A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 28 May 2014
Read Acts 11:12-17
Peter,
who is not only a good synagogue-going person but also a devout follower of
Jesus, has a dream. One day he dreams of all these foods he is not supposed to
eat - now I am not talking about chocolate or cake or things that were bad for
his diet. I am talking about things that in his day good people who followed
God wouldn't touch because they were good, God-following people.
Peter
has this vision: the Lord asks him three times to eat this food. Now Peter
isn't daft and he, not long ago, has already been caught denying Jesus three
times and so he is not going racing to any rash decisions; he shows the Lord
that he is faithful to his Jewish covenant and declines the invitation three
times. This is not what is wanted here though and this is not what the dream,
it turns out, is even about.
This
passage is not about dietary laws and what foods a good follower of Jesus will
or will not eat and Peter should know this because he was there when Jesus
fulfilled/abolished the dietary laws by declaring all foods clean (Mark 7:19).
Peter knows this is true that he should not call anything impure that God has
made. He catches on that there is something else here.
What
the resurrected Jesus is talking about is something much more profound than
diets. Jesus is discussing the salvation and role of Gentiles. Jews had not
thought to this point that Gentiles, as they were, could be saved. They
knew that salvation was possible for Gentiles; Ancient Israel always had
proselytes. There were always people converting to YHWH-worship but here in
Cornelius' household, we have God-fearing people who are not like the regular
synagogue-goers. They are different.
Up to
this point, Gentiles who converted to worship YHWH, all started to dress like
Jews, pray like Jews, talk like Jews, eat like Jews and the men were even
circumcised like Jews - they joined in the worship of YHWH by becoming Jews.
Now
something is different. There are people who do not eat like them, do not look
like them, do not act like them and who are already in a relationship with God.
How can this be? They don't dress like Jews, pray like Jews, talk like Jews,
eat like Jews, and the men aren't even circumcised like Jews and yet they have
already received the gift of repentance through the Holy Spirit. God saved the
Gentiles without the Gentiles having to become like the good synagogue/ church-going
people.
My
question for us today: who are these 'Gentiles' in our society that don't dress
like us, pray like us, talk like us, eat like us, and otherwise act like us and
do we accept them? How do we ensure that we are following God's Spirit in
extending His mission to everyone as is commanded in Peter's dream?
[1] Based on the devotional by Captain Michael Ramsay, Acts 10-11:
Chocolate Cake. Presented to TSA
Nipawin Leadership Team and Tisdale Corps Council meetings on the week of
September 2,2007. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2007/09/acts-10-chocolate-cake-devotional.html
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