What God Has Cleansed

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common."

--Acts 10:15  (NKJV)

From the daily Bible reading on February 27, 2013 of Psalm 41; Acts 10:1-23; Leviticus 18-19:29.

In Christ's name, Peter brought a woman of Joppa, a disciple named Dorcas, back to life.  He stayed there in Joppa with the tanner named Simon for a few days.  While there, after praying for a time and awaiting a meal to be prepared, he fell into a trance and saw a great sheet being lowered from heaven bearing all kinds of animals and birds and bugs.  A voice spoke, telling him to kill and eat something from the sheet spread out before him.  Peter replied he would not do so, for he had never eaten anything common or unclean.  The voice responded with today's verse, that what had had cleansed is not common.

In my version of the Bible, the voice's words are printed in red, indicating it was really Jesus who spoke them.  This was the risen Jesus trying to get stubborn, opinionated Peter to put aside the old way of looking at things, the old laws, and embrace everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, into the fellowship of Christ.  While He still walked this earth, Jesus constantly expanded the community of faith, outward from Jerusalem both physically and symbolically, first into Samaria and then on into the lands of the Gentiles.  After His resurrection and ascension, He appointed and spiritually anointed Paul to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles, to us.  Jesus wanted Peter to rid himself of his prejudices and to understand that this was a whole new day, in Jesus, a new way of looking at things.  In God, in Christ, all things, all people, are clean.  We are not to judge others, especially not based on old ways of thinking.  We are to love them all, just as Jesus loves us all.  Amen.

Loving Father, loving Jesus, thank You for being patient with us as You were with Peter.  Thank You for the reminders that You love all of us and we should love each other too.  Forgive us, please Lord, when we judge others as inferior or common, just because they are different from us.  In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.