A Vision of the Future

Note: This sermon follows the Lectionary Texts for Easter 5, Year C: Psalm 148; John 13:31-35; Acts 11:1 -11:18 (which I expanded to include all of chapter 10) and Revelation 21:1-6. In addition, I suggest reading the purity codes of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.

A Vision of the Future

Peter was hungry. Visiting with his friend Simon the tanner, “whose house is by the sea,”[1] he had climbed up to the roof at midday to pray. Maybe it was the salty sea breeze that whetted his appetite, carrying the smell of fresh fish from the local market where the fishermen of Joppa had brought their morning catch to sell. As he looked out over the landscape—the bustling docks and markets, the fishing boats bobbing gently next to the pier, as waves glinting in the sun broke gently on their hulls--perhaps Peter remembered his days as a fisherman, remembered the day that Jesus, the Resurrected Christ, had appeared to his disciples by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, blessing them with a miraculous catch—153 fish in all. Perhaps Peter remembered the breakfast that the disciples shared with Jesus there on the shore, breaking bread with him while fish steamed over the hot coals of a fire.[2] As Peter prayed on the rooftop, he hungered to again be in the presence of God, to share in communion with him. Peter was hungry.

Calling down to his friends to start preparations for the midday meal, Peter continued to pray and as he did he fell into a trance—received a vision from the living God. From heaven a sheet descended to the earth containing all the animals and reptiles of the earth and the birds of the air. “A voice told him, ‘“Get up Peter. Kill and eat.”’ Now Peter was a simple Jew. He did not know the ins-and-outs of Jewish law like the learned Pharisees, who devoted their lives to understanding and upholding the law. However, he knew well enough the purity laws governing clean and unclean animals. How many times in the synagogues had he heard sermons preached on the purity laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy? How could he eat anything from this tableau of impure flesh? “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”’ The correct response—the right answer for a God-fearing Jew to give—or was it? Again the voice spoke, “‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”’[3] Three times the voice spoke like this and three times Peter resisted before the sheet ascended back into heaven and the voice fell silent.

Peter was troubled. What was he to do? Raised to eat only certain meats, to touch only certain animals deemed clean, Peter now was faced with a dilemma. Should he, a simple Jew, deny his tradition, deny his religious upbringing, ignore the teachings of the learned Rabbis and Pharisees? Yet Peter had also been present with Jesus when he had challenged the legal interpretations of the religious establishment. He had heard Jesus offer new, liberating interpretations of God’s Law transformed by God’s Love. ‘“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”’[4] Were not those very words spoken to him by his Master? What did following Christ have to do with eating unclean flesh? How on earth was God’s love linked with what Peter had for lunch? Maybe he shouldn’t have argued with the voice, rejecting its message, not once, but three times. After all, he had denied and rejected Jesus three times before and he wasn’t sure that doing so again had been such a good idea. Peter was troubled.

The Holy Spirit spoke. ‘“Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”’ As he clambered down the stairs, Peter found three men waiting for him, all Gentiles. ‘“Why have you come?” he asked. “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 have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.”’[5]

Peter was ready. Surely he must have been taken aback by the words of his three visitors. To associate with Gentiles was one thing, but this Cornelius fellow? He was a Roman Centurion, a leader in the army that ruled over Peter’s people. He was supposed to be an enemy of the Jews, yet the men claimed that he was God-fearing and accepted by them? Yet, trusting in the voice of God Peter did the unthinkable—he invited the men into the house as his guests. The next day, Peter set off with them to Caesarea to meet Cornelius. As he walked into the soldier’s home, Cornelius fell at his feet in reverence. Peter gently stopped him, admonishing him to get up. ‘“Stand up,” he said, “ I am only a man myself.”’[6] Only a man—not a Jew, Not a Gentile—just a man like Peter. Equals. As equals the men talk about faith, about life. Cornelius, his family, his friends and his servants are eager to learn from Peter about Jesus, about this new kind of faith—a new kind of relationship with God. Peter too learns about a new kind of relationship as he reaches out to the Gentiles who hand on his every word. His vision of the previous day now makes sense—God does not call men and women unclean because of their nationality or ethnic heritage. God does not show favoritism, but accepts people of all nations who “fear him and do what is right.”[7]

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem from all over the world. Through them, the message of Jesus was spreading to Jewish communities scattered across the globe. Yet as Peter preached, the Holy Spirit descended upon all those present, and, for the first time, even upon the Gentiles. The fundamental division between Jew and Gentile, so clearly spelled out in Jewish law, was shattered forever in the baptismal Spirit of God. ‘“Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have,” exclaimed Peter, proclaiming the Truth of what he had just experienced.

After a few days of teaching and fellowshipping with the new believers in Caesarea, word came to Peter that the circumcised believers in Jerusalem had heard about him breaking bread with uncircumcised Gentiles and had begun to criticize him for doing so. As Peter hurried back to Jerusalem to face his accusers, Peter knew that he must tell them what he had experienced, what he had seen. No longer conforming to the religious tradition of his youth with its narrow vision of purity and who God’s chosen people were, he yearned to preach a radical, transforming message to anyone who would listen. Peter was ready.

Today, in our churches, in our communities and in our own lives we would do well to listen to the words of Peter as he addressed the skeptical “circumcised believers” in Jerusalem. Remembering the promise of his Master to his disciples that ‘“John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit,”’ Peter asked this fundamental question: “If God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?”[8]

Where is the Holy Spirit at work today? To whom does the Holy Spirit speak? Is the Holy Spirit moving among the people who are at the margins of our lives, at the margins of our churches? Does the Holy Spirit work among those whom we’d rather consider unclean and unworthy of our time, love and devotion? Where have we, the faithful ‘circumcised believers’ of our day, opposed God? In my own church experience, the struggle over whom and what is clean or unclean has centered on issues such as: divorce and women in ministry. Should divorced men and women have the same standing in my church as those who have remained faithfully married? Should women be allowed to preach and to pray with the same authority as men? Should divorced women be allowed to say anything at all? Should I let any of these people be members of my congregation? Can the Holy Spirit really be present in their lives?

Today, the Church continues to struggle with such issues. What do we do with homosexuals, with drug addicts and drunkards? What about the prostitutes and those suffering from AIDS? What about Democrats, what about Republicans? Can they be Christian? What about those people who don’t look like me—blacks, Hispanics, Arabs. What about illegal aliens and those Muslim terrorists that want to kill me? Can the Holy Spirit work in their lives? What about us, we who are all sinners too—can the Holy Spirit work in our lives?

I do not have all the answers to the social issues that divide our nation and our churches, but I do know this: one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth will have passed away, taking with them the laws of old that separated and segregated between clean and unclean. Jews and Gentiles will walk the golden streets of heaven together, both as children of God. God will dwell among us, and we will be his people. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes for we will no longer know mourning, pain, suffering or death for he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the End. He is the one who, through his son Jesus Christ, replaces the penalties of the Law with the forgiveness of his Love—offering to all who thirst after him a drink from the spring of eternal life. Our sins will be forgiven and all who desire to be with the living and Holy God—all who acknowledge him as Lord and King, will enter into his kingdom forever.[9] A new heaven and a new earth—that is the radical, transformational ministry of the Holy Spirit. Are we ready to follow?
[1] Acts 10:6.
[2] John 21:1-13.
[3] Acts 10:13-15.
[4] John 13:34-35.
[5] Acts 10:19-23.
[6] Acts 10: 26.
[7] Acts 10:28, 34.
[8] Acts 11:15-17.
[9] Revelation 21:1-8.