Acts 10:9-16 – From Lamb to Ham
I’ve been wanting to preach this message for some time. And right after Easter is a good time to do it. Today I’m talking about one of the changes that Jesus made by His life and death. I’m talking about food.
Now, our religion has very little to do with what we eat. Not so with the Jews. So much of what makes a Jew a Jew is their dietary rules. Leviticus 11 spells out the Jewish food laws: no pork and no shellfish mostly, as well as no rabbits, no flesh-eating birds, no lizards, no snakes, and so on. Some of these rules are fine with me, but come on. For us to give up entirely bacon, pork roast, ham steaks, sausage, scallops, clams, lobster… these would be hard for most Atlantic Canadians. In fact, many people find them hard, maybe even good Jews.
I’m told of a rabbi who had been leading a congregation for many years, and grew upset by the fact that he was never able to eat pork. So he devised a plan where he flew to a remote tropical island and checked into a hotel. He immediately got himself a table at the finest restaurant and ordered the most expensive pork dish on the menu.
As he eagerly waited for it to be served, he heard his name called from across the restaurant. He looked up to see 10 of his loyal congregants approaching. His luck, they’d chosen the same time to visit the same remote location!
Just at that moment, the waiter came out with a huge silver tray carrying a whole roasted pig with an apple in its mouth. The Rabbi looked up sheepishly at his congregants and said, "Wow - you order an apple in this place and look how it’s served!"
So for over 1000 years, no good Jew would even think about eating pork chops. Chicken, turkey, lamb… but never ham. Peter was one such Jew. Serious about his faith, he would never even touch an unclean animal. One day he was in prayer in Acts 10, unaware that so-called uncleanness was coming to find him. Let’s pick up the story in Acts 10:9-16.
Now, if this were just about food, we would say, who cares? What does it matter to us what Peter ate? But it turns out, the main lesson in here for Peter and for us is that we are to accept whatever God calls clean, food or people. The story continues: v17. Who was Cornelius? A Gentile. A Roman soldier. Someone Peter would not have given the time of day, if he had not been obedient to God. Cornelius, a God-fearing man but certainly no Jew, had been told to find Peter, the earliest leader of the church. Peter would help him to know the God he feared.
So Cornelius’ servants found Peter, and took him to find Cornelius – v18-27. Now, what was happening here would have been quite a shock to the early Christians, who had all grown up with the Jewish ceremonial laws. Peter alike. Notice what he says in v28a. For a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile, an unclean person, would make the Jew unclean too. Dirty. Defiled. A sinner. Unworthy to worship God.
But Peter continues in v28b-29. God had given the word that what was previously considered unclean was no longer so. God said that the animals once considered unclean like, I’m assuming, pigs and rabbits, were now considered clean and all right – the Jewish word kosher. Likewise, if God says that a person is considered clean, then don’t tell God otherwise, no matter what your tradition says. So, the door was opened for Gentiles to be Christians – those who were once excluded from the promises of God were now allowed in. It was a wonderful day for all of us, a day to see God’s grace in action.
Jesus had said that it’s not what goes into a person – that is, food – that makes a person unclean, but rather what comes out – that is, actions, vocabulary, thoughts, attitudes, words and so on. It’s the internal thoughts and actions of the heart that God was concerned with. Jesus did away with the old boundaries of clean and unclean. The sacrifice that Jesus made destroyed the barrier that separated people, the book of Ephesians tells us. His death moved his people from lamb to ham.
But so what? What does this matter? If any of us chooses not to eat bacon, it’s likely for health reasons, not religious reasons. And another thing - aren’t all of us in here Gentiles? So what if Gentiles were allowed to be part of the church? Does that mean anything to us now? Does Peter’s vision mean anything to us? Does it matter to us modern-day Gentiles if the lines of clean and unclean, kosher and un-kosher, inside and outside have been erased? It does if you consider what it meant to be kosher. Let’s look at the rules again in Lev.11.
OK – land animals have to have a split hoof and chew the cud – that rules out camels, rabbits, badgers, and pigs. Water animals have to have fins and scales – that rules out all shellfish. Birds that feed on carcasses are rules out. Flying insects, unless they have jointed legs like grasshoppers, are ruled out. And any animal that scurries about on the ground like a lizard or a snake is ruled out. Now, some of these rules are about sanitary purposes – they are dirty. But not all of them. Some rules seem to keep the Israelites away from the pagan practices of their neighbors. But, again, not all of them. Some of the laws just seem to make no sense.
