Afternoon Dreaming [Easter 6B - Acts 10:44-48]

 The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Acts 10:44-48        

 

Afternoon Dreaming

Church of the Holy Spirit, Schenevus

 

It all started with a dream. 

 

Peter just couldn’t keep his eyes open; they were so heavy.  I don’t know about you, but I can relate.  Sometimes prayer makes us sleepy.  It’s just true.  Good intentions and dogged devotion are, at times, simply not enough.  And in the midst of a pious moment, we find ourselves drifting into a slumber.  It happens to the best of us – including St. Peter. 

 

In his dream, Peter saw the heavens open – an exciting beginning, to be sure.  And then from that celestial rift descended…bedding – specifically a large sheet.  Jacob got angels climbing a ladder; Joseph: thin cows eating fat cows.  Peter gets a sheet.    

 

It turns out the sheet, as you might remember from this story in the book of Acts, was covered in animals – all of the animals ritually unclean, animals devout Jews were not permitted to eat.  Unclean animals on what one could only imagine was an unclean sheet.  That was the subject of this divine dream.

 

For Peter, the dream transitioned from strange to disturbing when the voice first spoke.  The voice said, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.”  Peter was taken aback and argues with the heavenly voice: “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.”  If this was a test, Peter passed.

 

But much to Peter’s chagrin, it was not a test.  The voice meant business; the voice insisted.  Three times the sheet; three times the voice.  And before the disciple opened his sleepy eyes, he was given a message that would forever change his life and forever change the Church.  The voice had the final word: “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” 

 

But that famous dream is not the dream that started it all.  The first dream in this biblical narrative was dreamt by a man named Cornelius.  Cornelius is not as well-known as Peter.  He was a Roman soldier; more importantly, Cornelus was a Gentile. 

 

Like Peter, this Roman Centurion also dreamed his dream during the day.  At 3 o’clock, one afternoon, Cornelius saw an angel enter the room.  Not a sheet, an angel.  It was a more traditional vision than Peter’s.  Already surprised, Cornelius must have been shocked when the angel knew him by name.  And the angel was aware of the goodness in his heart.  And the angel directed this Gentile to visit a certain disciple, one named Peter.  And so like a good soldier, Cornelius followed orders.

 

When the knock came at the door, Peter was still reeling from the confusing dream.  The confusion only increased when a band of Gentile strangers appeared and requested his company. 

 

Peter was a preacher.  And a gig is a gig.  And since Pentecost, Peter was, I suspect, more open to the unexpected and so he went with the strangers to Caesarea – the city in which was the headquarters of the Roman governor.  This is no small thing.  Remember: not too many weeks earlier, Jesus had been killed on a Roman cross; the nails were hammered by Roman soldiers.  And now Peter is walking into a major Roman city to the home of a powerful soldier to talk about Jesus.  But he goes because of that dream.

 

The dream was a buffet of possibility, or perhaps a possible buffet.  It was full of potential food – animals that Gentiles ate but Jews did not.  And in the dream the voice did command Peter to “kill and eat.”  And yet, Peter did not take the dream literally.  He understood, somehow, that the dream was about people, not about food.  And so he shows up – with an open heart and an open mind.  Peter said to Cornelius, “We are a weird match, an inappropriate pairing, an unlawful association, but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” 

 

At this point, at the front door, Peter has no idea what God is about to do.  All he knows is that he had a dream.  And that dream led him to this door and to this Gentile and opened his heart to the possibilities of God. 

 

Peter could have stayed home.  You will remember that his first instinct was to argue with the dream.  God said eat and Peter said no.  God said get up and Peter responded by staying put.  But God insisted and Peter eventually relented. 

 

And he showed up at Cornelius’ house and preached the Gospel of Jesus.  He preached the Gospel to people he had long considered unclean, to people he did not realize, did not understand, that Jesus loved. 

 

Our passage from Acts today recounts the end of this visit.  While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit made Pentecost happen in the home of a Gentile.  And Peter was astounded but also it was happening right before his very eyes.  And on that day, the Body of Christ became part Gentile.  Because the Body is meant to grow and the Holy Spirit refused to stay put and the baptismal water kept on flowing.

 

This story took place a long time ago, almost two thousand years ago.  Most of the Church is now Gentile, of course.  But the book of Acts tells us that Peter was criticized for baptizing those early Gentiles.  The other Christians in Jerusalem were not ready to open the doors to the un-circumcised, to the “unclean.”  Those Christians in Jerusalem had done their homework, they had read their Bibles; they knew who was in and who was out.  And how dare Peter do something so un-Christian, so unorthodox, so irresponsible? 

 

What we know that those critics did not, is that Peter didn’t really have much of a choice.  Peter learned something very important about God on that 1^st century roof; Peter dreamed something very important about God: we do not get to tell God who to love.  We don’t have the power or authority or the right to prevent God from falling in love.

 

But that has not stopped the Church from trying over the centuries.  The Church has a long history of closing the doors God means to leave open.  God is always and forever drawing the circle wider and it is hard for us to take; it feels threatening; it feels scary.  As it did in the 1^st century.  Because God loves beyond our comfort zone.  And just like Peter, those who love that big, and welcome those who are labeled “unclean” into the Church, get criticized.

 

Some things never change.  In the book of Acts, the Church could not keep up with the speed of the Spirit.  The Church is still, and forever, trying to keep up with the Holy Spirit.  God’s love is always a step or two ahead of us, ahead of the Church.  And maybe that will always be the case.  Probably the love we share will always pale in comparison to the love we receive from Jesus. 

 

And God understands that.  And so God keeps stretching us in the direction of compassion.  And while stretching can be uncomfortable, even painful, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do our best to step up to the challenge.  God is relentless and will keep dropping sheets until we say “yes.”  God promises to push us to love bigger and love better.

 

The end of the Acts story is that those who at first criticized Peter come around.  They hear him out.  They sit in stunned silence for a while.  And then they rejoice in a love that is bigger than they ever imagined. 

 

And that is why I have decided, in my own life, to err always on the side of love.  And maybe that means, sometimes, I’ll go too far or love too much.  But, from what I read in the Bible, I don’t think that’s possible.