52. Wala ka sa Lolo ko. He is not Jew; God does not show favoritism but accepts everyone who fears Him.
6 November 2020
Peter Baptizing the Centurion Cornelius, by Francesco Trevisani, 1709
Woman at the Well by Carl Heinrich Bloch
Francesco Trevisani • Public domain
Acts 10
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism
35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”
Acts 10
Peter at Cornelius’s House
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.
28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.
29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”
30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me
31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.’”
Favoritism, we hate it, yet not if we are the favored one.
Let me share something I wrote 21 August 2017.
“The referred passages relates to the prejudice of the Jews against non-Jews about the food they eat which were considered unclean making them impure and unfit to come before the Lord. Peter was the first to discriminate. Peter in a trance: “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:14-15)
This is not about the person, this is about circumstances. In my later years in college, I would defer going home to save on bus fare. Earlier as freshman, I was homesick and justified to travel home often; later I would wait for my allowance to be sent through somebody. Wala pa noong Smart Padala hehehe..... I had a boardmate, older than me, who was well provided. I graduated and left the boarding house, at that time he was still studying. Again, it is not about the person; it is about circumstances. I could have been in his place. The favor of money at times is not helpful.
Parents sometimes play favorites, like Jacob loved Joseph more, having been born in his old age (Genesis 37:3). Lolos and Lolas tend to spoil their grandchildren. Ang iba paborito...paboritong pagalitan...paboritong utusan hehehe. Such causes jealousy; unfavored ones later in life become bitter or obsessed with pleasing others and getting recognition.
“Lord, since we call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially (1 Peter 1:17), I come to You with confidence, not feeling inferior. Lord, I need not think either the food I take, or my outside appearance counts in Your presence: But now as for what is inside me —be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for me (Luke 11:41). This I will do, not for my own claim, but in gratitude for Your lovingkindness, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.””
From Wikipedia.
“What did Jesus see when He looked at the woman at the well in John 4?
• Public domain
It was no accident that the disciples had all gone to town to buy food. Surely, they would have tried to warn Jesus not to talk to this person—a woman, a Samaritan, and someone with a bad reputation.
He saw someone who wanted acceptance and desperately needed to know she was loved. Most of all, He saw someone who needed what only He could give—a new heart.
Not being one to follow protocol, however, Jesus used this encounter to bless her with the truth of “living water” (John 4:10). In just one conversation, He broke down barriers of old hostilities, of gender bias, of ethnic and racial divides. And this woman became the first of many Samaritans to confess that Jesus was the Messiah (vv.39-42).
When we tell others of our own “encounter” with Jesus, we bless them with living water.”
I am not a Jew, but a worshipper of God, through faith in Jesus Christ. I tell others of my own “encounter” with the Lord Jesus.
My children's children will someday say, wala ka sa Lolo ko, he is not Jew; God does not show favoritism but accepts everyone who fears Him.
May you be blessed with “living water.”
Maraming salamat.
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