A vision in Joppa
The 5th Sunday of Easter
Acts
11:1-18
As Peter
is sitting on the flat rooftop of the house of Simon the Tanner in Joppa he is
presented with two visions. The first is
what any observer sitting alongside him, overlooking the ocean would see or
hear: a busy port coming to life in the pink dawn of early morning, noisy
commerce between chandlers and shipowners, the banter of sailors from other
lands in their native language, the oaths of stevedores trudging to work and
the clatter of carts taking advantage of the early hours to deliver goods. In literature or music port cities are
associated with both danger and opportunity - a mixed blessing at best. Money is made here and trade is negotiated
but you need to keep your wits about you.
At the end of the working day you return to your home. You relax with those of a similar bent and
understanding. It's natural - we are all
different and we belong most to our own.
The other
vision is one which given or granted to Peter - in what is described as a dream
or a trance - where a large sheet is lowered from heaven in front of the
apostle which contains the same mix of known and unknown, safe and dangerous,
local and foreign. Peter is commanded to
"kill and eat" - to partake of what goes beyond his ethnic and
religious tradition and to let it enter his body.
He
revolts - this is not what he has ever done before.
The
Gentile Mission which develops - first in the baptism of Cornelius and his
family and then in the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in the northern town of
Antioch - is that mission which declared the desire of God to save the world
and not merely the tribe. With our eyes
we see one half of reality - one's own town with its quarters and communities,
all the compelling reasons folk don't see eye-to-eye and the nature of their grievances
against each other. Church communities
are so often places where colours and languages reinforce themselves against
the alternatives. It will remain so
until that second vision is given. One
which demonstrates that the geography and the demography of God is different
than our own.
