All Are Clean

May 15, 2022, Easter 5C

First Lesson Acts 11:1?18
1Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3“You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.
11And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Today’s First Bible Reading from Acts 11 is a summary report of the important events in Chapter10.

Peter was hungry, but lunch was not yet ready, so he went up to the roof to pray. In a trance he saw a vision. Peter reported: “Something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.

If it were me seeing the vision, perhaps it would be like a big table cloth holding a delicious buffet of all kinds of meat. Roast beef and fried chicken, but also food prohibited by the Law of Moses. Ham and bacon and alligator sausage and tiger steaks. Also shrimp and clams and lobster and clams which are also forbidden. The voice says, “Help yourself, Peter.” But Peter, being the good Jew that he is, says, “By no means, Lord. I have never even tasted those unclean, forbidden meat.” Then came the clear voice from heaven, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This vision happened three times, so Peter knew that it was surely a message from God. It means that Peter could eat anything, that the dietary laws of the Old Testament were finished. And that is why we Christians today can eat ham and bacon and shrimp.

But what happened between the time of Moses and Peter that cleansed these animals? .Why are they clean now? What happened was the teaching of Jesus and his death and resurrection. In his resurrection, the Old Covenant is surpassed by the New Covenant. There is a new relationship with God. There is a new way of life. The new way of life is not controlled by laws, but by the Gospel of love. Faith in the heart is more important than deeds of the body. This new way of understanding life is expressed in the words of Jesus in Mark 7:14-23.

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”

17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? 19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”) 20 He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

Shortly after seeing the vision, the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter. Peter learned that people also were no longer to be seen as unclean. The Law of Moses said that Jews should not have any dealings with unclean Gentiles, do not enter their homes, do not eat their food, etc. But right after Peter saw the vision, messengers arrived from Cornelius, a Roman Gentile who believed in the Lord God. They asked Peter to come to his home to preach the Gospel. “12And the Spirit told Peter to go with them, making no distinction.” Just as all animals are clean, so all humans are clean, too. This was very important for the evangelization of the Gentiles. They too could be saved by Christ. Peter and six Jewish brothers went to Caesarea and they went into the home of the Gentile. They witnessed that the Holy Spirit blessed the preaching of the Gospel and the people gathered there were baptized.

When the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem heard Peter’s report, they replied like this. “18When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.””

And from this Chapter 11, the Book of Acts turns to the evangelism of the Gentiles, first in Antioch and then the three missionary journeys of St. Paul. And eventually, the Gospel also came to Europe and Asia. And so we too have been granted salvation.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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マイケル・ニアフッド、牧師
沖縄ルーテル教会

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