Tuesday, September 21

The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.
- Acts 11:1-12

At first glance this passage may seem a bit odd and difficult to understand; Peter has a weird dream about bed sheets and animals, he hears voices telling to eat the animals and then to go with three strangers who show up at his door?

We have to probe a little deeper to grasp the meaning of this vision and what God is really up to in Peter’s life. First of all, Peter was a Jew, and the Jews had very strict food laws (Leviticus 11). Generally speaking a Jew could only eat animals that chewed the cud and had cloven hoofs. All other animals were “unclean” and therefore forbidden according to the Levitical law. This is why Peter was so shocked and refused to obey when the voice in his vision told him to eat the unclean animals. Three times, the voice (God) tells Peter not to consider anything unclean that God has made clean.

You might be thinking – So what? Does God just want to change Peter’s diet?

Notice that immediately after this vision, the three messengers from Cornelius’ house show up looking for Peter. Remember that Cornelius was a gentile and a Roman soldier. Faithful Jews wanted nothing to do with gentiles because they were considered “unclean”, not to mention the oppressive and cruel Romans. Many Jews of this period believed that God himself had no use for gentiles. Peter would not ordinarily have been willing to go with three strange gentile men to meet with their pagan Roman army officer.

But God has been preparing him for this moment! The vision was not just about Peter’s diet, it was to prepare his heart for the meeting with Cornelius and his family!

Don’t think this is a small thing, this was a very big deal. It was against the Jewish law for a Jew to enter the house of a gentile (Acts 10:28). This is the reason that Peter was being criticized and questioned by the Jewish believers in the region (Acts 11:1-2).

One of the critical implications of this story for us is that we must not have any racism or prejudice of any kind in our hearts if we are to be true followers of Christ!

“Prejudice or racism of any kind in the heart or on the lips of God’s people is an
obscenity and a great offense to Him.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The encouraging thing about this amazing story is that although Peter is an apostle, a close companion of Jesus, a witness to the resurrection, and a key figure in establishing the early church, he still had some growing to do. He had some old prejudices, blind spots and parts of his heart that the Gospel had not yet completely transformed.

In other words God was not done working on Peter, and he is not done working on you either!

Take a few moments and ask God to probe your heart for spiritual blind spots. Invite him to point out any attitudes in you that may be offensive to him.
(write them down as a way of naming & confessing them to God.)

Father, you are the author of all life, and the Lord of all nations. Thank you that you are not finished with us! Reveal our prejudices and sinful attitudes so that we may be healed of them. Teach us by your Spirit to the world the way you do – Amen.

Jeff Frazier