What do you call a coincidence that is
not really a coincidence? The writer Squire Rushnell likes to say that is God
winking at you. You know, trying to get your attention, trying to get a special
message to you; trying to let you know that there is something going on here
that might not be readily apparent.
Sometimes God has to wink really hard.
Or repeatedly. As if God is working at getting a message across that we are
just not understanding, and it just seems like God has this weird tic. And you
look at God and say, “What is the matter with you?” Are you okay?”
When my daughter Willa was about three
years old, she said to me, “Sometimes I can wink really good, like this,” and
she winked. “But sometimes I just lose my mind, like this,” and then she sort
of went off the rails, winking and blinking like crazy. Sometimes it seems like
God almost loses God’s mind, winking and blinking like crazy. We get a little
worried. Are you okay, God? Have you lost your mind?
The story of Peter and the Gentiles
takes what otherwise might be considered coincidences and helps us understand them
as actually being organized by God. As “Godwinks.” It took some really intense
winking for God to get the message across: The Gentiles are included in God’s
plan of salvation.
This is a big story right here; much bigger than these few verses from
Acts, so we need to go back a little bit to take in the big picture. We should
remember that the way of Jesus Christ was a movement within Judaism. Even after
he died and was raised, it was still a movement within Judaism. There was no
real understanding that it would be anything other than a movement of Judaism;
they assumed that it would stay within the bounds of Judaism. Until weird
things started happening – Godwinks – that gradually changed the story.
For this particular segment of the story, we need to go back to the
beginning of Chapter 10. It begins with a man named Cornelius, who is not a
Jew. He is not an Israelite; he is not a member of the Jewish diaspora. He is a
Roman centurion. And he is a man who loves God – the God of Israel. Now this
was not common, but it was not uncommon. People like Cornelius were called
God-fearers. They believed in Israel’s God, but they were not really a part of
their flock. The Ethiopian eunuch from Chapter 8 (last week’s story) was also a
God-fearer.
There was a process for people like Cornelius to go through if they
wanted to become a member of the flock. He could become a proselyte, which
involved meeting certain requirements that would then enable him to participate
in the practices of Judaism. These practices would include following the laws
of Israel, such as certain dietary restrictions. There is no indication,
however, that Cornelius was a proselyte.
Nonetheless, Cornelius received a vision, which told him to go to Joppa
and find a man named Peter, who was staying there. And so Cornelius sent two of
his slaves on this errand to collect Peter and bring him to Caesarea.
While this was going on, Peter, who was staying at the house of a man
named Simon, went up on the roof to pray alone. And there Peter also received a
vision. He saw before him a sheet– like a tablecloth, or a picnic blanket –
hovering in the air. On it there were all kinds of animals. And Peter heard a
voice say to him, “Get up, kill, and eat.” And Peter said, “Why goodness no – I
do not eat unclean foods. I never have and I never will.”
Apparently, the animals Peter is seeing on this picnic cloth are animals
that Jews are prohibited from eating. These animals are not kosher. There were,
perhaps, pigs and rabbits and ostriches. There may have been crabs. Crabs are
not kosher. The cloth was loaded with animals that are ritually unclean and may
not be eaten by Jews. So Peter’s response is not surprising, but then he hears
the voice say, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”
What God has made clean, you must not call profane. Are you okay, God? Have you lost your mind?
This message was repeated three times, but still Peter was confused. And
while he sat up on the roof, confused, the men sent by Cornelius were below,
wandering through the town inquiring about where they might find Peter. The
Spirit once again intervened and sent Peter down to meet the men. He told them,
“I am the one you are looking for.” So they explained that they had been sent
to bring Peter back to Caesarea to Cornelius, that Cornelius’s vision had shown
him that he needed to hear Peter’s message. A big bag full of Godwinks had
landed on Peter’s doorstep. And, finally, Peter started to get it.
The next day they set out together for Caesarea, and when they arrived
there, Peter began to share the story of Jesus with all the Gentiles.
This is something that Peter would not have normally done. He would not
have considered sharing his message and breaking bread with people like
Cornelius, people he considered unclean. But his experience of the previous
morning had changed all that.
Because while Peter was busy doing something else, God was changing the
rules, choreographing new steps. God was making unclean things clean. God was
making all things ready for Cornelius and his household to become Christians.
God was opening the door to grow the church, to spread divine love, and all
Peter had to do was dance through it. And Peter said, “Oh. Okay. Now I
understand.”
Peter thought he understood before that God sent Jesus to the Jews, who
had long been waiting for their messiah. Peter thought he understood that there
were certain people who were saved and others, many others, who were just not a
part of the equation. Not really his concern.
Peter thought he understood that there were firm boundaries separating
the clean from the unclean. But while Peter was busy living within this set of
assumptions that circumscribed his world, God was breaking those boundaries.
And now Peter was just trying to catch
up. Have you ever found yourself in this place, just trying to catch up with
what God is doing in the world?
And, like Peter, you might find yourself
wondering, “Can anyone withhold the grace of God?”
Who in the world would that be? I know, we
would all like to be the doorkeeper sometimes. Or the bouncer at God’s dance
club. There are some people who really shouldn’t be let in, right? But, just
whose job is it to leave them out? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not ours.
Because when we do – when we try to bar the
door, put up fences, dig moats to keep people out – when we do these things, we
risk getting in the way of the new thing God is doing. Better we should listen,
watch, and follow the Spirit.
You see, when Peter went to Cornelius, he was
able to expand the boundaries of the church by preaching to the Gentiles. The
Spirit fell upon them, all those who heard the word. They were transformed,
made new.
But you know what else happened? Peter and
the other Jewish believers who were there were also transformed. They were also
made new in their understanding of what and how God was working in the world.
It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of maneuvering
by the Spirit, a lot of winks from God, to make this transformation happen. It
is never easy for us, however much we love God, to accept that God might be
shifting us, somehow…just when we got settled and comfortable.
Before I was ordained, my pastor gave me a
gift. It was an egg shaker – a thing you hold in the palm of your hand and
shake in rhythm with the music. They’re like maracas. He said, “That’s because
I know you’re going to shake things up.
I am not really by nature a shaker-upper. But
the Holy Spirit is. Friends, when you seek to follow the Spirit, you are
probably going to shake some things up.
May we – all of us – be willing dance
partners with our God. May we watch and listen and follow the Spirit’s lead.
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