Peter’S Vision
PETER’S VISION
ACTS 10:9-16
Little did Peter know that when he went on the roof for prayer, he was at a decisive turning point in the church’s history.
Cornelius’ vision at Caesarea has its counterpart in Peter’s vision at Joppa to which the messengers have been sent. While they are making the thirty-mile journey Peter is made ready to receive the request they bring by a special revelation in the form of a symbolic vision.
The noon hour (10:9) probably indicates the second period of prayer in the Jewish habit of prayer three times daily (see Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10). The heavenly vision consisted of a large object resembling a sheet (a ship’s sail?) let down from above and holding a menagerie of the animal kingdom. The point to notice is that clean and unclean animals, according to the levitical rule (Leviticus 11), jostled together indiscriminately; and the divine command of verse 13 makes no discrimination. This accounts for Peter’s horrified disavowal (10:14) and the answer to his objection (10:15: which verse in the Gospel of Mark does this call to mind? Perhaps Peter is responsible for the editorial note which is what Mark 7:19b really is, as RSV makes clear). Lest he should mistake the meaning or imagine that he was dreaming, the vision is renewed three times (10:16).
But what is the meaning? Clearly it has to do with the cancellation of the Jewish food-laws which allow some diets and forbid certain others. That in itself was revolutionary enough, as the debate between the Lord and the Pharisees (in Mark 7:1-23) illustrates. But there is a deeper sense which Peter was later to grasp more fully. As a Jew he would at the time of the vision regard the Gentile people as religiously “defiled” (the description in Galatians 2:15 is an apt summary of Jewish mentality and exclusiveness) and so beyond the reach of friendship. And to have a meal with a Gentile would be unthinkable, for meal-time was a solemn and sacred occasion, begun in a prayer of blessing over food and continued by religious conversation. The abolishing of the ancient dietary laws is a token from God that there is no barrier to keep the Jews and Gentiles apart any longer. As Paul put it, the middle wall of partition has been broken down in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-18).
Notes 10:10: literally, “he experienced an ecstasy.” 10:11: “four corners,” obviously metaphorical. 10:12: see Genesis 6:20. 10:14: it is a foolhardy man who contradicts the Lord. Do we ever try?