But is God really arbitrary? Do His laws make no sense? Are they simply there to keep the leash tight on His people? No. Although the word kosher has shades of meaning “pure”, a better word to define the word is “fit”. Kosher animals fit in. Like, land animals are meant to have a split hoof and chew the cud. If an animal doesn’t fit this description, then it is left out. A sea animal is meant to have fins and scales like a fish – if not, then it doesn’t fit. If an animal was different from the others somewhat like it, it was excluded. Kosher means fitting in, being included, being like everything or everyone else.
Which is of course why the Jews were not to associate with Gentiles. Gentiles did not fit in with the Jewish code of ethics and morals. They did not fit in with Jewish worship. Gentiles were by definition separate from Jews. You can see why a good Jewish man would be taken aback at the idea of associating with a Gentile. They were unclean, dirty, un-kosher. But God said in Peter’s vision that those old rules don’t apply any longer. The door was opened for even misfits and oddballs to be part of God’s kingdom.
Which is wonderful news for us misfits and oddballs. For those of us who don’t feel as if we fit in anywhere, this is good news. Some of you wonder what place you fill in this church. Some of you wonder if you fit anywhere. Like you don’t belong here in this church or town or world. Some of you feel left out and misfit. Some of you feel like everyone else knows something you don’t, or has something you don’t, or feels something you don’t. You feel like an oddball and a misfit.
But take heart! Even if our church or our culture or our world makes you feel that way, God certainly doesn’t agree. He sees who you are, and He knows the part you can play in His kingdom. He knows the plans He has for you.
And this is also true for those of us who look around the church and feel like other people don’t belong. The ones who don’t talk the same as us, look the same as us, think the same as us, smell the same as us. Those of us who enjoy finding the faults in others, barely tolerating others who are different, should learn a lesson from Peter’s vision: Don’t you dare call unclean what God makes clean. Don’t you dare exclude others, just because they don’t fit what you think is an ideal Christian. God’s kingdom goes farther than our definitions of what a good Christian looks like. God told Samuel: "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
We rejoice that God opened the door for misfits and oddballs like us. So let’s extend that same mercy to others who don’t fit in with us as well. You never lock eyes with someone who doesn’t matter to God. It’s up to us, the fellowship of the accepted oddballs, to show that each person matters, that the old rules of fitting in are wiped away, and that there is room for more misfits in this place.
Dr. Ben Craddock tells about a visit he had when he and his wife were visiting Gatlinburg, TN. They were eating a private lunch when an old man came over to chat with them. Craddock said that he tried to be polite, but brief and even curt to get rid of the old guy. So when the guy asked Craddock what he did, Craddock tried intimidation: "I am a professor of homiletics."
"Oh, you’re a preacher. Well, I got a preacher story for you." And before you know it, the old man pulled up a chair and sat down at their table uninvited.
"When I was a boy, I was born illegitimate. And in that day, that was a bad scandal. People blamed me for it. I’d be made fun of by other kids because I didn’t know who my father was. People would often wonder and ask behind my back. The result is that I kept to myself and had nothing to do with anyone.
“One day, a new preacher came to town, and I heard that he was real good. So I decided to go and hear him. I went pretty regular, but I went late and left early so I didn’t have to interact with the folks there. But one Sunday, I got lost in his message. It just hooked me. And before I knew it, the closing benediction was offered and the aisles were full. I couldn’t get out. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, and it was that preacher. He looked at me and asked me, ’What’s your name, son? Whose boy are you?’ When he asked me that, my heart sank and I grew ashamed. But what he said next to me, I’ll never forget. He said, ’I know whose son you are. You bear his likeness. You’re God’s son, aren’t you?’
“That was the first time anyone conveyed to me any sense of worth or dignity! Those words changed my life!" And with that the old man left.
When he left, the waitress came over to the table and asked Craddock if he knew who that was who was just visiting with them. “No,” Craddock replied. “That was Ben Hooper,” the waitress informed. "Two term Governor of Tennessee.” A man changed by being given a sense of worth and value. Even though he was odd. And didn’t fit. Let’s be glad God has said that we oddballs are welcome, and we are to welcome any other oddballs as well.
