Acts 10: 9-23

⁹ About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

¹⁷ While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. ¹⁸ They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

¹⁹ While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three^[a] men are looking for you. ²⁰ So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

²¹ Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”

²² The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” ²³ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

-        Acts 10: 9-23

---

Peter’s vision might sound a bit weird (because it kind of is). But understanding some of the contexts could help us understand Peter’s reaction. In the Old Testament particularly in Leviticus or Deuteronomy, it talks about different laws and rules and one of them is what kind of animals are allowed and not allowed to eat. Peter who was a religious person and followed Jewish laws also observed these set of rules and do not eat certain animals. And so, when he saw the different animals in his vision - we know that some of them were on the list of not-to-eat animals. Since Peter was a Jew who became a follower of Christ, it was hard to break into that law and change what he was used to. And so, it makes sense that Peter refuses to eat the animals because he knew that it was in scriptures to not eat certain animals. But then God said “Don’t call anything impure that God has made clean.” After this, we see that Peter seems to be really confused about what he just saw and heard in his vision and was left wondering. This is a huge change in what he has always believed in. We would probably also be the same way if we were told that what we’ve been doing our whole lives were being changed.

Another thing to note is that Cornelius and the men who he sent to look for Peter were Gentiles. A Gentile is someone who is not Jewish. And back then, Jews saw gentiles as impure and different than them. But we know in yesterday’s passage that Cornelius and all his family were devout and God-fearing and he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly (Acts 10:2). And so, we see another shift. It’s no longer that only the Jews were the chosen people, but God also welcomes the gentiles. We are all the same and He welcomes everyone from all walks of life with no discrimination.

Many times, we’ve always worshipped a certain way and get stuck with a tradition; and so we think that everything else is false or wrong. But then God shows us how much greater he is and even way bigger and greater than what we can comprehend. God can reveal to us things that we have never thought of or even imagined before. If we get stuck in our own ways, it’s almost like we are limiting God to only what we can understand. But God is much bigger than that. He also calls us to be open to Him and what He can do with our lives. Even people that we thought we would never interact with or people that we didn’t like, God can change that and unite us. We are all God’s beloved children and he welcomes absolutely everyone no matter who you are.