Peter reflects on a dream that turned everything upside down….

Know this: you are never going to win an argument with God!

Even if what he asks goes against everything you believe to be right;

Even if it goes against everything everyone believes to be right;

Even if it goes against everything everyone believes God says is right

you are not going to win if God says different.

And if that puts you in a vulnerable place, forcing you to stick your neck out and trailblaze a path no-one else has travelled before and most are unwilling to travel still, then you had better get used to it. If one thing is clear, God is turning the world as we have known it upside down. He’s challenging everything we have taken for ‘normal’ and stretching us way beyond anything we have ever expected or imagined. Ever since the Holy Spirit exploded on to the scene on the day of Pentecost, I’ve been left in no doubt about that.  We live in interesting times, to say the least, and who knows where this journey he is leading us on will take us next?

As Jews, we have always had big dreams for ourselves; but apparently, the Lord is teaching us that those dreams are just not big enough!   We have been privileged to be called God’s chosen people. He has set his care on us, and has a great plan and purpose for us.  That’s special!  And so, we have grown up with visions of our own grandeur, an attitude of entitlement, and a stubborn exclusivism that dismisses all others.  We are God’s chosen ones, no-one else. The nations must come to us, if they want to share the blessing.  We will not go to them!

As everyone knows, Jews do not eat with gentiles – the others.  This has always been our way.  It is how we keep ourselves pure and holy, set apart for our God.  Except now, the Lord, says different.  He has given me a new dream, a bigger vision, and presented it in circumstances that mean I cannot doubt it comes from him. 

This does not mean I like it!  How can anyone be comfortable with suddenly changing the habits of their life time, let alone the communal habits of countless generations, still endorsed by all the rabbis today?   No, I am far from comfortable with it this new thinking, but this dream is changing everything and I have to run with it because I cannot doubt it is from God.

And how can I be so sure, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.

I was up on the roof terrace praying. 

That, in itself, is a new thing for me; sitting still and allowing time for God to speak.  I am Peter, the impetuous one.  A real action man, always so sure of what’s right and wrong that it got me into trouble many times when I argued with Jesus. Or, at least, tried to.   In the end, I came to learn that Jesus knows better (even knows me far better than I know myself) in a very humbling way. I swore blind I would never deny him, but he knew that I would. And I did.  It took an awful lot of grace and forgiveness on his part to help me accept this ugly truth about myself.  And now I’m a changed man.  Now, I’ll sit and take time to listen. And I’m learning that, when I do so, God speaks.   In dreams and visions, strange tongues, powerful prophecies, signs and wonders – so many different ways – God speaks.  And when God speaks, it is still as challenging as ever. 

Anyway, there I was on the roof, when either in a dream or a vision (I’m not quite sure how to describe the experience), I saw a picnic blanket floating down from the sky, laden with the weirdest food you can ever imagine.  Actually, it wasn’t just weird food; it was revolting food!  Everything we have been brought up to think of as disgusting was on that menu the Lord presented for me to eat. 

Of course, I would not!  I refused point blank to defile myself in that way.  But he insisted!  Who am I, the voice in my vision demanded, to question what the Lord God has declared good; to reject what he says is completely acceptable to him?

While I was struggling with this nightmare, the Lord continued; “Listen, Peter! In a minute, some men are going to knock on your door.  They will have come from Joppa (miles away!) because I have told their master, Cornelius (a Roman Centurion, can you believe it!) to send for you.  You must go with them, and tell him all about me.”

So, now I’m thinking I must have been out in the sun too long!   A delivery of strange and forbidden food, and then an invitation to dine in the house of a gentile: but Jews do not eat with gentiles – everyone knows that!

Everyone except the Lord, it appears, because – you know what? –  The next instant they’ve come running upstairs to tell me there are men at the door, sent by a chap named Cornelius, a Roman Centurion from Joppa, who says God told him to invite me over! 

I pinched myself, but it was true, every detail of it!  When I went downstairs the visitors confirmed it. 

I was completely stunned by what was happening, so following wise advice I’d picked up somewhere, I decided to sleep on it.  But in the morning, nothing had changed and I had no choice but to go to Joppa and investigate.  Then, when I arrived in his home, Cornelius himself told me his story again and the dream and reality became one.

So, yes, defying all tradition, I went. Of course, I did!  How could anyone argue with all that? How can anyone argue with such precise and obvious direction from God?

But, just in case anyone still needed convincing, while I was in mid-flow, explaining the Goodnews of Christ’s death and resurrection to Cornelius and those he had gathered, God intervened. 

Suddenly the Holy Spirit descended on every one, and I mean everyone, Jew and gentile, our lot and Cornelius’ lot, alike.  I had to cut my address short, because suddenly everyone was speaking, shouting out the praise of God.  It was as if God said, “Shut up, Peter, and listen!  This doesn’t need any debating, arguing, explaining or talking about – just accepting!  I am doing this!  It’s a done deal!  So don’t you dare say these people are not acceptable, when I say that they are!  Don’t let anyone say that they are unacceptable, when I say they are!”

It was a hard lesson to learn; not just for me, but for the whole Church. It’s a lesson many still find hard to accept, and perhaps always will.  I’ve had to stick my neck out and argue the case, being called to account by people who hold a smaller vision.   I’ve had to take the risk and reach out and embrace those who others still think are beyond the pale, fighting for their right to inclusion because God has convinced me that it’s not my decision who is in our out, only God’s.  

So, when will we admit that God’s love and grace, God’s hearty welcome, is so much bigger and wider than ours?   The boundaries have been smashed wide open.  God’s Kingdom really and truly is for all.

May as well accept it.  There is no debate to be had.  No-one is going to ever win this argument with God!