Eureka! Sunday, January 9th, 2014

Sermon – Jan. 9, 2014

Peter’s Eureka Moment

Grace and Peace Bethany Lutheran Church!

Today is Baptism of our Lord Sunday, the day we remember Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist.  It’s sort of the Eureka moment for John the Baptist and the rest of the world, because it’s the moment where they discover who Jesus is.  A Dove descends on Jesus as a voice from heaven cries out “This is my son, with him I am well pleased.” 

But there’s actually another Eureka moment that I’m more interested in talking about, and it comes today from our second reading in the book of Acts.  But before I get into that, let me back up a second.

You all know what I mean by Eureka right? A Eureka moment, is simply that flash of inspiration that you get when something suddenly makes sense for the first time. 

Eureka describes that lightning quick instant in time where an idea comes to you in a flash.  You could be working on trying to fix a leaky faucet for months and months, not knowing exactly how to fix it, and then one day you’re on a bus riding to work, and the solution comes to you– duct tape!

(I’m not sure why duct tape keeps cropping up in my sermons…it must be a God thing)…

The word “eureka” actually comes to us from the world of science, but it’s really just the Greek word that means, “I have found it!”  I have found it.  I have found what I have been looking for!  It makes sense now! 

The word was made popular because of a story of a Roman scientist who lived a few centuries before Jesus was born.

According to the story, his name was Archimedes, and he worked for King Hiero II.  Hiero had commissioned a golden crown shaped like leaves to be made in honor of the gods who had helped him achieve victory in battle. 

The goldsmith made a beautiful golden crown, but rumors began to surface that he had cheated the King by mixing in silver with the gold.  Being a fair king, Hiero needed proof, and so he gave Archimedes the task of discovering if the crown was truly made of pure gold like the blacksmith had promised – or if he had actually mixed it with silver.

The problem, was that he wasn’t allowed to damage the crown in any way.  Archimedes agonized over how to find out the truth about the crown for a long time, until one day, when he was getting into the bathtub, he had his Eureka moment!

Water! (Stay with me here as a Pastor tries to explain some science) He could determine the density of the crown by comparing how much water it displaced compared with gold and silver of the same weight.  If any other material had been added to the crown, it would displace more water than if it were made entirely of Gold.

It was a stroke of genius, but remember, Archimedes was about to take a bath, and he was so excited about his breakthrough idea, that he got up out of his bath and ran through the streets – in nothing but his birthday suit – shouting “Eureka! Eureka!” I have found it!  I have found it! 

Which I’m sure, many people took out of context.  Regardless he carries out the experiment and discovers the crown is indeed made with silver.  That’s the story of how Eureka became a word we still use today.

I don’t think Lutherans ever get quite that excited – a fact that I am grateful for. But our story today from Acts is about a Eureka moment as well. It’s about Peter discovering for the first time, something new about God.

But to understand his inspiration, I need to explain the context.

Some of you might already know this, but the book of Acts, is really the second half of the book of Luke.  The same author wrote it and the two stories were meant to be read together. 

At the very end of the book of Luke, the risen Jesus tells his disciples that this message of forgiveness of sins was to be spread to all nations – which I think Peter and the other disciples initially interprets as “Jews in all nations.”

And that’s how the book of Acts begins  – Peter and the disciples travel (mostly) to Jewish temples all around the Mediterranean to tell people about Jesus.

Now, Peter is in a very tricky situation, because Jewish law tells him that he really isn’t supposed to be hanging around all these Greek gentiles who are ritually unclean - they don’t eat kosher food, they aren’t circumcised, they don’t observe the Sabbath, and as we learned from Archimedes, they’re a little too comfortable with themselves, etc. etc.

It’s about this time that God comes to Peter in a dream.  He’s sleeping one night, and he has a vision where all these unclean animals – birds, reptiles, and other creatures Jews were not supposed to eat – were coming down from heaven.  And in his dream, a voice tells Peter to eat them.

Peter objects to this because as a Jew, he knows he’s not supposed to eat that food – he knows it’s against the law – But the voice speaks to him again and says “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”  What God has made clean, you must not call unclean.

And Peter doesn’t really know what to make of this weird dream until he gets invited over the house of a devout Roman Christian – a captain of the Roman army named Cornelius.  Cornelius isn’t a Jew.  He doesn’t eat kosher food.  He isn’t circumcised, he doesn’t observe the Sabbath.  And so Cornelius, according to Jewish law, is unclean. 

And right then, as Peter is standing in the doorway of this guy’s house, the light bulb comes on.  He has his Eureka moment – his flash of inspiration – and he realizes for maybe the first time, that being clean didn’t mean following the law, that being clean comes through faith Christ.  Maybe we become clean, when God washes us in the waters of Baptism.

Jesus had come for all nations and all people – for the clean and the unclean. Cornelius, baptized child of God, was indeed clean in the sight of God. Eureka!

And that’s when Peter gives his speech which we heard in the second reading today, which he begins by saying, “I truly understand now, that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” 

I hope you hear how radical a thing it is for a Jew to be saying to a Roman soldier – a member of the army that conquered Jerusalem, “God’s grace and forgiveness isn’t just meant for us (Jews).  It’s meant for you, and it’s meant for all people.” 

The surprise in this story – the eureka moment – is that the Gospel doesn’t belong to whom Peter thought it belonged to.  It belongs to the unclean – the sinners – the people who don’t have it all together. 

And thank God, because as hard as we try – no matter good we think we are, no matter how perfect our worship seems to be, no matter how sparkling our reputations  – we will never be perfect people.  You will never be perfect.  You cannot escape sin, except by the grace of God.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ – truly, our Eureka moment happens when we realize that God’s grace does not come to us through our own achievements.  It’s when we realize that in our own weakness, sinfulness and imperfections, we find the grace of God through Christ on the cross.

And more than that, it is only as we join with Christ, through the waters of baptism – as our newly baptized are soon to find out – that we can ever truly be made clean. 

Eureka!  We have found it.  Thanks be to God. Amen.