a way out, a path to a second chance, a path to forgiveness, but
there is only one path. Because Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, he is the gate of the Lord
and judge of all creation. If we believe in him, God forgives us and invites us to live with him forever.
God invites everyone to accept his invitation but invites no one who does not first accept his son.

Our mission in the twenty-first century is the same as Peter’s was in the first century, to tell the world that
Jesus has risen from the dead so that we can be forgiven.

God does play favorites and it’s not only good news; it’s the best news ever.

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