Luke had documented two instances of Peter healing people in Acts 9:32-43 and at the very end of the chapter the reader is told that he remained in Joppa in the house of Simon, a tanner. It is interesting to note that Peter, a Jew, was staying with a tanner who handled the skin of dead animals, which would have been very offensive to the Jews (Leviticus 11:40).
While Peter was taking up residence with Simon, Luke introduces the reader to a Gentile man named Cornelius who was an officer in the Roman army (10:1). Cornelius is described as “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (10:2). In the middle of the afternoon, Cornelius sees a vision when an angel of God calls out his name and he responds by saying “What is it, Lord?” The angel begins to inform him that his prayers have been heard by God and that he was to send men to Joppa who could bring back Peter from the house of Simon the tanner (10:3-6). Cornelius obeyed the voice of the angel and sent two servants and a soldier to bring Peter from Joppa (10:7-8).
As this group journeyed to Joppa, Peter retreated to the housetop to pray. ”He became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance” (10:9-10). Peter saw “heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air” (10:11-12). God then speaks to Peter saying, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat” (10:13). Since Jews still followed the Old Testament dietary laws (Leviticus 11:24-47), touching or consumption of an unclean animal would cause them to be unfit for worship. In the Old Testament law, God used clean and unclean animals to give a visual reminder to Israel about the difference between what is holy and what is not holy meaning that there were certain things which were acceptable to God and certain things which were not. Peter was a Jew and felt like he should adhere to the law God had given to the Jews, so he responded to the voice of God’s command to eat of the unclean animals, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (10:14). The voice answers Peter, “What God has cleansed you must not call common [or unclean]” (10:15). What Peter did not fully understand is that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, “abolished…the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both [Jew and Gentile] to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (Ephesians 2:15-16). Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross not only did away with the ceremonial law of the Jews, but also made unity of the Jew and Gentile possible within the church. God was about to do something incredible in unifying the Jew and Gentile in their worship of God, but it would not be without its difficulty.
Dear God, bring further unity to Your church and may race or nationality never divide us. May Peter’s vision challenge us not to call anyone unclean or unworthy of worship because Your offer of salvation through Jesus Christ is available for all.
