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Hope is Worth the Risk

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All through the Gospels we see Jesus breaking down barriers, including dining with outsiders and foreigners.


Ever Wider by Lisle Gwynn Garrity, Sanctified Art
Ever Wider by Lisle Gwynn Garrity, Sanctified Art

But then, interestingly, at first, in Acts, the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection stays in Jerusalem.

 

Before his ascension, Jesus told his disciples to spread the message to all people, to the farthest corners of the earth. And even at Pentecost, all who were gathered in Jerusalem could hear the good news in their own language.

 

But then, the first chapters of Acts center in Jerusalem. It seems that the Gospel is staying in Jerusalem among the Jews. That is until Peter goes to Joppa, a town around 40 miles from Jerusalem.

 

And while he is in Joppa Peter has a dream. And it’s a strange dream.

 

Peter saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. And he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But in confusion Peter replied, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” But the voice came a second time and said, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” And then, after three times, the sheet went back up into heaven.

 

Unsurprisingly, the vision was puzzling to Peter.

 

But as if the first vision wasn’t enough, the Spirit then tells Peter that three men are looking for him and that he should go with them to the house of Cornelius. Now Cornelius was a devout man who feared God, but Cornelius was not a Jew.

 

And so, it would be considered strange for Cornelius and Peter to interact with one other because typically Jews and Gentiles didn’t interact a whole lot, if at all.

 

But the next day Peter went to Cornelius’ house. And while we don’t know all the details of what happened there, Acts tells us that all those who gathered at Cornelius’ house came to believe, then and the Holy Spirit fell upon them all.

 

I’ve found myself wondering how Peter might have felt. How he felt after his vision. How he felt about the Spirit’s instructions. His dream opened a whole new world for him, a world where there was no longer Jew or Gentile, but one community of faith. He didn’t have a clear idea of what living in such a world was like. Before spending time with Jesus, Peter had only ever known a world where Gentiles were the outsider, the foreigner, even the enemy. But now, his vision offered him a new picture of community.

 

And he acted on that vision.

 

I think Peter acted with hope. He acted boldly. He took a risk. Even when he couldn’t quite see the result, and didn’t quite know what was going to happen, Peter acted anyways, confident that the vision for a united community of Jews and Gentiles was indeed from God.

 

Maybe hope is worth the risk.

 

Grace and peace,

Kimmy

 




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