Acts 11:4-9 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’
Some things are incompatible.
Oil and water.
Orange juice and toothpaste.
Cats and baby birds.
Me trying to fly and gravity.
A banana and a glass of sprite. Don’t believe me. Give it a try.
Other things are seemingly incompatible, but you discover that they really get along just fine.
Watching the first Star Wars movie, you are convinced that Han Solo and Princess Leia are completely and totally incompatible - a princess and a smuggler... But as the movies continue, if you discover that in fact they are very compatible Indeed.
Has anybody here ever eaten a hotdog from the Dirty Dogs kiosk at Home Depot? I usually get a Chicago Dog, no tomatoes. Delicious!
One day as I was waiting for my Chicago Dog, I noticed that on the menu there was this thing called Emily’s Dog. According to the menu, it is a hot dog lathered with peanut butter.
Hmm. Those two things sounded very incompatible to me. Kind of yucky, but intriguing. So the next time I grilled out, I put a hotdog on the grill and spread peanut butter on the bun. I was not expecting much, but I got a tell you, it was amazing and now it is one of the several ways I eat hot dogs.
It might seem incompatible that a lifelong diehard “I can take it I’m a Cubs fan” Pastor would be incompatible with a congregation in St. Louis filled with St. Louis Cardinals’ fans. But I think we get along OK. Linda has too much Cardinal stuff in her office but that’s all right.
In the first century, actually through all of history before that, it was understood that Jews and non-Jews were incompatible.
From the beginning of their existence, Jewish folks experienced prejudice and hate from their non-Jewish neighbors. Their monotheism was foreign to most of the tribes and nations they encountered. And their objections to the religious practices of other tribes set them up to be disliked.
Sadly, anti- semitism has been around since the beginning.
And within Jewish culture and teaching, there developed a strong distrust and dislike toward gentles, non-Jews.
It was so bad that Gentiles blamed Jews for all their problems and Jews blame Gentiles for all of theirs
There was a basic prejudice and hate that went both ways.
And then Jesus came along. And while his ministry was primarily to Jewish folks he, preached good news of acceptance and grace. Some of his most profound moments happened as he extended grace to gentile seekers.
Now the church that grew from Jesus’ ministry was in the beginning a Jewish movement. But it wasn’t long until the walls started to come down between Jewish followers of Jesus and gentile followers of Jesus.
Acts chapter 11 is so important because it is the beginning of the tearing down of the walls.
One of the benchmarks of the early church is that it proved that that which seems incompatible is indeed compatible.
Here’s the story.
Peter has been out wandering around Palestine sharing the good news of Jesus and his grace. After his travels, he returns to Jerusalem where he is roundly criticized for his behavior while on his mission missionary journey.
The bad behavior. It seems that while Peter was in Caesarea, a city on the Mediterranean sea, he ended up eating with some Gentiles. Big whoop de do, right, but to some it was big deal. Some folks were irate “How could you possibly eat with Gentiles? Their gross. They are unclean.”
Peter’s response, “Chill out! Let me tell you this amazing thing that happened. I was up on the roof praying when all of a sudden I had a vision. In my vision, I saw this humongous tablecloth being lowered from Heaven. It settled in front of me. I looked at the cloth and top of it were all sorts of animals.
A voice said to me “Better get up! Kill what you want and eat to your hearts content.
I responded, “No way! Most of these foods are forbidden by the law to eat. They are unclean. They are incompatible with my religious sensibilities.”
I heard the voice again and the voice simply said “Nothing is unclean when God has made it clean.”
This vision had three rounds, each round playing out the same way.
Giant tablecloth. Lots of animals. The command to kill and eat. The refusal. The response “Nothing is unclean when God has made it clean.”
At that very moment three men knocked on the door. They asked me to come to their house and I felt the spirit leading me to do so even though they were gentiles.
I entered their house and the man who had sent for me told me that he had had a dream and in the dream he had been encouraged to call for me and ask me to explain what it means to follow Jesus.
I shared the good news of Jesus, the people in the room believed and were filled with the Holy Spirit, even though they were Gentiles.
After that, I have to admit they were more like brothers to me then Gentiles who I’m supposed to avoid. So we ate some lunch together.
When the people who were complaining about Peter heard his story they were overwhelmed. They all said,“if God can work in these gentiles’ hearts, who are we to judge them?”
This moment changed the trajectory of the early church. It would not be a Jewish movement or a Jewish sect. It would recognize that that which seemed incompatible was indeed compatible.
As Paul would later write, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
So cool!
I got a Telya. I have obsessed over the nuts and bolts of Peter’s vision. I have scoured commentaries, Perused Jewish literature, trying to understand the weirdness of the vision.
It is a table cloth covered with living animals whose meat would be considered unclean. Peter is commanded to kill the animals on the cloth and eat.
Here’s my problem. It just seems to me that if I am going to be convinced to change my eating habits, I want the process to be simple and straightforward. I don’t want a tablecloth full of animals that I have to kill, clean, prepare and eat.
See if this doesn’t make more sense. When the tablecloth comes down, it is full of unclean animals, but they are all prepared and ready for consumption. There is a plate of fried shrimp, and a plate of pulled pork, and a plate of crispy frog legs, and a bowl of turtle soup, and a couple already boiled lobsters, and a biggo plate full of sausages, some escargot, and some southern fried vulture, and beautifully prepared swordfish, and alligator burgers, all ready to eat. The voice says, pick up and eat and be careful not to get grease on your clothes.
In Peter’s vision, the tablecloth comes down and on the tablecloth are pigs squealing and camels spitting and lobsters clawing and rock badgers climbing and eagles flying and crawdads hustling and owls hooting and ravens staring and bats and mice and rats all scurrying around. All of them need to be caught, killed, cleaned, cooked- it sounds positively exhausting.
Kill the and eat them says the voice.
So weird.
I was hoping that I would discover in Jewish Apocalyptic writings that killing live animals was symbolic in some way, but alas, I read in vain.
So after my obsessive search for why this vision is just weird rather than simple and powerful, I came up with one answer.
Visions tend to be weird. I think they are weird because that helps us remember them and to think about them and even to act upon them.
Think about people in literature, history, or in the scripture who had visions. Visions are just weird.
Bran Stark’s visions of three eyed ravens are so odd.
Dorothy’s concussed dream of cowardly lions and flying monkeys is just weird.
Notradomus had strange and dark visions.
Teresa of Avila’s visions during her dark night of the soul are nightmarish.
John the Revelator, with his visions of beasts and dragons and fire pits is bizarre.
The prophets Daniel and Ezekiel have visions that are just mind blowingly strange.
Visions are weird. It’s one of the reasons we remember them.
And Peter’s vision in the story may be a bit weird, but it’s message and impact are profound. Nothing is unclean when God has made it clean.
If only the followers of Jesus could learn to approach people who are different from them with this attitude, nothing is unclean, nobody is unclean, nobody is to be avoided or rejected because God through Jesus declares us all clean.
Amen!
