Acts chapter ten begins with God telling Peter
that shellfish is now in season and he is free to eat whatever he wants. To
which Peter replies, “Heaven forbid!” which is the proper response when one is
tempted by all manner of culinary delights denied to law abiding Jews. But God
insists that Peter sit down and dine and before you know it Peter is acting
like Jesus and eating and drinking with tax collectors (aka Romans) and sinners
(aka Gentiles). “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” is true
for all manner of animals as well as people so that Peter, who often appears dumb
as rock, suddenly perceives that God shows no favoritism which is shocking
given the restricted relationship God demanded from the children of Israel.
That is not to say the early church welcomed the new neighbors with open arms.
Even Peter had to defend his Acts chapter 10 actions to James and John and the Jerusalem council. And if you believe Paul’s account in Galatians chapter 2 Peter went back to a kosher diet and “began
to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of
the circumcision group”. When we make what is binding arbitrary (the law of
love) and what is arbitrary binding (the love of law) we miss the point of this
passage. I wonder what acts of God might astound us in this day and age so that
we ask the question, “What is to prevent us from suspending the rules we have
come to rely on and welcome the new thing God is doing?” Heaven knows.
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