February 22, 2010 - Acts Chapter 10

You're going to have to dust off your Bibles for this one and read the story for yourselves, but here is the nutshell version:

Peter is at Simon's house and has gone to the roof to take a nap while lunch is being prepared. He's been a busy boy, preaching, teaching, and raising people from the dead. He's hungry. While on the roof he falls into a trance (honest, that's what it says!) and in his trance he sees the heavens open and a sheet with all sorts of unclean beasts on it being lowered to the ground.

A voice tells him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat." Well, Peter is aghast at the notion. All of these animals are those that God has specifically said NOT to eat. "By no means, Lord," says Peter. "I've never eaten anything profane or unclean!" (And you can just hear him thinking, "And I ain't about to start now!")

Comes the kicker..."What God has made clean, you must not call profane."

This happens three times and the sheet with its beasts is taken back up to heaven.

Ok....here's the deal. If God is never changing, and God has made certain rules for us to live by, why is this rule suddenly no longer valid? Could it be that God DOES change after all? Or could it be that this is a case of "that was then, this is now?" Back in the day, perhaps those rules (how many again? Six hundred and something???) were necessary to keep His people on the straight and narrow. Now, with Jesus, they're ready to break away from a whole bunch of child-appropriate "thou shalt NOTS" and learn to think and live like adults.

Oh, come on. Don't you do the same thing with your kids? When your child is two years old, do you allow them to eat and do any old thing they want? Or do you impose restrictions on them for their own good? (I should hope so!) As they grow older, some of those restrictions are lifted, right? As the child gains increasing levels of maturity, you relax a little. They have more choice in what they wear, what they eat, who they hang out with.

In this instance, I think God is saying, "Look, it's time you grew up a little. You can handle this now. Stop worrying about the small stuff, like what you can and cannot eat, and who you can and cannot hang out with, and go on about the business of sharing the Good News!"

Now, in the meantime, Cornelius, an Italian and not a Jew, has sent for Peter. Ordinarilly, Peter would never accept the invitation, as he says to Cornelius when they meet, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile." Fresh on the heels of his trance, however, Peter understands that God ain't just talking about scallops. He's talking about people. He continues, "God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean."

He goes on to tell Cornelius about Jesus, and then baptizes Cornelius and his whole family. Peter says, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." Wow!!!!!

Cool. I always did like scallops...