Growing up in the junkyard meant working in the impure and unclean. Actually, not just working in it, but embracing it.
It was routine to come home covered in grease, dust, oil, and sweat. After a long day of work with my dad, my mom would insist I go through the garage, take off my shoes, and wash my hands. Then — and only then — I could enter the house to take a shower.
Everything touchable in the junkyard was dirty, and a lot of that dirt and grime came home on me. Many of the metals, oils, and unidentifiable substances would probably be classified as toxic today. They were certainly impure! But there I was, sloshing through it all to find some random part for a customer.
All of which is to say that today, I probably read Acts 10:28 differently than a lot of folks.
The passage says, “But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” The context is the Apostle Peter talking to the centurion Cornelius, who had called Peter to his home (long backstory that I won’t get into here).
Peter might have called someone or something “impure or unclean” earlier, but he came to understand that God’s grace salvaged everything. It was made new again (to use an old Christianese phrase). Though Peter was slow to understand this, with at least one relapse, he began to see people as God sees people.
God sees beauty and value in the impure and the unclean.
God loves the impure and unclean.
That is not so different from a junkyard. Old broken cars, covered in dust and leaking oil, were looked upon as disposable by everyone else. They were junk unworthy of repair.
But to those of us in the junkyard, these dirty old unclean wrecks had value and possibilities. We didn’t look at them as impure or unclean. They were parts to be repurposed, metals to be salvaged, and treasures to be celebrated. In the junkyard, a broken-down old car represented something truly special.
Look, if you don’t see the metaphor by now … well, I’m sure you do.
My point is this: seeing people as impure or unclean is not how God sees them. God sees value in everyone. God offers love to everyone.
So I might ask, who do you see as impure or unclean today? Who do I see that way? We all have our lists, of course, and they might even be subconscious. But whether we know it or not, those lists keep us from fully valuing those whom God loves.
The next time you lean toward avoidance of someone because they strike you as impure or unclean, think again. The next time you think someone else is somehow “lesser”, think again. The next time you scoff at those different from you as if they have no value, think again.
And watch for this carefully — it sneaks into our thinking, corrupts the heart, becomes a crutch we lean on for simple answers, and then we slowly drift into demonizing others. Which is a callous, ugly, hellish way to live.
God calls us to something better. Let’s begin to see the value in the impure and unclean. Let’s embrace the messiness. Let’s celebrate the possibilities each broken-down old junker represents.