Scripture Text (NRSV)
Acts 11:1-18
11:1 Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard
that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.
11:2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers
criticized him,
11:3 saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with
them?"
11:4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,
11:5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a
vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from
heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me.
11:6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of
prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.
11:7 I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and
eat.'
11:8 But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or
unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
11:9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God
has made clean, you must not call profane.'
11:10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up
again to heaven.
11:11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea,
arrived at the house where we were.
11:12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a
distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied
me, and we entered the man's house.
11:13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house
and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter;
11:14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire
household will be saved.'
11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just
as it had upon us at the beginning.
11:16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John
baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
11:17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?"
11:18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they
praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the
repentance that leads to life."
Comments:
In defense of his earlier baptism of pagan believers, Peter
demonstrates to the members of the Jerusalem church that God's
intention to save Gentiles as well as Jews is revealed in Jesus' own
testimony. In this way the mission to the Gentiles is officially
authorized.
Like the author of Revelation, Peter is stirred by a vision and acts
on it. He recognizes that Christ's message and the Spirit's presence
is for all people: "God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance
that leads to life." This is not the destruction of the "old" covenant
with Israel, but a renewal and furthering of what God had intended all
along.
...Mother's day. How would it look to insert 'mothers' 'woman'
'female' into the 'unclean' references from Peter's revelation? Surely
the Church has still not fully embraced the realities of what God has
pronounced clean in the countless generations of encultured inequality
between genders!
I'm inclined to pick away at this piece (tastefully, hopefully!) while
reminding the believers that the picture we have of God is very
feminine...inspite of our legacy of flogging the submissive woman
thing adnosium!
Here's a quote I picked up from a discussion board hosted by
Burderhoff communities: "The funny thing about "man, head --- woman,
helper" imagery is that no one ever talks about the other part of that
image. The word "ezer" in Hebrew is "helper" and it is the same word
that David uses in the Psalms when he refers to God as his helper. I
think the picture is one of strength, rather than something like
"Everybody oughta have a maid..."""
Perry in Kitchener/Waterloo
My sermon will be entitled "By I Say To You". The issue for me is the
tension between the Word and Spirit. We know that Jesus challenged the
accepted understandings of the Law of Moses, but Jesus was the Christ,
the Lord, even the Son of God. Jesus might have such authority.
However, now Peter is doing it. His obedience to the Spirit leaves him
in direct contradiction with the "Written Word" of his day. The
question is how and when should we listen to the Spirit? The easy
answer is to say that Peter was an apostle and the Spirit could speak
to him but that age of revelation has ended. The Biblical test is to
make certain that the Spirit affirms that "Jesus is Lord." Still, this
is a sticky wicket.
We have choosen the Spirit over the passages supporting slavery. SOme
of us have choosen the Spirit over some of passages which deal with
women in leadership. Now we are wrestling with homosexuality, etc.
Once the gate is opened, then no telling where the path will end.
Unfortunately, I am not comfortable going back to a world in which
children are stoned for cursing their parents, or rape victims (within
the city limits) are executed with their attackers.
This is almost an issue that calls for revelation! I am reminded of
the passage in Jeremiah where the false profit claims that God has
sent a message. He absolutely shuts Jeremiah up, because Jeremiah
cannot argue with divine revelation. It is only after the Spirit has
again revealed God's will to Jeremiah that he can speak against this
false prophecy.
Anyway, it will be an interesting week.
Aside from the obvious inclusion as all people being God's people,
there is much going on here. The intensity of his prayer, Peter saw
visions, is very strong. He looked at the vision closely, heard a
voice from Heaven, he spoke to the voice and then came to a
conclusion. Immeadiatly, other people were sent by God to confirm this
conclusion and finally Peter remembered Jesus' words. God reveals His
truth and will to us and we need to listen. Prayer, fellowship and
Jesus word, all three in conclusion will certainly put us on the right
path!
Galveston: i plan to begin the sermon on Acts 11 with "Sugar and Spice
and everything nice: Snakes and Snails and Puppy dog tails" - we have
preconcieved and societal views about most things, even the different
way boys and girls should act. Since the world is talking so loudly,
how can we hear God's voice? Here is what God did to change Peter's
mind: and Here is what God does to change our minds, ...
I recently saw an interview with Karen Armstrong, the noted religious
scholar. She was talking about the boundaries some religious
traditions have (e.g. Jewish kosher laws) She pointed out that such
restrictions have the salutary effect of reminding us that "It's not
all about us" - our convenience, our desires. Boundaries help
distinguish our place in our relationship with God, so that we do not
mistake ourselves for God (the original sin).
