Blog

Read Acts 10

The reading for today, the 2^nd Sunday of Easter in Acts 10 is truncated to Acts 10:34a, 36, and 39-43. The comments below draw from the whole chapter.

“Oh, I get it!” That’s the experience Peter is describing with the opening words from this reading from the book of Acts which is the First Lesson (normally the Old Testament reading) for this 2^nd Sunday of Easter. Here again, similar to the context of the reading from Jonah last Sunday, the Lord had had to work through a miraculous vision to get through to Peter what Peter was starting to “get.”

Peter was doing his daily prayer-time, got hungry and while waiting for the meal to be prepared fell into a trance and had this vision. The vision to Peter was of the sheet, being lowered by its four corners coming down from heaven, filled with what for God’s people in the era of the Old Testament were all sorts of unclean animals–animals that the ceremonial laws had forbidden them to eat. God’s voice commands Peter to eat and he states he’d never eaten anything unclean and God explains that Peter should not call unclean what God had made clean. It’s right after this that men arrive from the Gentile Roman army Italian Regiment centurion Cornelius asking Peter to come to him. And Peter accurately surmises that, because of his vision, it was okay for him to go see this Gentile whom his former way of worship had commanded that he also treat as unclean, but now, because of God’s visionary instruction, he could now call and treat him as clean.

Cleaning, of course, in the midst of this virus epidemic has been emphasized as necessary to do. Washing hands, disinfecting surfaces especially after visitors have come have become a norm. It’s been suggested that after this epidemic is over, a customary American greeting of shaking hands will be a custom that is–or should be–dropped. Circumstances that arise at times require a rethinking, an out-of-the-box response from what is normal. (Although for the portion of people for whom touch is their first love language I wonder what that impact will be. It’s easy to slip into self-righteous judgmental virtue-signaling, as Scripture attests. For example, Mark 7 Jesus’ enemies criticizing His disciples for eating with unwashed hands; and Galatians 2 where Peter shows that it took a little longer for him to “get it” about his behavior toward the Gentiles than what he states here in Acts 10.)

The one predominant thought that this section brings out, especially the short version, verse 34, 36 and 39-43, is what was it that made the Gentiles clean before God is, of course, what makes all clean before God–The simple facts of the gospel, the good news of peace through Jesus Christ.

Peter calls Him Lord of all. How can He not be? The only founder of a religion who, though He died, conquered that too and showed Himself to prove it. That’s reason of itself that He is Lord of all, should be treated as Lord of all, including keeping Him and His kingdom in all of our thoughts and plans when we decide to do whatever from day to day.

Note how Peter puts this. Though Lord of all, He was only revealed after His resurrection to the witnesses He’d already chosen. In our economy of thought we’d think that since He’s Lord of all, then why wouldn’t God have revealed Him to all including His enemies in order to convince them. Why did He command His witnesses to preach about Him coming back as the legitimate judge of the living and the dead? Why not just periodically show up in each generation, especially now when His appearance could be transmitted across the world in seconds as people grabbed their phones, snapped pictures or video and uploaded them to the internet?

Jesus himself gave reasons. In the relating of the rich man and Lazarus, remember Abraham’s comment to the rich man’s request that if Lazarus would go back from the dead to his brothers on earth. Abraham states that in God’s economy, having the Word is enough, that, in fact if his brothers didn’t believe the Word of God that they had, then they  wouldn’t believe even if someone came back from the dead to them from God.

Another reason is what He regularly stated to His enemies about a wicked and adulterous generation keeps asking for a sign. Wanting a sign, demanding God to prove Himself again and again has the relationship between us and Him topsy-turvy. He’s God. As the resurrected Lord, He’s the future judge of all the earth. We’re accountable to Him, not He to us. We are to serve Him, not constantly expect and demand more of the God who’s already made us, provides us with what’s necessary to preserve us and in this relationship twist Him into our slave. As the Lord who died for the world, He’s gone over and above in His service.

The final reason to consider has to do with our appreciation for Him as our Savior. As that, He’s the one who commanded, as Peter says, that we are to preach to the people and testify solemnly why He’s the one appointed by the Father to be judge. It’s because He did that to be the Savior. Only people who believe that will want to tell that to others, (which we do?). But then, why the command to do so?

To a large extent, it’s sort of like any retailer of a product. The best advertisement is the happy customer. In God’s economy, He’s done what’s necessary to make us His “customers” happy. He’s cleaned us up. He’s justified us. It’s a done thing. As Peter says, ‘through His name, everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.’ His resurrection proves that. It’s the truth we bask in this time of year.

This commandment, of course, like all of the commandments, is not primarily for His benefit. “You shall have no other gods” is not something God doesn’t know already and something He could go on forever never having done the undeserved love act of giving life like He did when He created us. He stated it because we, especially fallen we, need to be reminded of because we need to kill off our old sinful nature day by day. We need that command. It’s the same with the command to tell others we’re cleaned up.

God knows how He made us and He knows how best we learn. When you learn you can listen to something and you take home a small percentage of that. When you involve more than listening, reading out loud uses the ears and the eyes, you take home more. When you do a project with others, you take home more. The way to learn and take home the most is by teaching the subject matter to others because you have to know it so well. This is God’s economy by commanding us to tell the good news.

And what good news to tell! Not just commands that point out how we’ve dirtied ourselves up by sin, but declaring a message that God has cleaned us up. And when we tell others, showing love for their souls, we’re serving them. And when we’re serving them we’re serving God. And we’re taking it home even more, again and again, that all are clean through the resurrected Savior. Like Peter, then, we get it.