(Stained glass rendering of Peter's vision at the Church of St. Peter in Nottingham, Great Britain. Glazier/artist unknown. Possibly late 19th century. Photo by Dominican friar, Lawrence OP. Used under Creative Commons license.)
Lectionary Scripture - Acts 11:1-18 (NRSV)
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just 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 that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."
Who Am I to Hinder God?
Poor Peter, stuff really has to happen in threes for him if things were going to sink in. The first set of threes is his denials of knowing or being associated with Jesus prior to the crucifixion. The second set of threes is when the Risen Jesus appears for the third time by the seaside and cooks Peter and friends some breakfast after they caught 153 fish. The third set of threes is when Jesus asks Peter three times after breakfast if Peter truly loves him. Now we have the fourth set of threes that come in the form of a vision recurring three times in which God lowers unclean things in Jewish tradition for Peter to eat yet God commands Peter to eat anyway. And then there’s the fifth set of threes which are the three men who arrive from Caesarea to see Peter just as the third occurrence of his vision ends. All the foregoing could leave a person wishing they were Peter in order to enjoy such an abundance of extraordinary experiences.
For me however, I need to stop and consider the dynamic that’s actually in play with the above scripture and repetition of things. Peter probably draws the best conclusion about it all when he says to his fellow believers, “Who am I that I should hinder God?” I would probably expand that a bit and also ask, “Who are we that we should hinder God?” It’s a question that must rightly be asked at the individual level but also for the collective -- for if we human beings did not hinder God, might not the purposes of God and God’s Peaceable Kingdom already be fulfilled or at least a good deal further along than they are
If I genuinely ask that question of myself then I must face down the ways in which I have not loved as I should have loved. I must also face down the times when I chosen to maintain what's comfortable for me and my way of doing things while others have suffered or are suffering. And I must face down as well when I have let the wrong kind of person or persons hold sway over some situation or circumstance when confronting it and doing the right thing should have been my path instead -- despite the discomfort or sacrifice involved! Peter had to confront those dynamics and issues when he returned to his fellow disciples in Judea. There he was criticized for fellowshipping with non-Jewish persons and worse yet for baptizing them into the Christian church. Only after Peter reported his spiritual experience did the early Jewish Christians get beyond themselves and finally accept that God intended Christ’s message and mission to be for all people.
Still today -- all these centuries after Peter’s experience -- we continue to hinder God. We do so by heading down paths that serve our own egos and/or sense of what we want rather than what God wants. And all too often, rather than summoning the courage and conviction and resolve to go in a completely different direction – even what might seem like a profane direction, we do a Peter-like thing and say, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean have I ever participated in.” On that note, let’s stop and ask ourselves what history might have to say about Christianity if early Jewish Christians had kept Christ’s message and mission to themselves. For me, my sense is that Christianity would have been consigned to some footnote in history as an obscure little sect of Judaism that ultimately amounted to nothing because Peter failed to listen to God and failed to take his fellow believers to task over the question of, “Who am I to hinder God?” Had he failed to do all those things, the work and purposes of the Peaceable Kingdom would have probably died off with the first few generations of Jewish Christians. But as we know, the message and mission was intended for all humankind, therefore billions claim themselves to be followers of Jesus today and seek for a just and peaceable world.
So ask yourself the question, “Am I hindering God? Is my faith community hindering God? Are we doing little more than consigning ourselves to some footnote in history? Are we just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?” If your answers sound like anything remotely similarly to rearranging deck chairs or putting lipstick on a pig, then you’re probably hindering God. Rest assured however that there are generations of youthful and energetic persons about to rise up. Organized religion as we have known it and as the generations of our elders have wanted it, will pass away. Something quite new and fresh is about to happen and it will take us light-years closer to the reality of God’s Peaceable Kingdom here on Earth.
What will that fresh, potent, and new thing be? My guess is that first and foremost it will have a character of stewardship that no longer accepts resources being tied up in things that serve human ego. Instead, resources will go directly toward healing and alleviating all types of pain and suffering. Secondly, the generations authoring this approach will apply those resources with a spirit and form of generosity that gets the job done and done right the first time around. Ministry and mission on a shoestring budget will no longer be acceptable. And also unacceptable will be resources existing in the form of idle inanimate objects. For these generations and their families and children there will be an urgency unlike any in the past. Not because of those who promulgate fear over whether or not your soul is saved or you belong to the right faith or faith community, but rather because the Earth lies on the brink of being unable to sustain human life as well life in many other forms.
So who are you to hinder God? Who am I? And just so it sinks in, let's do the Peter thing and ask ourselves those questions three times.
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