It is easy to imagine early Christians with a proud Israelite heritage despising Gentile peoples. They had witnessed the destruction of their beloved city, Jerusalem, the sacking of their Holy Temple and the slaughter of their countrymen and women at the hands of Gentile Romans. During the siege of Jerusalem those who attempted to escape the city were crucified. An ancient historian Josephus writes: “So great was their number, that space could not be found for the crosses nor crosses for the bodies”. Clearly the Gentiles were barbaric, depraved and “beyond redemption”.
Luke, in Acts, reminds his readers that, actually, “even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life” (10:18b). God is rather scandalous in the giving of the greatest gift – the Holy Spirit. In fact the Gentiles received the gift of the Spirit before they’d even had the opportunity to repent, say the sinners prayer and get baptised.
If God was a cautious, frugal giver you and I would have no time for the Gospel- we’d be lost in darkness. Praise God that in these “last days” God has promised, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people”, even upon you and me, and even upon those who are disturbingly different to us.
Love, like death, hath all destroyed,
rendered all distinctions void;
names and sects and parties fall;
thou, O Christ, art all in all! [1]
[1] From the hymn “Christ from whom all blessings flow” by Charles Wesley