Exponential Hospitality

Acts 11:1–18

Peter's Defense

Peter, who is back "home" in Jerusalem with his friends and relatives, the other "apostles" and the "circumcised believers," now has to defend his actions in baptizing and welcoming Cornelius, a centurion, to the Way. Luke is careful to describe Cornelius as an "upright" and "God-fearing" person, but the only characteristic of Cornelius that the Jewish church leaders can see is that he is "uncircumcised," and therefore "unclean." The real question for Peter is, "Why did you eat with them?" (Acts 11:2)

Peter, whose temporary address "in Joppa, with Simon the tanner by the sea" we discussed last week,

© Copyright 2010 by Debbie Rockey. Peter at Simon the Tanner's House, Acts 9:43. Image rights available ($2.50) for church use.

takes his friends through the journey step-by-step. Like a scientist or mathematician explaining a complicated formula or a coach diagramming a complicated play, Peter recounts the journey from Dorcas to Simon's house to the house of Cornelius. He tells how he was praying (he leaves out the part this time about being up on Simon the Tanner's roof and hungry) when he fell into a trance and saw a vision.

© Copyright 2010 by Debbie Rockey. Peter's Vision of a Large Sheet, filled with unclean animals, four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air, Acts 10:11. Image rights available ($2.50) for church use.

One of the details that stands out in Acts 10 (and in the shortened re-telling in Acts 11) is Luke's focused attention on hospitality:

• Arrival of the Needy. Acts 10:17 (retold in 11:11). "Real men" don't ask for directions, especially when they can just follow their noses! But these men, who were sent (apestalmenoi) by Cornelius, arrive at the right place by asking about the location of the house. These ambassadors arrive "at the gate" (pulona, Greek; Vulgate, ianua, door; see Luke 16:20, where Lazarus is laid at the "gate" of Dives).

  
  (Image source, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Meister_des_Codex_Aureus_Epternacensis_001.jpg/410px-Meister_des_Codex_Aureus_Epternacensis_001.jpg)

  Their arrival on the threshold demands a response of hospitality.
  

• Multiplication of Hospitality: The Power of Exponential Growth. Acts 10:22-23 (retold in 11:13).
  --Summoning a Good-News-Speaker. Cornelius is instructed by an angel to "send for" Peter. (metapempo, a compound used only by Luke in the New Testament, also used of Felix summoning Paul to "listen to him speak about faith in Christ," Acts 24:24.) Cornelius brings Peter "into his house" (something done also by Jairus to Jesus in Luke 8:41), so that Cornelius may hear what Peter has to say (rhemata para sou). The Greek word rhema, like the Hebrew word dabar, may take on specialized meanings according to context. The basic meaning is "word, saying, expression, or statement of any kind" (BDAG), but it can mean prophecy, prediction, commandment (as in the Ten Commandments, "words"). In this case it probably means preaching or teaching. It appears in some well known sayings, such as "Nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37, more woodenly and literally translated: "For every word [rhema, thing] will not be impossible with God.") In other words, what God says is true, and comes true (Luke 1:38, 2:15, 17, 19, etc.). Divine words spoken will be realized. Divine words will become real things, events, objects, matter--just as the world itself was "spoken" or commanded into existence.

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  (Image source, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQlU_IcGeNqLSvAk6mPnTmrjEdGWRwjcyuS9ERrzZ4by4-yGlcEdWI8LeS5beL7hxstyLrur_9Qf-9EnuI-KwjF8TQ3IKpOLavK7Gc2lRSxhKYWsyMjVLULFagBSD84A_oc7HDpcvZKqU/s1600/Peter-teaches-Cornelius'-household.jpg)

  --The Recipient of Hospitality Offers Hospitality. Peter, a guest himself with Simon the Tanner, offers the new arrivals hospitality--which will also be reciprocated by Cornelius when Peter arrives at his house. Luke tells us first that Peter is "staying with" (xenizo, receiving hospitality from, being entertained as a guest by) Simon the Tanner (Acts 10:6; also 10:32). Then, as we've said, that the men asked if this is the house where Peter is "staying" (Acts 10:18). And, finally, that Peter invites the men to "stay" with him at Simon the Tanner's house. (Acts 10:23) Luke uses this word xenizo advisedly. Luke is pointing out that Peter is staying as a "stranger" in Simon the Tanner's house, and that Peter is entertaining people he has not previously met in the house of someone he does not know. What's more, Peter will speak words that are "strangers" to their ears, as Paul did to the people of Athens in the Areopagus (Acts 17:19-20).

