What God Has Made Clean

 

Chapter10

The close of Chapter 9 gave us a couple of brief stories about Peter’s ministry having moved away from the centers of Judaism. He is drawn out west, to Lydda and Joppa. It appears that the church has already arrived there, but Peter’s actions in Lydda have the effect of converting more people.

Chapter 10 remains focused on Peter’s ministry. Here we read the story of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion. Fun fact: A Centurion was a Roman army officer in charge of 100 men. Hence, we know that Cornelius was a man of some power and prestige. He lives in Caesarea – a city on the coast, located north of Jerusalem, it is the center of the Roman government in Judea. Cornelius is a “God-fearer,” meaning that he worships the God of Israel, while he does not have any formal connection to Judaism. He receives his vision at 3:00 pm, a customary hour of prayer.

While Cornelius’ men are on their way to Joppa, Peter also receives a vision. This, too, occurs at a time of prayer. I have tended to imagine Peter’s vision as a picnic cloth, maybe red and white checked, with piles of roast beef, ham, and chicken; perhaps even crabs and oysters. But, of course, that is not quite what is described.

Peter sees a sheet in the air being lowered to the ground. If there is any significance to the object being a sheet, it is not clear. Some commentators have suggested that the image might have been influenced by objects around him, such as the sails he might have been looking at out on the sea, or a cloth awning shading him from the sun.

While the sheet itself is not important, what is on the sheet is the central focus of the vision. There are many animals, of both clean and unclean variety. The designations clean and unclean come from the ritual purity laws in Leviticus. There were certain animals that Israel was forbidden to eat. So, for example, eating beef, chicken, and fish is fine, but pork and shellfish are off-limits. The reasons behind the divisions are opaque. Theories have been proposed to explain them, which we will not go into now.

When Peter refuses the invitation to “kill and eat,” the voice responds, saying three times, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” When Cornelius’ men appear at the house, again he hears a voice telling him the Lord has sent them to see him. All the pieces are falling into place and Peter begins to understand that the way is being opened for the gospel to reach the Gentiles, the people formerly classified as “unclean.”.

The writer Squire Rushnell likes to say that a coincidence is God winking at you. The story of Peter and Cornelius takes what otherwise might be considered coincidences, and understands them as being organized by God, to realize God’s plan. It took some really intense winking for God to get this message across: The Gentiles are included in God’s plan of salvation.

The story is told in great detail, taking up all of Chapter 10, and continuing in Chapter 11. Let’s take some time to look at it closely.

·        Hospitality.         The story focuses to an unusual degree on household and hospitality matters. We read that Peter is a houseguest of Simon the tanner, that the visitors come to this house and are invited to stay, and that they all return together to Cornelius’ home, where Peter is invited to stay for several days. This is significant because table fellowship with Gentiles was forbidden by Jewish law. Table fellowship is an essential part of Christianity (think communion; also, potlucks) and so it needs to be made clear at the outset that this barrier is removed.

·        Impartiality.       Peter might be thinking of the words from Deuteronomy 10:17 when he declares, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.” That is, he understands these words differently now than he did before. He probably would have said, previously, that God cares equally about all the children of Israel. Peter sees now that God’s love extends to all the nations of the world. The words of the Hebrew scriptures are now interpreted in the light of the gospel.

·        Conversion.        The effect of these events is a double conversion. Cornelius and his household are converted to Christianity. Peter is converted to a new understanding of the faith, a mission to the Gentiles. Thus we see that even the greatest Apostles are works in progress.

It is no small feat laying the groundwork for this new mission, convincing the leaders of the movement to get on board with it. In Chapter 10, it plays out like a July Fourth fireworks display: coordinated visions and well-timed arrivals, divine voices and nudges, and the appearance of the Holy Spirit at the finale. The ground has now shifted, but there is more convincing to be done in Chapter 11.

Questions for Reflection:

·        Think about a coincidence in your life that may actually have been God winking at you.

·        Sometimes conversion is to a completely new faith, as with Cornelius. Other times, conversion is to a new way of understanding your faith, as with Peter. Have you experienced either type of conversion?

·        Occasionally in history, there are shifts of such magnitude, like the inclusion of the Gentiles in the mission of the church. They take time because they involve breaking down long-held assumptions, biases, and priorities. Can you identify some of these shifts? How does the church discern the rightness of such a change?