That said, I agree with Jesus, that what really matters is not what
you put in your mouth but what comes out of your heart.
LF
My sermon title for this passage is: "Behold! I Stand At The Door and
Knock -- It Off Its Hinges!". There will be reference to our General
Conference's apology for excluding blacks in the past history of
United Methodism, the attempt still today to exclude women from
certain pulpits, and bring in today's discomforting gay issue. ps in
or
ps in or
Do you think perhaps we can't hear the knocking because some of us are
still living with past mistreatment inappropriately? I don't want
society to see the new found injustices because they might forget what
they did to me(generic term). As we become a smaller world, and become
more inclusive, we struggle with God and inclusivity. I find it hard
to hear my denomination struggling with issues. I can't even listen.
Shalom, Bammamma
I am going to highlight the vision/dream aspect of Acts 10/11 along
with MLK's "I have a dream" speach. I bellieve that it is God's dream
that the church expand its boundaries to include all people. No doubt
that was the message Cornelius and Peter received in their respective
visions/dreams, but the established church balked at first. Yet, how
could baptism be refused, the Holy Spirit played a trump card and
included even Gentiles. Who are we excluding from the church because
of our established views? How can we be convinced that all are clean
in God's eyes and are worthy of the gift of repentance and new life?
Tom In TN
Bad cliches came to my mind too quickly when I re-read this passage.
1. "He has a face only a mother could love." 2. "Necessity is the
mother of invention." 3. "We've never done it that way before." (This
last one is the phrase that every pastor fears.) So, here's my
thinking on these in light of this scripture, especially when combined
with the other texts for Sunday.
1. Peter's visions forced him to look into the face of things that
were disgusting/unclean to him. These were things only a mother could
love.
2. God called Peter to reach beyond himself and love more deeply those
who were the "unloved" ones in society. Peter heard the call to go to
the gentiles of Joppa.
3. The Jewish Christians responded to Peter's stance with "WE've never
loved (done that) before."
4. When God calls us to go beyond our comfort zones it may mean doing
things we've never done. It may mean learning to reach past our old
experiences to new methods, ideas, possibilities, etc. We may have to
invent (re-invent, adopt, embrace) new ministries, new methods, new
images, new extensions of our faith to reach the
unloved/unclean/unwanted/untouched of society.
I cherish your insights.
Steve in NC
Thanks for your insights Steve. I have definately seen and experienced
this cycle!
I see a wonderful tie in between the readings in Acts and Revelation
and not just because we're dealing with visions. In the reading from
Acts, Peter is confronted by a Lord that was "making all things new."
As several of you have posted, Peter's first response was that "we've
never done it this way before" and God's reply was, "Get used to it."
In a way, God wipes out the old (the old prejudices, the old fears,
the old limitations) and creates a new world for any that will be part
of it, Jew or Gentile. Now the dwelling of God is with ALL people, not
just a select few in Jerusalem, and He reaches out to them and sends
the believers to tell them that He wants to be their God and wants
them to be His people. I think that might even preach. So do you think
anyone will complain that "we've never done this before" as God
re-creates Heaven and Earth? Mike in Soddy Daisy, TN
How to turn criticisms of men into praises of God in Ministry? At the
risk of oversimplifying the matter, this is what I observed:
1) You better be doing what God told you to do. (Knowing if God
really, really told you to do it is half the problem already.)
2) The one who criticized need to have pure motive for God's Kingdom,
and not just grinding an axe.
3) You will need human's witness beside just God's witness. The six
men who were there with Peter hot only just mere observant, but they
also entered the pagan's house as well. Do not work alone may help.
4) Find Biblical ante-precedent. (even though it may seems like proof-
texting, but we need to start somewhere with the text).
5) finally strengthen your defense with logic (v. 17).
You may hot survive the ordeal (my NT prof. believed that Peter lost
his leadership prominence after this), but in the scheme of God, it
will become a precedent for Paul to build on later in Acts 15.
Lord Jesus, help me to be faithful in obeying you. Give me the
conviction to know if it were you, who lead me, and not my own mind.
Raise up more fellow workers by my side, and give me wisdom to see the
logic through your Word. I don't have any prominent now, so it is not
too hard to risk; but give me courage to obey you in the days that
obedience would be costly.
Coho, Midway City.
I'm going to tell the following story, then relate it to how we often
don't even talk to people about Jesus because we have already decided
they won't want any part of him.
I'm thinking of the rough teenagers and young adults who have multiple
piercings all the way up to the elderly who we think are too old to
change. I won't accuse anybody of being prejudiced, but I can't help
wondering if we don't decide that people wouldn't want Jesus before we
ever offer him.