  
  (Image source, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23580/23580-h/images/illus373.jpg)

  According to Luke, Peter and Simon the Tanner and Cornelius are all heeding the as-yet-unwritten admonition of the writer of the book of Hebrews: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2, NRSV)
  

• Entertaining Angels, literally! Acts 10:30 At first glance this verse has no other import (as if it needed any more) than to indicated the means by which (a divine messenger) Cornelius was directed to Peter. However, the messenger's "fine clothes" (en estheti lampra) are an indicator of high social class, wealth, and prominence. We know that Cornelius, a Roman centurion, will welcome someone who is well-dressed to his home, but will he also welcome Peter, whose clothes still reek of Simon the Tanner's profession?
  

  My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favouritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4, NIB)

  The whole of James 2 is a condemnation of any sort of favoritism. Favoritism negates the good of our hospitality as a demonstration of faith. So the question becomes whether Cornelius will take the angel's advice to seek out Peter, a man he doesn't know, whose address at the smelly home of Simon the Tanner who lives by the sea. (Acts 10:32)
  
• Responding Well by Doing Good and Being Present. Acts 10:33. Cornelius commends Peter (kalos epoiesas, "you did well") for making the right choice to respond to the summons and demonstrates his own response both in sending for Peter and in gathering his house (enopion theou, "before God") to hear the strange words that Peter brings ("whatever the Lord has commanded you to say," panta + prostasso).
  
• Staying. Acts 10:48. The sort of work that is done by the rhema has both its immediate results (reception, initiation, baptism) and its longer-term effects. God's initiative in this sequence of events is clear to Peter, in the vision of the lowered sheet, in the knock of strangers at the door, in the visit of an angel to Cornelius, in the receptivity of Cornelius and his family to the Word of faith, and in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit "just as on us at first." For the Word to take root and grow in Cornelius and his family, however, Peter cannot be a "hit and run evangelist." Peter must remain ("abide") for a few days with these new gentile disciples, eating and drinking with them. The work begun is too important to leave immediately. Peter is an instrument of the word proclaimed, it is God who has begun and will complete this good work in them.
  

John 13:31–35, 36-38

The scene is the table for the Lord's Supper after communion is over (bread mostly eaten, cup mostly empty), Judas is leaving or has just left to betray Jesus. Jesus gives the disciples a "new" commandment that they love one another just as he has loved them. He promises that this love will be their identifying mark as disciples of Jesus in the world. The shadow of the cross of Jesus falls heavily in anticipation across the scene. It falls across Jesus and the disciples, including Peter. (Peter vows that he will follow Jesus to the death. Jesus' response makes me wonder whether we can relate the three times Peter denied to the three times the sheet was lowered and the three men who arrive at the same moment from Cornelius' house.) The scene of the foot-washing is a preview of the sort of sacrifice required to form the sort of community God desires, full of the sort of love that engenders hospitality for the stranger and fellowship without partiality. The growth of the kingdom is based on this deep love, hospitality and fellowship.

Peter Greenaway has created a 'son et lumiere' of Leonardo's Last Supper, http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/arts-reviews/leonardos-last-supper/2009/10/12/1255195742166.html?page=fullpage. (Image source, http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2009/10/14/supper_narrowweb__300x446,0.jpg)

Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Who is my neighbor? My neighbor is the stranger who offers me hospitality in his stinky house, the people who show up on my doorstep, people with whom I have major disagreements and minor squabbles, people whom I cannot stand but for the grace of God. In order for the wind (Spirit) to continue blowing as it did at first, love must continue strong among the disciples of Jesus.

Staying with a "Glover"

Hospitality is a 2-way street. Those who would learn hospitality must learn to accept hospitality with grace from unlikely candidates in unlikely places. The "house of a tanner" is perhaps the least likely place for "particular" Peter to lay his head for a little while, but in this instance the "house of a tanner" is in fact the Good Shepherd's sheep fold.

