One way we understand that something significant is happening is
when time slows down. Better than using flashing arrows and lights, the act of
slowing the narrative down can communicate in an organic way that this is very
important business going on right now.
The story about Peter and the Gentiles is given a solid chapter
and a half – 66 verses. This is an episode we should sit up and pay attention
to, because something big is happening here.
So let me go back and fill it in.
The story begins at chapter 10 in Caesarea with Cornelius, a
centurion of the Roman army. Not a Jew, that is.
Cornelius is, however, a devout man who feared God – this means
that he believed in the God of Israel. Even though he would never become a Jew,
he followed the Jewish practices of prayer and almsgiving, and he led his
household accordingly. And then one day, about three in the afternoon, he had a
vision of an angel, who said to him, “Cornelius, God has heard your prayers.
Now send some men to Joppa to seek out a man called Peter.” Being a centurion
meant that Cornelius had a corps of 100 men under his authority, so he summoned
a few of his men and sent them to Joppa. That is how strong his vision was.
Scene Two: we are in Joppa on the following day, about noon. Peter
goes up to the roof of the house where he is a guest, to find a quiet place for
prayer. He neglected to eat before climbing up on the roof, so in the middle of
his prayers he starts thinking about food. You know how that goes, right?
He called down for someone to bring him a meal, and while he was
waiting he fell into a trance. Here’s where it gets really weird. He saw the
heavens open and large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners.
You really must take a minute and think about what this might have
looked like. Were there four little birds holding the corners in their beaks, like
in an animated Disney movie? Or was it more like Aladdin’s magic carpet, just
sort of hovering in the air, waving?
I always picture it to be one of those red and white checked
picnic cloths. Because on the cloth are all kinds of animals – mammals, reptiles,
birds. Pig, rabbit, shellfish, ostrich, rattlesnake. All the kinds of things
that are not kosher, that Peter as a Jew is not permitted to eat.
Weird enough. But then Peter hears a voice, which he knows to be
the voice of God, saying, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” But Peter says, “O my
goodness, no – I would never do that.” Why? Because it is against the Jewish
purity laws. Never in his life has he eaten pork, crab, or anything else on
that picnic cloth. It is downright offensive to him. But the voice says to him,
“what God has made clean you must not call profane.”
This exchange between Peter and the voice is repeated three times
in exactly the same way, while the picnic cloth filed with animals hovers in
the air. Then after the third time, the cloth is swept back up into heaven and
Peter is left puzzling over this weird vision.
While this is happening up on the roof, Cornelius’ men are walking
through the streets of Joppa, heading for this very house. Still thinking about
his vision and having no idea what to make of it, Peter’s thoughts are
interrupted by the Spirit – again, a kind of vision, we might say – who tells
him that there are three men at the door looking for him, and that he should go
see them because the Lord wanted Peter to go with them.
Still, Peter didn’t know what was going on, who they were, or
where he would be sent. But he followed the Spirit’s leading. So the men at the
door told Peter about Cornelius and his vision, in which an angel told him to
go get Peter, and here they were. The men were invited in, given food and
lodging, and the next day Peter and a few believers from Joppa followed these
men back to Caesarea.
Now, just as Peter knew he was not supposed to eat of the unclean
animals, he also knew that he was not to have table fellowship with gentiles.
These were all new and uncomfortable things, but he did them anyway. Because he
was beginning to put the pieces together, seeing that somehow this strange
vision was connected to this journey.
When they arrived at the home of Cornelius, he told Peter exactly
what had happened to him a few days earlier, the vision of the angel, the order
to get Peter and hear what Peter would say to him.
Up until this moment I am sure that Peter had no earthly idea what
he would say to Cornelius. Still, he opened his mouth and began to speak, and
he said, “I truly understand now that God shows no partiality.” And he spoke
about how this was the message God had sent through Jesus Christ, and that the
good news had continued to spread throughout the lands, crossing all kinds of
borders and boundary lines, and had evidently brought him right here now.
While Peter was in the middle of his speech, the Holy Spirit came
down on everyone gathered there. How did they know it was the Spirit? By the
ways the people responded to it – they began speaking in tongues and praising
God. And it seemed authentic.
But the Jews in the crowd could not believe what was going on.
Because this was not the way these things were supposed to happen.
Up until this time, they all understood that the good news of
Jesus Christ was for the people of Israel. That one was a Jew first and then
could become a follower of Christ. That one was circumcised first, and then
could be baptized. That the Holy Spirit might skitter around the room all she liked
but skip over the Gentiles and land only on the Jews.
Now Peter says, “Why should I not baptize these Gentiles, for they
have received the Spirit of God, as we have all just witnessed.” And that is
what he did.
And that is why this is such a big deal.
This was newsworthy and it spread quickly. Pretty soon Peter was
in Jerusalem being interrogated by his colleagues. They demanded to know why he
did it. So Peter launched into the whole story again. And, once again, the
reader has the benefit of hearing it in all of its detail. He describes his
vision – what he saw, what he heard – and then his visit from Cornelius’ men
and the trip to Caesarea and all that happened there. Finally, Peter said, “Who
am I to hinder God?” and at that his audience was silent.
And then they praised God as they celebrated God’s inestimable
grace.
So, what does any of this have to do with us?
We don’t always embrace what is different, and we are often
skeptical of the new thing. We are reluctant to let go of old ideas and
traditions. But if we are open to the guidance of the Spirit, if we are able to
shed our egos and put aside the notion that we have a lock on orthodoxy, if we
truly believe that God is still at work in the world then we too might be able
to discern God’s new thing.
The story isn’t finished, you know. When we profess our faith we
do it in the present tense, knowing that God is working, God is forgiving, God
is healing, God is leading us every day.
John of Patmos, toward the end of the first century had a vision –
a revelation, which he wrote down. He described a series of visions that spoke
of the great suffering that exists in this world. But God is not absent from
it. And toward the end he wrote this:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new
earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among
mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and
God himself will be with them.
God has done a new thing many times and will surely do a new thing many more times. And every new revelation expands God’s love and grace as we know it. It is an extraordinary thing. We don’t always understand it well, but God is always willing to show us. God’s way is a way of inestimable grace. And we are invited to come along.
Photo: Megapixl
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