"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.'
This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.
At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. Acts 11
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13
There are some truths that can simply not be repeated too often! And the truth that we have an amazing God is one of them. Do I hear an Amen?
We really do. God continues to teach us, over and over again, no matter how long it takes. I firmly believe that anyone who thinks he or she has all the answers and knows exactly who God is and what God thinks, is not only wrong but dangerous.
I am reminded of these things each time I read this passage in Acts. There seems to always be some little tidbit that I had missed before. Or perhaps forgotten.
Peter, you remember Peter don’t you? Of course you do. Peter was with Jesus, walking side by side with him, listening to his teaching for three years. Peter stumbled and denied our Lord and learned first hand about forgiveness. Peter who saw miracles gifted to Jew and Gentile alike by the hand of Christ.
And still, not quite perceiving the magnitude of God’s love and forgiveness for all humanity. He is given another opportunity to see into the depths of God’s heart. To learn love.
He is on the rooftop praying. You may remember my love for prayer that allows one to listen to God. Not simply prayer that brings our laundry list of words, repentance, praise or laments, but prayer that listens. Peter is in prayer that listens.
He has a vision of a sheet filled with animals coming down before him. Our translation calls it a trance. Please let me read how Strong's dictionary defines the Greek word.
that of a man who by some sudden emotion is transported as it were out of himself, so that in this rapt condition, although he is awake, his mind is drawn off from all surrounding objects and wholly fixed on things divine that he sees nothing but the forms and images lying within.
“Wholly fixed on things divine and sees nothing but the images lying within.” For me that's Centering prayer.
And it is here, in this time of listening that Peter gets a sense of what this love of God is all about. It is bigger than all that he thinks he knows about God.
All the animals offered to Peter in the vision are considered, in the Jewish tradition,unclean. These are things that he believes, he has been taught, his religion decrees will defile him and make him unacceptable before God. Unwelcomed in the sanctuary.
Still he hears: What God has made clean, you must not call profane.'
In 2009 I had to vote at Synod Assembly regarding our LGBTQ siblings becoming ordained. I come from a conservative background, so this was difficult for me. I had to reassess all I had been taught about them. This is the scripture that God used in my life to help me sort it out. The very thing that God used to help Peter sort out all he had been taught about the Gentiles. About “those people.”
The Gentiles were to the Jewish faith unclean, sinful, an abomination to God. And still God sent Peter to the Gentiles to accept them into the fold. Not to make them Jewish, not to have them circumcised, but to accept them as Gentiles. Even as Jesus had healed and fed them as Gentiles.
This is the LOVE to which Jesus is referring in our Gospel reading. A love that accepts all people. Heals all people. Feeds all people. A love that washes the feet of Judas.
This is not a soft, mushy love. This is a love that is difficult and demands we stand up and declare the love of God for all. Just as Peter had to do when the circumcised believers criticized him. He stood up and spoke the love and acceptance of God for all even in the face of opposition.
Jesus calls us to this kind of love today and always. If we believe that God uses the scriptures to speak to us, we can not help but to hear that we too are called to love all people. And stand up for their place in the community, no matter the opposition.
Later in scripture we read how Peter seems to forget all he learned regarding the Gentiles in this moment. But it’s okay. God uses Paul to call Peter back to the truth of equality for Jew and Gentile, male and female, free and slave.
God is calling us back to remember this love. This all encompassing love. For the family members who have hurt us. For the people we have been taught some degree of prejudice against or even for. For “those people.” God is calling us back to declare that love. Even to those who would criticize us. To those who would put us out of their favor.
I believe that there is another side to this as well. We cannot be effective in public declarations until some personal declaration has been accepted by us. And maybe this is harder yet.
I do not have a stellar background. I have stories that I hope I will never have to tell to anyone. I have regrets. Some big ones. God forgive me. And God has indeed forgiven me.
But I know the stories and I often think myself unworthy, unclean, defiled. And then God’s statement to Peter comes to mind. What God has made clean, you must not call profane. That isn’t just about others, but about myself as well.
Remember the commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. I cannot see their worth, their value until I begin to understand and see my own value through the eyes of God. I cannot love them if I have not learned to love who I am.
Yes, we must love our neighbor, accept our neighbor, stand up for our neighbor. And we must love ourselves, accept ourselves, and stand up for ourselves.
When institutions, creeds, doctrines and laws call on us to question the value of anyone or thing that God has created, we better go to that listening prayer and find out what God is saying. It is there we will not only find the truth but also the strength to respond to God’s unimaginably inclusive love with a resounding yes!
We have an amazing God. Ever patient, ever caring, ever accessible. A God with a love whose magnitude is beyond our meager comprehension and point of view. A love that we are called to extend to and proclaim for all people.
Thanks be to God!
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