John 10:22–30

Jesus and the Gentiles: Those "Other" Sheep

John gives a very specific time and place reference here. The when is winter. There may even be snow falling (rarely) as Jesus walks along the porch among the "gentile" God-fearers who seek to offer prayer and financial contributions, to be part of the action near the center of the Jerusalem sacrificial cultus, perhaps within sight of the smoke rising from the altar for burnt offerings. Jesus has followers, walking along behind or in front of him like a small flock of sheep, perhaps carrying and leading lambs of their own, or pigeons and turtle doves for sacrifice. The "Festival of the Dedication" (10:22) to which they have all come is the feast commemorating the re-dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus (1 Maccabees 4:36-59) in 164 B.C. after the defeat of the Seleucids (Syrian Greeks). The eight-day celebration marked a joyous end to the humiliation of gentile rule over Jerusalem and its temple, removing the disgrace that had cast a shadow over the altar and replacing shame with gladness. The festival is still known by its Hebrew name today, Hanukkah, and is still celebrated by Jews the world over (not just in Jerusalem) in December.

© Copyright 2010 by Debbie Rockey. Jesus in the Temple Portico in Solomon's Colonnade in Winter, John 10:22-23. Image rights available ($2.50) for church use.

John also tells us where Jesus was, specifically. He was in Solomon's Colonnade (aka, the "Portico of Solomon" or "Solomon's Porch"), a covered walkway along the perimeter of the courtyard of the gentiles, on the east side of the temple. Whatever else we may say about the location and its specificity, we should remember these things about Jesus and his relation to the nations (gentiles), especially the Greeks and Romans:

• Jesus came as the "light" of the world, especially the light to the gentiles (John 8:12, 9:5; Matthew 4:15ff. quoting Isaiah 9:1; Luke 2:32).
  
• Jesus came to bring justice and hope to the nations (gentiles; Matthew 12:18, 21).
  
• In Jerusalem, Jesus would be handed over to the gentiles for execution (Mark 10:33; Matthew 20:18-19).
  
• Jesus expects the love and welcome that his disciples extend to their enemies (e.g., the Seleucids, or the Greeks and Romans) to go beyond that of the gentiles (Matthew 5:41; the same goes for their praying, Matthew 6:7; and their concern for livelihood, Matthew 6:32).
  
• Jesus expects his followers to become servants, not lords, following the pattern that Jesus set in contrast to the pattern adopted by the nations (or "gentiles," Mark 10:42 // Matthew 20:25 // Luke 22:25).
  

Perhaps there is a thread connecting this pericope with the "parable" that comes in 10:1-6 and 10:7-18, especially in the contrast between Jesus (the Good Shepherd, but also the sacrificial lamb in 10:11ff.) and the thief or "bandit" (Greek lestes) of 10:1. If it is true that the anti-Roman revolutionaries of Jesus' day were known as "bandits," then Jesus may be making a contrast between their way and his way of gathering and protecting the flock. (There is almost certainly also a connection between the reference here and Jesus' famous line about the temple: "My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves" [lestes], Matthew 21:13, KJV.) Moreover, if the "other sheep" of 10:16 are the gentiles and the "hired hands" are the Jewish leaders (see Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Ezekiel 34:1-24), then it is surely significant that Jesus chooses "Solomon's Porch" in the courtyard of the gentiles during the "Festival of the Dedication" to claim unity with the Father and to tacitly acknowledge his identity as the Christ. One greater than Judas Maccabeus is here, but his relationship with the nations (gentiles) will be far different and lastingly (eternally) effective. Oddly enough, in John and for John's reader, the sheep need protection from the Jewish leaders far more than from the supposed threat of the gentiles.

Peter at the Tanners': Staying for a While, Preparing to Welcome Cornelius

Acts 9:36–43

With the identity and conversion of Saul of Tarsus, aka Paul (Acts 13:9) the Apostle to the Gentiles, now on the record (last week, Acts 7:54-8:3 and 9:1-30), Luke turns in earnest toward an account of the arrival of the gospel in the home of a gentile named Cornelius. But first, the unlikely bearer of the first ray of Good News to the gentiles must stop at the house of a tanner.

