I cannot tell you how many people told me that they could not wait for 2020 to be over. Have you said this, too? After a harsh year fraught with wildfires, protests, and pandemic we as a people need Hope ….. a hope that goes beyond what we can see or whip up on our own. And so, it is good that we begin a new year that starts with the season of Epiphany. Epiphany – literally meaning ‘God manifesting’ – is marked by the revelation of God’s gift of himself in the flesh - to us as a gift to all humankind, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or status in life.
I am reminded of the Biblical passage that makes this point in the book of Acts 10:34-43 where the truth of God making himself known to all humanity - is put forth by the disciple Peter who preaches about how Jesus of Nazareth, anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, went around healing all people and doing good. Not only that but that this Jesus accepts all who come to Him – Jew and Gentile – which means….everybody else. The text actually says: “God does not show favoritism, literally means ‘an acceptor of a face’….accepts people from every nation (ethnos = literally every people group).
Imagine that kind of acceptance.
When I think of acceptance like this I get the image of a mother cupping her hands around the face of her child showing them they are the “apple of her eye”, as the old expression goes.
Have you ever felt that kind of acceptance? I did. Twice. From my mother throughout my life, and years later when in my 30’s - I felt it from the Holy Creator God of the universe when I acknowledged I was not doing a good job of managing life on my own and I needed a Savior.
Well, that is how this passage in Acts 10 ends: with the truth that everyone who admits they need a Savior…and “…..believes in him (not as a title or magic formula (Acts 18:13), but the power of Christ himself represented by his name), receives forgiveness of sins through his name”. Jesus’ name (is derived from the Hebrew name Yeshua/Y’shua, which is based on the Semitic root y-š-ʕ (Hebrew: ישע), meaning " to deliver; to rescue.") actually means: ‘He will save’.
So, what that means is: you, too, can receive this acceptance that begins with Jesus extending his hand out to you to deliver, rescue, and save. As you come into this New Year of 2021, and decide you want God’s unconditional acceptance as well as help in managing your life better in the coming year..simply say, “Jesus I want you to manage my life from now on…forgive me of my sin”.
That is, it! You are accepted forever…..and have opened up to yourself not only to a better year, but a new life going forward into eternity.