Here Goes: Hope it isn't too long.
A long time ago there was a man named Pete He was a member of a
church. He was a typical “on fire” Christian Who was always active.
He took his obedience to Jesus very seriously. Especially that part
about going and telling other people about HIM. Pete saw that a
serious command directly to him to go an make disciples of all
nations.
Pete left his home church and went out West because that’s what he
thought God wanted him to do. He preached out there with some success.
But while he was there he became convinced that God wanted him to
travel up in the Northwest area to a place called Washington.
He had met some men from that area, and he traveled with them. When he
got to his destination, he met some people who told him that they had
been waiting for someone to come and teach them.
One of them even said that an angel has promised him that someone
would come.
So Pete... Told them about Jesus.
? How he is the Son of God.
? About all his miracles.
? How he was crucified
? How God raised him up again. He told them how Jesus is appointed by
God to be the Judge of both the living and the dead.
And finally he told them that whoever believes in him will receive
forgiveness of sins.
Well they ate that up. Before long there were a whole bunch of them
wanting to become Christians and be baptized.
So Pete told them to go ahead. Well, that created a little bit of a
problem back home. See some of the folks from home were there with
Pete when all this happened.
And when they carried the news back home of what was going on out on
the West Coast, some of the folks at home weren’t too happy.
They weren’t quite sure that those folks out on the West Coast were
close enough to God to become Christians.
And the next time Pete was back home, they kinda called him on the
carpet.
I’m not saying Christians can be prejudiced or anything. It’s just ...
· Sometimes there are people who just won’t fit. · They wouldn’t be
interested in doing what we do or having what we have.
But if you remember, I told you... Pete took his Christianity
seriously. And when they challenged him, he stood his ground.
He didn’t back down.
In fact, He stood up and told them. If God wants to give them the same
thing he gives us when we believe in Jesus, who am I to stop him?
Well, you know what those old church people did?
They backed off. And you should be glad they did. B/C if they had not
backed off.... This church wouldn’t be here.
See, the story I just told you didn’t happen in North America. It
happened in the book of Acts, In chapter 11.
The only difference is that the city wasn’t named after George
Washington, it was named after Caesar. It was called Caesarea.
And the preacher’s name was Peter, not Pete.
GC in IL
It has seemed to me, in many years of associate ministry that the
right sermon to preach on Mother's Day is not one that sentimentalizes
motherhood or even one that reminds us how our mother's have and can
teach us much about God by their love, though I am as sentimental as
the next on Mother's Day, especially since my own mother's death and
even though she did teach me much about God's love without ever using
those words. Instead, I think a proper Mother's Day sermon would be to
remind people of the mothers in the world who struggle to find enough
food for their children, the mothers of the plaza who spoke up for
their children who had been disappeared, for mothers who fight for
justice. At the end of the play, "All My Sons" the father realizes
that the injustice of making the poor plastic that was to have
protected the pilots was wrong in the end because all the boys in the
planes were his sons. I guess that is the truth I want to rememmber on
mother's day. This year the texts help do that since Peter realized
that God had poured out his Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles, it was like
he saw them finally as worthy of God's grace-- and that is a huge step
to knowing that they are all our sons and daughters, all our brothers
and sisters. In John's Gospel Jesus tells them twice that they are to
love one another. It seems in the Christian church we have to have an
ever expanding notion of what we mean by 'one another'. Suddenly Peter
is given a dream; it repeats three times just to be sure he got it.
Then the Holy Spirit comes and Peter remembers the words of Jesus
about how that would happen and Peter finally knows that the Gentiles
are his brothers. The "one another" of John's text must mean something
new. The disicples and the apostles must widen their community. My
church needs to widen its understanding of who "one another" refers
to. They are good at loving those who come every week, (at least those
who haven't ticked them off in the last week or forty years, depending
upon the person.) but they aren't so good at those others who are just
outside their door. We live within an increasingly Hispanic
neighborhood, we have a small outreach to that communtiy but there is
still very little love extended. Sorry to ramble--- Avis in Louisville
Tying in (late) to the origin of the first mother's day -- Mother's
Day of Peace ... and that God loves both the circumcised and the
uncircumcised --... has me thinking about this mother's desire for
peace ... and THIS mother's struggle with how to love everyone. I
can't get out of my mind the awful images of the torture in Iraq of
POW's by OUR soldiers ... . Those victims of abuse, criminals or not,
have mothers who wanted them to grow up in peace. Those US
soldiers/agents ... tainted by evil though they have been ... have
mothers, who fear for their safety and want them to be good people.
I don't know, it's still pretty tangled in my mind, but the two do go
together.
:-(
Squeeze