© Copyright 2010 by Debbie Rockey. Peter at Simon the Tanner's House, Acts 9:43. Image rights available ($2.50) for church use.

It is probably no coincidence that the only other time we hear of this Tanner guy (or any other tanner, for that matter) in the New Testament is in the immediately adjacent story of the Peter's summons to the house of Cornelius. It serves as Peter's "address" in Joppa, the "house of Simon the tanner by the sea" (Acts 10:6 and 10:32), but it seems to me that, given the "contents" of the vision, Luke is injecting both a sense of humor and a significant theological point.

But to get the point, we need to know more about the Tanners and their cousins, the Glovers. The Tanner surname "is an ancient Anglo-Saxon occupational surname for someone employed as a tanner of animal skins and hides." In other words, Tanners come from the tanning, an important skill and first step in the manufacture (back when manufacture still meant "hand work") of everyday items: waterskins, bags, boats, armor (especially shields, but also greaves and bracers), quivers, scabbards, boots and shoes (or sandals), belts, gloves (for protection, gardening, etc.), hats (let's not get started with the supposed connection between "hatters" and madness), aprons, harness, saddles, and tethers and ties, straps and strops of all sorts.

The English derivation of the name is from the Olde English pre 7th Century tannere, from the Late Latin tannarius, which was reinforced by the Old French verb taneor, introduced by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066. The ultimate derivation is thought to be from an ancient Celtic word for the oak (tree), whose bark was used in the tanning process.

(Source, http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Tanner") Is it any wonder then that Simon the tanner's house is "by the sea"?

In ancient history, tanning was considered a noxious or "odiferous trade" and relegated to the outskirts of town, amongst the poor. Indeed, tanning by ancient methods is so foul smelling that tanneries are still isolated from those towns today where the old methods are used.

(Source, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning) It was the "combination of urine, animal feces and decaying flesh that made ancient tanneries so odiferous."

(Image source, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Leather_tanning%2C_Fes.jpg)

If you add to this description of tanning the fact that most ancient manufacturers, including the "clothes washers" (or "fullers," who used urine instead of soap to loosen the dirt from the clothes) of ancient Rome, lived above or alongside their place of employment, then you'll understand why Peter is having trouble sleeping. And why he is dreaming of large sheets being lowered with all kinds of unclean animals on them. (Acts 10:9-23)

Peter is "enjoying" the hospitality of a Tanner.

© Copyright 2010 by Debbie Rockey. Peter's Vision of a Large Sheet, filled with unclean animals, four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air, Acts 10:11. Image rights available ($2.50) for church use.

Peter is stepping outside his "comfort zone" as the gospel moves westward (in addition to northward, last week, to Damascus) outside the confines of Jerusalem. Peter's first stop, the thing that brings him to Joppa, is innocuous enough (if death can be innocuous). A woman named Tabitha (Greek, Dorcas), a counterpart to Stephen the Spirit-filled deacon, has died. Her name means "gazelle" (an even-toed ruminant, a clean animal) and she is clearly one of the chosen sheep. Hearing that Peter is in the area, the followers of the Way summon him to attend her "memorial service" and to hear a recounting of Dorcas' good deeds. She is given the name "disciple" (mathetria, the feminine form of the Greek word, only here in the New Testament). Tabitha (Greek, Dorcas) is, like Stephen, one who cares for widows. Peter raises her from the dead and the miracle draws attention, as one might expect, which keeps Peter unexpectedly (providentially?) pinned for a while in Joppa, accepting the hospitality of a Tanner. There is, as we said, good humor here. We do not have a stinky corpse (no 4-day Lazarus here), but the place where Peter is staying stinks (literally!!!) and Peter has to be holding his nose while he sleeps, eats, etc. at Simon's house. In order to learn how to extend hospitality to the gentile Cornelius, Peter must take the first step in learning to accept hospitality from a Tanner. We too must accept the hospitality of those sheep who are not of this sheep fold, so that we may hear the call of Christ to extend the reach of the gospel to those who are "unclean."