Who Am I to Hinder God? (May 15, 2022) Acts 11.1-18

How many of us know a good storyteller? Someone who can keep your attention no matter how long or complicated the story is? Someone who, when the story is done, leaves you breathless and wanting more? I believe that we all know someone like that and they are a true treasure. They can take something mundane and make it interesting whereas in the hands of someone else the story would be, to put it frankly, quite boring. And today we have a great story.

Peter has been in Joppa. While there he resurrected a disciple named Tabitha/Dorcas who had died, he had a vision that seems a bit…odd, and then he is called to the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, a Gentile, who receives the Holy Spirit as Peter is speaking to him. Now, he has returned to Jerusalem. And there he meets with the council.

This kind of meeting is one that ministers dread. It is akin to having the personnel committee elder call and say, “We need to have a meeting with you ASAP. We have heard some things about your “outreach” to the community at the local pub that we need to discuss with you.” Peter probably felt that sinking feeling in his stomach that all ministers would feel at these words. And so, he goes and is told that the issue is with him eating with uncircumcised people.

Today we would wonder what this has to do with anything. Why would they care that he had had a meal with some who were known as Gentiles? But to the Jews of that day (and even some today) this was a huge deal. Being kept apart was what kept them from being assimilated into the wider culture. It was what made them special and made them who they were. So, while conversing and sharing the Gospel with Gentiles was not a troublesome issue, eating with them at the same table where one might have eaten unclean food or food sacrificed to idols was. It meant that a Jew would have been made unclean. And remember that at this time the question was not whether or not the Jews would come to Christ, but rather whether or not the Gentiles would. It was expected that one would first need to become a Jew to be saved by God and this would include circumcision for the men. It would be like us today saying that someone had to become Presbyterian to be a “true” Christian.

Peter might have been taken aback. I’m of the opinion that he was probably wondering why the council had not summoned him before now. They had most likely heard of his eating with Gentiles long before this and had been brooding over it for quite a while. Now Peter is standing (or possibly sitting) in front of the council. Instead of presenting a Theological PowerPoint of why he did what he did, giving them all the various theological arguments and explanations for his actions, Peter tells a story. And it is not a “step by step” explanation, but rather I imagine Peter began by saying, “Well, let me tell you a story….”

What follows is the story that is found in our text for today. A couple of things though that need to be covered that many miss in this story. When Peter sees the sheet with the animals in it, he is concerned about the purity he has upheld by never eating anything unclean. The thing is, Peter was made ritually unclean well before he ever saw the sheet come down and then went to meet with the Gentiles.

In chapter 9 Peter was making rounds to the believers. In a house in Lydda he meets a paralytic and heals him then and there. He moves on to Joppa and raises the disciple Tabitha/Dorcas from the dead. Then he goes and stays with Simon the Tanner. In each of these three instances, Peter was made unclean: touching a sick person, touching a dead body and staying in the home of a man who handled dead animal skins and the various products used in tanning. We are never told whether he followed the rituals to cleanse himself after any of these actions. And so, it is a bit interesting that he claims that he should not eat because he has never had anything impure, but there it is. This is his story and like a good storyteller he focuses on the main points and doesn’t go into the minutiae (maybe I should take some tips from this).

After the sheet is taken away the third time, the men from the house of Cornelius appear. Peter is instructed by the Spirit to go with them without discrimination or hesitation. And so, he goes, taking six others with him. This is a shrewd move by Peter. He now has several witnesses. While they may not approve of what he is doing, they will be able to tell others the story of what is about to happen.

Now I’m sure Peter may have been pondering the vision that he had seen all the way to Caesarea. What did this mean? Why had the Spirit told him to go with these men? What was so important about all this? And why had his stay in Joppa been interrupted by these Gentiles?

All these questions are answered, he says, when he enters the house, is told of the vision of an angel that told them where to find him, and what they were told about salvation. So, Peter begins to preach. As he begins to speak, “the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.”[1], as on the day of Pentecost, shocking Peter and those who he had brought with him to be his witnesses. Peter concludes his story with these lines, “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.’ 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?”[2]

When the story is done, those who were criticizing have been silenced. It would have been like when we ask a question with a heated attitude and when answered, with a story or remark, we are pulled up short with something like an, “Oh. Well then.” Those who have been listening have not been convinced by theology, by doctrine, or by a fine argument. They have been convinced by a story, the story of a mind and lives changed by God. Their praise that God has given repentance that leads to life “even to the Gentiles” describes the fact that they are amazed that God would do something like this for people who were not Jews. And I am sure that the fact that the vision came to Peter in the port of Joppa had an effect as well. You see, Joppa is, as everyone knows, the port from which Jonah left when he tried to run away from his call to take a message of repentance to the Gentiles in Nineveh. Truly, God works in mysterious ways.

“Let me tell you a story….” Peter tells a compelling one. There is a vision, a sudden appearance of people looking just for him, the telling of a vision that led them to him and finally the baptizing of the Holy Spirit among Gentiles. But notice that the hero of the story is not Peter. It is not even Cornelius (who is never actually named in this text). No, the hero of this story is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who tells Peter to go with those who have come to find him. It is the Spirit who falls upon those in the house as happened in the beginning with the believers in Jerusalem. And it is the Spirit who reveals to Peter that what has been created by God is not to be called unclean.

Peter’s story and the council’s is sometimes our story. We believe that we have the correct message and know the correct path. We have been shown by God because we have been called like those in Israel to be God’s people. Those who are not a part of our group get different labels: liberal, conservative, charismatic, traditional, progressive…., the list goes on and on. But in the end, we have made those not like us Gentiles. And when someone reaches out to those whom we deem outside the group, there had better be a good explanation coming.

Stephen D. Jones has this to say about this passage:

“Stories, not arguments, change lives. We are told this story again (the original story is in chapter 10) so that we know exactly what changed the minds and hearts of the Jerusalem leaders. Had Peter come to argue theological points with them or debate doctrinal differences, he might not have been able to change their hearts. Generally, arguments tend only to crystallize differences. Debates tend to keep two sides apart. In debates and arguments, there are winners and losers. Peter could have charged angrily into the Jerusalem court and argued, “Is it fair that we keep the gospel to ourselves? Does not God also love Gentiles? Cannot Gentiles approach God directly without first becoming like us?” One can imagine such an argument going on for days.”[3]

Lives are changed when stories are told. Too often, we shy away from telling stories. We don’t want people to hear about things that we have done or the struggles we have had. And too often we don’t want to hear stories because “that might just be too personal”. Or maybe, just maybe, we don’t really want to hear stories because we are afraid that the Spirit will change our minds about what we believe is the “correct way” to come to God or how-to live-in God’s grace. Again, Jones makes a compelling statement:

“Peter’s story was told in such a way that it could have happened to any of the apostles. He was not seeking to break the rules. He was not trying to go outside accepted norms. He was not trying to cause a disturbance or a ruckus. God intervened in his life, speaking to him in a vision and a voice, calling Peter to overcome his stereotypes and distinctions and see his mission in more universal terms. Peter’s message was, “This is my story, but it could as easily have been your story. This could have happened to you. What would you have done, if God had appeared and spoken to you in this way? Would you, could you, have acted differently?”[4]

If Peter’s story was your story or mine, what would we have done? Would we do things in the same way that our ancestors have always done them or would we reach out to those to whom God has made clean? What would we say? And if we do the same things that Peter did, how would we answer those who ask “Why were you eating with those who are unclean?” Well, we can begin with “Have a seat. Let me tell you a story…” Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [3]Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, Lent through Eastertide, 816 [4]Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, Lent through Eastertide, 816