Dr. J. Lawrence Cuthill

May 2, 2010

Winter Park Presbyterian Church

This passage is a condensed repeat of Acts 10; same story, just a little shorter. I’m reminded of the necessity of repetition to make an impression on our memory. The army, as you know, has teaching techniques that acknowledge this. “Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, tell ‘em, and tell ‘em what you told ‘em/” (Acts 11:1-18). We’ve learned to announce a change three times to ensure it is heard.

The significance of this passage could easily escape us. It was a major turning point for the church, and is not without serious application for the church today. It has to do with who can be a Christian; what are the criteria by which one is accepted and admitted to the table. It came as a shocking surprise to the believers of that day, and it may be occasion for us to revisit our convictions, both publicly-confessed convictions and those we hold privately and only admit when we are in ‘safe’ company – if we admit them at all.

Luke, the author of Acts, expends a considerable amount of “ink” on this drama as an indication of its importance. Revisit the story as it unfolds and leads to a whole new understanding of Christ’s identity. A vision begins the narrative…

Enter Cornelius … a gentile and Roman army officer. An outsider and yet a devout man who, instead of trampling on Jewish culture and religion, is sensitive and supportive – a large deviation from the norm. A Jew wouldn’t expect that from such a person, a conqueror and occupying figure … but Luke reiterates that Cornelius feared God. He gave alms and prayed. Hmmm. Already we’re compelled to revisit generalizations and stereotypes. The vision which took place at 3:00 pm involved an angelic visitor who told Cornelius to send for a certain Peter, who happened to be in Joppa – down the coast a ways. It was confusing – even terrifying, but he would not dare disobey.

Now it’s Peter’s turn to be confused. The camera shifts to Joppa at noon the next day, where Peter happens to have his own vision. He was praying on the roof when he “sees” a great sheet being lowered containing all kinds of “unclean” animals – meat an observant Jew was forbidden to eat by sacred dietary laws. Simply put, it wasn’t kosher. Peter refused three times. The voice accompanying the vision said, “What God has declared clean, you must not call profane.”

This was very disturbing to Peter. For us to understand it we have to put ourselves in the sandals of an ancient, Palestinian Jew. What we might consider broadminded and tolerant in our culture was, from a minority point of view, exceedingly important.

The Jews were a minority in the Mediterranean world, fearful of being assimilated or consumed by the prevailing culture. They would lose their identity; cease to be Jewish, God’s Chosen. So a little barbecue pork sandwich or a small statuette, a pinch of incense; inter-marriage … were to them a matter of life and death, not just proper etiquette or personal food preference. I imagine it would be like in the 50’s in Alabama if your daughter brought home the man she wanted to marry and he was Black.

Now Peter is being challenged to vastly expand his understanding of the scope of God’s plan in Jesus. Sacred laws are being supplanted by a new basis for identity, true religion. If he retreats to the old basis, he would likely be more Jewish than Christ. If he goes with it, it would rattle the whole community, send it into spiritual spasms. Who knows what might happen? Conflict? Splintering? Division?

Dr. Tony Evans is an African American minister, Founder and Senior Pastor of Dallas’ Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Even with a membership of 8,000+, Dr. Evans had noticed that the numbers of Anglos and Hispanics joining the church had increased significantly over the years.

Dr. Evans was delighted. In his mind, they were all part of the family. But there was a Black member of his church who didn’t share his delight. He came to Dr. Evans and said, “Pastor, we’re getting too many White people in here. You know how they are. They’ll keep coming and try to take over.”

With a twinkle in his eye, Dr. Evans said, “Well brother, you’d better do some Black evangelism so we can keep outnumbering them.” But the member wasn’t satisfied, “Well, I don’t know if I can stay here.” To which Dr. Evans said, “Bye.” Later, he wrote, “I’m not gonna hold Christianity captive to anyone’s prejudices.”

Back to Peter … This was a telling moment, a defining encounter, a proverbial crossing of the Rubicon. One commentator asked the question, “Is this a story about the conversion of a gentile, or the conversion of an apostle?” The answer, of course, is both.

Here’s something for us to consider. We have tended to think of conversion as a single point in time, the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Could it be conversion is an ongoing process? It may begin with a startling, born-again, dramatic experience … but this story, and in other places in Scripture, would lead us to believe it is an ongoing, unfolding process.

The main point, however, would be to impress upon and stretch our understanding of God and God’s mission. This is an upsetting, exciting, world-reversing word to those who assumed they were the Chosen. It’s not an easy word to hear. The lines we draw to assure our place, to make us feel secure and special, got blurred, erased. It can scare the wits out of us or signal new and joyous possibilities for community …. And it’s actually both.

When Peter returned to Jerusalem, he had a lot of explaining to do. His behavior crossed the line. So he does explain why he would break bread with a gentile. He does it by telling a story, not with arguments, loop holes, and/or legalities. Included is the fact that, when he went to the gentiles and spoke, the Spirit fell on them just as it had on Pentecost in Jerusalem.

And do you know what the elders in Jerusalem, the mother church of Christianity, did?!! They shut up. They were silenced, because it was so clear, so obvious, so inescapable that the Lord was in this. A bold (and frightening) new chapter was opening.

As uncomfortable as it may have been, and still is, we have new company to keep. And it puts us in the company of one Jesus, who ate with tax-gatherers, prostitutes and sinners of every variety, scandalizing proper religious society.

To this day we’re still struggling with the implications. It’s so much our nature to draw lines, to make distinctions. It’s not that we are such bad people. We feed the hungry. But William Sloane Coffin reminds us, with his usual acerbic wit, “The truer measure of Christ’s behavior is not who you’ll feed; it’s whom you will eat with.” It’s recognizing and living into the truth that God is so much larger than we would draw him. So much more surprising than our boxes can contain. So much more accepting and loving that the lines of doctrine we draw around Him.

AMEN