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Acts: 11:1-18
The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem
the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,
‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.”
Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying,
“I was at prayer in the city of Joppa
when in a trance I had a vision,
something resembling a large sheet coming down,
lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me.
Looking intently into it,
I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth,
the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’
But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir,
because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
But a second time a voice from heaven answered,
‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’
This happened three times,
and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.
Just then three men appeared at the house where we were,
who had been sent to me from Caesarea.
The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating.
These six brothers also went with me,
and we entered the man’s house.
He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying,
‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,
who will speak words to you
by which you and all your household will be saved.’
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the beginning,
and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said,
‘John baptized with water
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us
when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was I to be able to hinder God?”
When they heard this,
they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,
“God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
The Word of the Lord.
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After Christ’s ascension into heaven, the Apostles were charged with carrying on his mission of “making disciples.” However, Jesus didn’t answer every question that the Apostles would have about who is saved, or even how.
As we see in our first reading, occasionally heated debates arose.
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Peter has just returned to Jerusalem after going on mission. While preaching the Gospel, he ate and drank with Gentiles outside of the city, welcoming them into the Church.
But some of the others are not convinced that what Peter was doing was right. Did Christians have to follow the laws of the Old Testament? Was baptism enough?
The answers to these questions seem easy to us today. Yes, we are saved by baptism and love fulfills the law of Christ.
But throughout the centuries, the Church has debated a host of issues relevant to that time and place.
Today, for example, we are asking: what is the role of the laity in the Church? Who can receive communion, and under what circumstances? With all of the advancements in scientific research, what is considered moral or immoral? And so on.
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Ultimately, the Church discerns the answer to these questions in the same way that Peter and the others did – through prayer, reliance upon the Holy Spirit, and unity amongst the body of Christ.
As we continue our journey together, pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit: openness, wisdom, and courage, so that the Church may continue to serve as God’s relevant and appointed voice in the world, and certainly in our own lives.
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Image credits: (1) Pentecost, El Greco (2) Saint Peter Preaching in Jerusalem, Charles Pöerson (3) USA Today