A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 18, 2025
Text: Acts 11:1-18
Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If you’ve been following the news closely over the past couple of weeks, you’ve probably heard by now that there’s a new Pope—Pope Leo XIV, who is the first American-born citizen to ever hold the position.
Now…what that means for us, as Episcopalians, is that there’s a new Bishop of Rome in the Roman Catholic Church.
Although we certainly look to the Pope as an influential figure and spiritual leader in the Body of Christ, he doesn’t hold any authority over what we do in the Episcopal Church or in the worldwide, Anglican Communion.
And, as Anglicans, we don’t have any equivalent to the Pope.
We have bishops, and we have an Archbishop of Canterbury—who serves as the head of the Church of England and the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, but even he doesn’t have the same level of authority or influence as the Pope does in the Roman Catholic Church.
Still…any time a new Pope is elected, it seems as though the entire world is sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting anxiously to see the white smoke appear from the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
Watching all of the news about the election of the new Pope reminded me of a movie Chelsea and I recently watched called, Conclave.
Has anyone else seen it?
I’m sure a few of you have.
It’s a brand new movie that just came out last year, and it’s based on a novel that was written back in 2016 by Robert Harris.
The film was nominated for several awards, including eight Academy Awards, which it won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t worry.
I’m not going to spoil it for you in case you decide to watch it later.
But, I highly recommend it.
The story of Conclave takes place in Rome.
After the Pope dies of a heart attack, the College of Cardinals gathers in the Vatican to elect his successor.
The main character of the film is Cardinal Lawrence—the dean of the College of Cardinals, played by Ralph Fiennes.
He’s the one who’s responsible for making sure the conclave runs smoothly.
Toward the beginning of the story, we learn that there are four cardinals who’ve emerged as the most likely candidates to become the new Pope.
And, as the story progresses, we see each of these characters positioning themselves politically and strategizing to make sure their top choice is the one who’s elected.
They all come into the conclave with their own, personal agendas, and they’ve already decided who they think should be the next Pope.
They all think they have the right answers on how the Church should be run.
Scandals are uncovered in the process.
Secrets are revealed.
And, ultimately—after an unexpected tragedy—the one who’s finally elected to be the new Pope is the one who was least likely to be chosen.
There’s one scene in the movie that especially resonated with me, and it happens toward the beginning of the film, soon after the conclave begins.
During the opening mass, Cardinal Lawrence delivers a powerful homily to the rest of the cardinals, stressing the importance of doubt and mystery in the life of faith.
At one point, he says to the cardinals, “There is one sin I have come to fear above all else. Certainty.”
And he goes on to say, “Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt.”
“If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need for faith.”
The cardinal’s homily in the movie is very similar to something the late Pope Francis once said in an interview, not long after he was elected to the papacy in 2013…
“If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him. . . . The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble.”
I think this is an important lesson for us to remember.
“We must be humble.”
We’ve all had experiences of people in our lives who claimed to have all the answers figured out.
We‘ve all known people who claimed to know the will of God and to think they know what’s best—not leaving room for anyone else’s opinions or beliefs.
We’ve all known people—and churches—who’ve taught that if you don’t believe the same way they do or belong to their church, you’re wrong.
I’m convinced it’s one of the reasons why so many people have been driven away from any kind of organized religion and why so many people feel isolated from the Church.
It’s because of the sin of certainty.
It’s because of our tendency—as human beings—to try and fit God into a box of our own design and not allowing any room for the Holy Spirit to move in our lives of faith.
In the words of Cardinal Lawrence, “Our faith is a living thing.”
And, it’s a lifelong journey—filled with pitfalls, valleys, and mountains—that God has called us to walk.
We are pilgrims—trying to find our way on this journey of faith, but in order to do so, we have to leave room for God to lead us.
We must decrease so that he may increase.
A really good example of that can be found in our lesson today from the Book of Acts.
Peter has just returned to Jerusalem after visiting Caesarea and a man named Cornelius, who was a Roman officer and Gentile.
When Peter returned to Jerusalem, he was met by a group of concerned Christians who were there, who were also Jewish.
They asked him, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”
In other words, “Why did you associate with the Gentiles?”
This was unheard of at the time.
Jews believed that, in order to stay pure, they could have no interaction with Gentiles.
So, Peter explained to them the situation…
He told them that, while he was away and praying in the city of Joppa, he had a vision sent from God.
Something like a large sheet came down from heaven, and it was filled with animals—four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air—all considered “unclean” according to Jewish law.
A voice from heaven told Peter, “Get up! Kill and eat!”
Peter replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever touched my mouth.”
A second time, the voice from heaven said to Peter, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”
This happened three times.
Then, everything was pulled up again to heaven.
Peter was amazed by what he saw and wondered what it all meant.
Then, three men appeared who were sent by a man named Cornelius to bring Peter back to his home in Caesarea.
The Spirit told Peter to go with them.
So, he and some others from Joppa accompanied the men back to Caesarea.
When they arrived at the house, Peter told Cornelius and the other Gentiles who were there all about Jesus, and as he was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all of them.
And, Peter remembered something Jesus once said…
“John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Peter said to those concerned Christians in Jerusalem, “If God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”
In other words, “If God gave those Gentiles the same gift he gave us, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
The people who heard this fell silent, and they began praising God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
This was a major turning point in the life of the early church.
Up to this point, most Christians believed that only Jews could follow Jesus.
But, because of the example of Peter and his willingness to go where the Spirit was leading him, he was able to break down those barriers and help people realize that Jesus wasn’t just for some people.
Jesus was sent to save us all.
From that point forward, the Gospel spread from a small group of Christians in Jerusalem to a worldwide faith—to people of all nations, cultures, and languages.
Our lesson this morning from Acts teaches us that God’s love is so much bigger than our traditions and pre-conceived ideas about who God is and who God calls us to love.
It teaches us that, when we’re willing to let go of certainty and the belief that we have all the answers figured out, God can use us as instruments of his love and mercy in the world.
There is a place for our questions and even our doubts, which can lead us to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.
There is a place for prayer and asking God to lead us and guide us, and to give us the strength we need to align our wills with his own.
Our job is not to stand in God’s way or to be a stumbling block to the Holy Spirit.
Our job is to follow where the Spirit is leading us, to let God use us as he will, and then have the grace and humility to get out of the way and let God be God.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Mancil 