“Bible Text“
Reference
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JANUARY 21, 2025
We pick up this week’s story after God instructs Cornelius, a Roman official in Caesarea, to retrieve the apostle Peter from Joppa, the main Mediterranean seaport of Judea.*
“About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’
The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘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.’
Peter went down and said to the men, ‘I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?’
The men replied, ‘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 ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.’ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along.”
Like Cornelius, Peter is praying when he receives a message from God. He sees a sheet let down from heaven containing all kinds of animals, and he hears a voice telling him to “kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). Peter immediately objects since some of these animals were “unclean” according to Jewish dietary restrictions found in Leviticus 11.
Peter seems to have forgotten an important lesson taught by Jesus.
“Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’…
‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)”
God reminds Peter of Jesus’s teaching, saying “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” And then God replays the scene three times. Obviously, this is an important lesson!
As Cornelius’s messengers arrive, Peter has the opportunity to immediately apply this lesson and obey the Holy Spirit. He does not hesitate to welcome them and go with them, even though they are Gentiles who eat “unclean” food.
Like Cornelius, God does not leave Peter in his partial understanding. Although Peter left everything to follow Jesus, risked his life to preach the gospel, performed many miracles, and even raised a woman from the dead, he still has things to learn. And so do we! The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit starts when we come to Jesus, and continues throughout our entire lives. God graciously and patiently repeats the lessons we need. Like Peter, we need to seek God in prayer and humbly submit to God’s repeated lessons. Then we, too, will see God do amazing things in in our lives and the lives of others!
* NIV Study Bible
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- Take some time right now to listen for God’s voice as you ponder His Word. What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
- What teaching of Jesus is the Spirit reminding you of?
- Commit yourself to submit to God’s voice today.
Church Reading Plan: Genesis 22; Matthew 21