Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, May 18, 2025
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Conversion is not a matter of identifying and targeting “those people”. It is a journey of discovery and movement. We can respect each person’s journey and take a hard look at the places where we fail to do so.
It might seem that the debate between Paul, Barnabas, Peter, and James with the Pharisees hinged on whether or not converted Gentiles should be circumcised. But what if we hinge the debate on what it means to be “converted”?
While circumcision is no longer a central topic of debate among Christians, the idea of conversion is. Whether or not individual Christians are engaged in evangelism, most certainly celebrate when a non-Christian converts to Christianity. But what does that mean?
We might view conversion as a shifting of identity—from being one thing to becoming another. At the time of Paul and the others, Christianity was not yet a thing, so Gentiles were being converted to a form of being Jewish. But as being Jewish was not only a matter of religion, but also of race, Gentiles could not have become wholly Jewish. Some thought the solution was to circumcise Gentiles, which was a central mark that set Jews apart from the rest of the world. Today, non-Christians can shift their identity to Christian, but even that can be problematic. How do we define who/what a Christian is? Even in our own neighborhoods Christians claim radically different identities from other Christians.
We might view conversion as a shifting of belief—from believing one thing to believing another. Converted Gentiles shifted from not believing in Jesus to believing in Jesus. Again, problematic for us, as we can’t truly define what “believing” means. If belief is a matter of evidence, faith requires none. If belief is a matter of perspective, every person’s perspective is different and immeasurable. Additionally, we have little control over what we believe. We cannot force it, nor can we deny it. As Christians, we have set a monumental task before us if we think we can make another person believe what we believe simply by choosing the right words and delivering them at the right time and in the right way.
We may need to back away from thinking of conversion as being a moment or an event that changes our identify or belief so that we were once one thing, and have since become another. Instead, if we view conversion as a journey, we need not label people as Christian or not Christian. If conversion is a journey that moves us from wherever we started toward something different, then we are all still on the conversion journey. Faith, belief, identity, conversion—none of these are static. They are all fluid, which means we cannot separate the world into believers and non-believers, into those who believe against those who do not believe. We are all on a journey. We are either moving toward or away from that which does not work for us anymore, and moving away from or toward something better. If we took this view of conversion—if we respected each person’s journey as worthwhile, perhaps we could stop putting up barriers that separate “us” from “them”.
We are living in a time when people seem to be building higher and higher walls that separate us from the other. We label and separate ourselves by religion, race, gender, size, relationship status, age, political affiliation, and so many other constructs. Even more problematic is when we try to force others to become what we are. (Ironically, even as I write this thinking of “those people” who do that, I must confess it a struggle to see the places where I am guilty of the same.)
This might be an opportunity to reflect inward—either personally or as a community of faith—to see the places where we have separated ourselves from others. Jesus’ goal was not separation, but unity under the umbrella of radical love, peace, acceptance, caregiving, and the uplifting of all people. Where might we acknowledge our own sin of labeling, separation, and condescension, and how could you encourage your community of faith to do it differently?
-Dr. Kimberly Leetch
