An ACTS To Grind

I have been very interested in exploring the teachings of Jesus in relation to his commitment to the “Other.”  I found that I’ve got an Acts to grind.

Peter had just done the impossible.  He healed a paralyzed man simply by speaking the name of Jesus.  Shortly thereafter, he told a dead girl to wake up, and she did.  Everyone in town believed.  Some thought Peter, himself, was worthy of worship, he knew he was just a man…but he also knew the words the Rabbi had spoken to him “tend to – feed – my sheep.” 

Those words must have played in Peter’s mind every single day.  They carried a weight and responsibility that, at times, was daunting as the promise – upon him the church would be built, and the gates of hell would not prevail.  Love would have the final word.  “Feed my sheep, tend to them.”

Peter daily searched the Hebrew scriptures to see new ways his previous understanding of God had been deepened through knowing Jesus and His teachings. 

“You’ve heard it said, but I say to you…”

“It is written, but….”

The way Jesus taught the scriptures – the way he expanded on and fulfilled them – was unlike anything Peter had previously imagined.  The understanding everyone had before Jesus came was like a black and white sketch that needed to be shaded in with divine color – like a skeleton, waiting for skin.

When Jesus spoke, it was evident he really knew the heart of God.  He explained the law and the prophets in terms that put meat on the bones of their skeletal understanding of Yahweh.  And every morning since the spirit came – since Pentecost – Peter poured over the scriptures to find more ‘meat.’

This particular morning his reading made Peter’s head spin.  Leviticus, the abominations listed caused the apostle’s stomach to turn with disapproval; still, he was beginning to feel the pangs of hunger.  It was almost lunchtime.  He went upon the roof to pray while his host, Simon, prepared a kosher meal.  Then all hell broke loose.

Peter saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.  On the sheet were all kinds of four-footed animals, along with reptiles and birds.  Nearly all the animals were unclean, as Peter had just read in the scriptures, even the animals that weren’t forbidden were made unclean simply by being with the beasts that were forbidden.  It was guilty by association.

A giant sheet descending from heaven, full of things detestable and unclean to the first century Jew, by law, by the scriptures.  A voice told him, “get up, Peter, kill and eat.”

Peter thought it must have been a test.  Jesus had tested him before, too. “Peter, do you love me?” again and again.  Peter almost expected the voice to ask the question three times.  God always seemed to do things in threes when he wanted to make a point.  “Nothing unclean has ever entered my lips,” Peter replied, “I won’t do it.”  A test, just as he thought.  He was planning on passing with flying colors.  After all, he’d just read Leviticus.  But the next part, Peter did not expect.  “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.  What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”  Peter fell into a trance, confused, he refused to listen.  The scriptures couldn’t be any more clear – it was forbidden, unclean, sinful.  Then God spoke again, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.  What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”  Predictably, this happened three times, and then the sheet was taken back to heave.  Peter was perplexed.

Almost immediately after the sheet ascended with the forbidden meat, servants from a gentile household came asking for Peter to come with them to stay and eat with their master.  Co-mingling with gentiles?  Also forbidden.  That’s when it clicked for the Apostle.

You, yourselves, know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean…for God is not one to show partiality.  What had been considered unclean, was now clean.  What was once unlawful, was not lawful.  What had previously been prohibited, now was permitted.  This opened the door for those once considered “out” to be invited into the Kingdome of God.

So, where does this leave us?  Is it possible that in Jesus all things are made new?  Are there divisions that still ought to exist, as outlined by the scriptures – or is there provision for all people through Christ?  Is this relevant to some theological conversations today?  What do you think?

Be Blessed!