Once I was unclean
For my house shall be called a house of prayer
For all peoples. Isaiah 56:7
Read Acts 11: 5—18
So let me put myself in Peter’s position when he has this vision. If I were Peter I would be ready to puke now. All my life I have been thoroughly turned off at the thought of eating certain proscribed foods. They have always revolted me. Now I have to get over that. I have to think they’re delicious! Somehow I have to stomach them. How could I ever salivate over what I’ve always detested? And been taught to? And rewarded for it? This is just the start of something. God has ushered Peter into a new day. It’s people, people like me that Peter has to embrace, especially if I’m among the majority of humanity, a Gentile. I’ve been an unclean outcast to this Jew. Now he’s being asked to love me passionately. I used to be a dog.[1] Now I’m beloved.
Dear Lord, you have brought me from banishment into your company, from uncleanness to holiness, from alienation to communion. It has taken all the activity of God to do this for one beleaguered soul: the Father to love me before I was born, the Son to die for this accomplished sinner, the Spirit to awaken me from lethargy and from death. Now I must get used to it. You do not merely accept me, nor barely tolerate me, nor simply spare me a place: you welcome me with delight. I am the outcome of your deep work, such that you would not be the God you have chosen to be without redeeming humanity. And that means you would not be who you have chosen to be without redeeming me. This is utter, utter grace.
[1] Mark 7:27