Evangelism by Eating — Bible Reflection for Thursday, July 13

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Acts 10:1-16

 Cornelius Calls for Peter

     At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

     ⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

     ⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. ⁸ He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

 Peter’s Vision

     ⁹ About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

     ¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

     ¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

     ¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

Some of you might remember hearing me say that this story seems to me to be one of the most under-appreciated stories in the New Testament. It seems that way to me, because I think it’s the story of one of the most important events in the history of the early church. It marks a change in the way the followers of Jesus were able to cultivate relationships with people from the gentile world.

The reading tells us about a Roman officer named Cornelius who was a faithful worshiper of God and who was devoted to keeping God’s laws. In the ancient Hebrew world, the term for someone like that would have been “God-fearer,” which meant an ‘informal convert’ to the Hebrew religion. (Becoming a full convert to Judaism required being circumcised, which would be noticed and frowned upon in the Roman army, and throughout the Greco-Roman world in general.)

The text says that Cornelius and his household were devout people who were said to have tried to follow the law of God. The family prayed regularly, and they were known for giving generously to the poor.

In the story, God sends an angel to tell Cornelius to send for Simon Peter, so he dispatches some messengers to invite him to his house.

The next day, as Peter is taking a nap on the roof of the house where he’s staying, God sends him a vision (apparently in a dream). Peter sees all sorts of animals that were traditionally considered ‘unclean’ for Jews to eat under the laws of Moses – these animals were not kosher, as we would say. And in the dream, a voice tells Peter it’s no longer forbidden to eat them. This shocks Peter, who as a Jew would have been raised to reject such foods. But the voice from heaven repeats the message twice to make sure Peter gets it.

And it was important for this message to get through, because it offered a whole new way for the followers of Jesus to interact with gentiles. Those followers of Jesus were just beginning to go out into the world to tell the gentiles about him. But they were all practicing Jews (as Jesus himself had been). So the apostles would have understood that they were forbidden to share a meal with the gentiles they met, since the gentiles ate things Jews didn’t. But by sending word to Peter that it was now OK to eat non-kosher foods, God was making it possible for the apostles to break bread with people from other cultural backgrounds.

Actually, you might remember that Jesus himself had given his disciples similar instructions when he sent them out in ministry without him. The NIV Bible says he told the disciples to “eat what they give you,” but the Greek actually says, “eat what they have,” which seems to give the disciples permission to eat gentile food.

And being able to eat with gentiles would have made a big difference in their missionary efforts, because breaking bread with people is one of the best ways to develop relationships with them. When we accept a person’s hospitality, in some way we accept them. When we offer hospitality to another, in some way we offer ourselves to them. Eating together forges bonds between people.

This story points to a simple way to build relationships that can provide opportunities to share faith: eat together. If you’re a person of faith, and you break bread with unchurched people and genuinely listen as they tell you about their lives, then some of them will eventually will want to know about your faith.

We know we’re supposed to share our faith with others, but most of us feel awkward and unsure of how to go about it. So this story points to a way of being faithful about sharing your faith, just by building relationships. Invite an unchurched acquaintance to dinner. Or to lunch. Or even just have a cup of coffee with someone. You’ll be taking advantage of a basic aspect of human nature to build relationships that will eventually let your faith leak out.

And this reading tells us about the moment in church history when God gave permission for the followers of Jesus to start taking advantage of this opportunity for sharing faith.

Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to break bread, to have lunch, to grab coffee with people who need to hear about your love. Teach us to look for opportunities to do these things so we can pour out that love for them. Amen.

Blessings,

Henry

(The listed readings for today are Psalms 77 and 78; I Samuel 16:14-17:11; Acts 10:17-33; and Luke 24:36-53. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)