"I saw something that looked like a large sheet. It was being let down from heaven by four corners. It came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth. There were also wild animals, reptiles, and birds. Then I heard a voice speaking to me. 'Get up, Peter,' the voice said. 'Kill and eat.'"
Peter's vision happened in Joppa, a city on the coast of Israel.
In the Old Testament, people were either Jews (followers of God), or Gentiles. Among the Gentiles, some were believers in God ("god-fearers"), but they could not become Jewish.
Foods were also divided into "clean" and "unclean" - but the meaning of this was "acceptable, special" vs. "common".
In Acts 10, two men receive messages from God: Cornelius & Peter.
Cornelius - God told him to send some men to Joppa to get Peter and invite him to his house.
Peter's vision was of a sheet being lowered onto a roof, filled with clean and unclean animals. Peter protests: I will not eat what is unclean. The voice answers: do not call anything unclean that God has made clean.
Peter is brought to Cornelius' house. Normally a Jew would not enter the home of a Gentile, but based on Peter's vision, he knows that God does not show favoritism and that salvation is for the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
What does this story teach us about God? In God's eyes - everyone is equal. That is, no one has special status because of their skin color, past, family, money, religious background, or anything like that. What if we really believed that?
This does not mean we are all the same. Rather, that differences don't make people any less.
Think about the people you associate with. Then think about who you don't or wouldn't associate with. We often draw distinctions for pointless reasons.
When Peter takes the story back to Jerusalem, that he has shared the gospel and had fellowship with Gentiles, the disciples believe he's done a bad thing (violated the Law) until Peter explains his vision. How many of us would have that courage if we were confronted about hanging out with the wrong sort of people?
When you can look at all sorts of faces - colors, rich vs. poor, disabled vs. normally able - and see dignity and value in each one, you have the mind of God.
