Jealousy's Ugly Side

Acts 13:42-48
42As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.
43And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
45But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
46And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.
47For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
48And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

The Word of The Lord continues to spead to the Gentiles and thus the world as the hierarchy of the Jewish community rejects the message of the Gospel in our reading for today. These men are charged with jealousy. I get it. It's tough to see your ideas rejected as something new gains momentum. Their jealousy gets in their way, prohibiting them from embracing Jesus' fulfillment of their Old Testament prophecies. Paul's typification of their reactions is interesting. They have "judged themselves unworthy of eternal life". Those words hit right between the eyes! They've done it to themselves and Paul is forecd to move to the Gentiles.

 For these men, this was quite a slap. The Jewish male daily recited (and I don't know, but maybe it is still a part of their liturgiy) a pryer tt thanks God for not making them a Gentile. There was no love lost for those outside of their community. Now that is exactly who God is going to share eternal life with those who are held in contempt. Their jealousy now rises up to condemn them.

 In this case jealousy caused a stubborness that prohibited these men from embracing the truth of God's love for them. Lest I become to smug I have to confess that my own stubborness stands in my way all the time too. It is easy to become locked into my own beligerent grip on my sin. But the truth always remains that this sin is covered in the blood of the Lamb and I am forgiven. I don't want to be guilty of "judging myself unworthy of eternal life." God has already judge differently throuth Jesus an I'm going to live in that reality!

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