Acts 10:14-20: a reflection

14But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” 16This was done three times, and immediately the thing was received up into heaven. 17Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood before the gate, 18and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there. 19While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men seek you. 20But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”

Peter is praying on a rooftop when he falls into a trance and sees a sheet lowered from heaven, full of all kinds of creatures, and hears a voice telling him to kill and eat. He recoils: not so, Lord, I have never eaten anything common or unclean. But the voice answers, what God has cleansed, you must not call unclean. Three times this happens, leaving Peter deeply puzzled about what it could mean.

The meaning is about to arrive at the gate. As Peter ponders, the Spirit tells him that three men are looking for him, and that he is to go with them without hesitation, for God has sent them. They are messengers from Cornelius, a Gentile. The vision was never really about food; it was about people. God is dismantling the wall that had separated Jew from Gentile, teaching Peter that no one God has cleansed may be treated as unclean.

The lesson reaches well beyond Peter. We all carry categories that quietly divide people into acceptable and unacceptable, those we are ready to draw near to and those we keep at a distance. God's word to Peter is a word to us: do not call unclean what God has cleansed. Ask him to show you where you have written someone off as beyond the circle of his grace, and be willing, like Peter, to go without hesitation toward the very people you assumed were not for you.

Lord, you taught Peter not to call unclean what you have cleansed, tearing down the walls that divide people into acceptable and unacceptable. Show me the categories I quietly use to keep others at a distance. Free me from every prejudice that shrinks your grace, and make me willing, like Peter, to go without hesitation toward the very people I assumed were not for you. Amen.