Unity: Galatians 2:11-14
It is easy to lose sight of how Jesus should unite us even while the world would divide us. God is love. Love should unify. Those who are in God should be one. In the Gospel of John, Jesus teaches that the world will know we are His disciples by our love.
Despite the agreement that the Gentile followers of Jesus would be well received by the Jewish followers of Jesus, Paul shares what happened when Peter came to visit. At first, Peter hung out with the Gentiles. He ate with them and was sociable. When other followers of Jesus came – people who believed following Jesus meant following Jewish traditions like Kosher laws and circumcision – Peter stopped hanging out with the Gentile followers of Jesus.
Before condemning Peter, we can try to understand why he changed. Peer pressure is very real. Furthermore, religious righteousness can often feel like shooting at a moving target. Peter feels the pressure from the stricter Jews and wants to make sure he’s doing enough, living the right way, and pleasing God. He didn’t want to be the subject of conversation. He didn’t want his position in the church to be compromised.
In the end, Peter shows his humanity. Peter begins to only hang out with the Jewish followers of Christ and stops going around the Gentile followers. His internal quest to find the path of righteousness goes astray.
To be completely fair to Peter, Barnabas also falls. Barnabas sees Peter make a change and feels the peer pressure even more. After all, if Peter changes –Peter being one of Jesus’ inner cadre – then Peter’s probably right. That’s how peer pressure works.
Paul confronts Peter when his actions go astray. I love this moment because Paul is still a relative nobody in terms of church hierarchy. He sees the great Peter no longer living up to the standard. Then he sees Barnabas no longer living up to the standard. Instead of doubting himself, Paul rises to the challenge. Paul confronts Peter and even confronts his mentor Barnabas.
Peter and Barnabas forgot one crucially important detail. What matters most is Jesus. What we eat cannot make us ritually unclean. Who we sit beside cannot make us ritually unclean. Worshipping a different way – assuming we’re worshipping the one true God – cannot make us ritually unclean. What matters is we know Jesus and allow Him to make us more like Him.
This happens all the time. Religious debates split communities of faith over non-salvation issues. People get angry because others express faith differently. People come into our communities of faith and cause disruption. People make us doubt the unity Christ brings.
Jesus came to make us one. He came to bring us in relationship with God. If we are all in relationship with God, there should be space for us to be in relationship with each other, too. It is easy to lose sight of how Jesus should unite us even while the world would divide us.
