Hospitality
/Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" - Acts 10:46
This is the second week in a row in which one of our readings reminds us that no one is left out of God’s circle of love. This week we get a snippet of a story about Peter, the rock and foundation of the church. Peter was the head of the newly formed fellowship of Jewish Jesus followers in Jerusalem, and because of his close personal relationship with Jesus, was often consulted on matters of the church. In other words, if Peter thinks it’s ok, it must be ok!
Like every human being, Peter had some spectacular fails in living up to his highest self, but he had nonetheless always taken his faith very seriously and done his best in following all the commandments. This is why, from his youth, Peter had strictly followed the kosher eating code. There were certain animals that were considered unclean and were never to be eaten.
Along the same lines, there were certain people that had also come to be considered unclean, particularly ‘gentiles.’ Gentiles were people who did not follow the one high God. They were people like Greeks or Romans with their whole pantheon of Gods, or those who worshiped what were considered "‘foreign’ gods. It was unlawful for a Jew to associate or visit with any gentile. This was the law.
But one day, Peter had a really strange dream - or trance - or vision - while in prayer on his roof. He saw a great big sheet, being held by the four corners, coming down from heaven. And suspended in this sheet were all kinds of unclean animals, and Peter heard God say, “Peter, get up, kill and eat.”
“What?” Peter responds, “No Way! I’ve never eaten anything like that!” But God responds, “What God has made clean you must not call profane.” Peter is stunned by this - but while sitting there protesting, he has the same vision come to him again clearly not just once, but twice more. Then, right on the heels of this strange experience, a Roman centurion named Cornelius comes to the door and invites Peter to come to his home to tell him more about Jesus.
Peter realizes that the dream had been encouraging him to accept this odd invitation to go to a gentile’s home to share the good news he’d been so eagerly sharing with his Jewish community. Peter realizes that if God had led Cornelius to be curious about Christ, who was he to consider the request - or the requester - profane? So he goes to Cornelius’ home, where many other gentiles were gathered, and began to teach them. They all get fired up with the Holy Spirit, and Peter realizes that they’re just as welcome into Christ’s baptism as anyone else. It was a stunning moment in the history of the church, when no less than Peter realized that Christ was calling anyone to hear the good news and follow - not just the Jews.
I guess we human beings are really good at categorizing things into various boxes and then keeping them there in an attempt make sense of our mysterious world. But God has no boxes. We’re all God’s beloved creatures and the gift of having a life on this earth, while often hard, is as rich a field for entering into the body of Christ for anyone. What and who God has created, loved and washed in the Spirit cannot possibly be unclean, even it if is unfamiliar, challenging or even frightening to us as we peer out at them from our own, familiar little boxes.
The invitation God gives us, as he gave to Peter, is to open our eyes to things and people beyond our familiar circle and to see them through God’s own loving eyes. By accepting that invitation, we may find that what seemed so threatening may actually bring new life, and the people who seemed strange or unfit may actually have deep gifts to offer to us and to the world.
It would be a fruitful spiritual practice to notice the moments in which our gut reaction is to exclaim, “No way!” Those moments might actually be an invitation from God to open our hearts and take another, more curious look. It all begins with hospitality.
