Does God Actually Play Favorites? What Muppets From Space Gets Right

Have you ever felt like you were on the outside looking in, like you just did not quite fit anywhere? This week Celeste takes a look at Gonzo’s struggle for identity in Muppets From Space alongside the story of Cornelius in Acts 10 to show that God has never seen anyone as an outsider.

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In Muppets From Space, Gonzo doesn’t know what he is. Nobody does. He’s been called a “whatever” his whole life because no one can identify his species or where his people are. He is one of a kind, and he has gotten pretty lonely with that. But Kermit and the rest of the Muppets don’t care about any of that. They care about who he is. And that picture of acceptance is a surprisingly honest reflection of what God was telling the early church in Acts 10.

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In Acts 10:34-35, we read:

“Peter opened his mouth and said, truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

That is a simple verse with a lot of weight behind it.

Who Is Cornelius?

To understand why Peter says this, we need to back up. Acts 10 introduces us to Cornelius, a Roman centurion. There is already a lot happening in that description alone. He comes from a very pagan culture, and yet he believes in the one true God. He offers sacrifices. He prays. He lives uprightly, and he is well regarded even among his Jewish friends.

Cornelius has a vision that tells him to find Simon Peter. So he sends his servant. Meanwhile, Peter has a vision of his own about not calling things unclean that God has called clean. And yes, as a side note, this is also why we can now eat bacon.

Back to the main point.

What God Was Saying to the Early Church

The entire chapter of Acts 10 is God letting the early church know that the Gentiles are okay to be around. You have to understand the context. Jewish people were not supposed to be spending time around Gentiles, not out of hatred or cruelty, but because of the very real danger of being pulled away from God. Honestly, if ancient Israel had held to that principle a little more carefully, there would have been far fewer problems along the way.

But this chapter is doing something important. It is letting people know that as long as someone has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and holds to what He has called us to do, they are equal. No one is better. No one is worse. Everybody has equal footing at the cross.

That verse from Peter sums it up. As long as you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, there is nothing you have done that is worse than anyone else’s sin. We as humans like to quantify things. We say “that’s really bad” or “it was just a small sin, not a big deal.” But to God, all sin is equal. Which means that when we come to Him and He forgives us, we are all equal.

So How Do We Live This Out?

We apply it by showing love and grace to other believers, because Jesus has shown it to us and to them. We should be a reflection of His attitudes toward people.

We also need to stay away from putting people on pedestals. There are no super Christians. That is simply not a thing. There may be people who are further along in their walk that we should honor and look up to, but we keep in mind that they too are just people saved by grace, same as the rest of us.

And it goes further than just how we treat fellow believers. Every person out there, no matter where they come from, no matter their race, their background, their social status, God loves them just the same. They still need to know Jesus, and we show love and grace as individuals and point them back to the Father the same way we would anyone else.

We cannot let our backgrounds or our assumptions keep us from reaching out to people with love. That was the very issue Peter was running into. In his mindset, he simply should not associate with Gentiles at all. But God revealed to him that He loves them just the same.

That is what Kermit understood about Gonzo, even if he could not have put it in those words. It does not matter where you come from. It does not matter what you are or where your people are. You belong here.

And if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, that is exactly what God is saying to you too.