Next day, they were on their journey approaching the city, as Peter
meanwhile went up on the housetop to pray. It was about the sixth hour. He
became hungry, wanting something to eat; while they prepared it, he fell into a
trance and saw the heavens opened, and something like a great sheet descending,
let down by four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and
reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, "Rise,
Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "No, Lord; for I have never
eaten anything that is common or unclean." And the voice came to him again
a second time, "What God has cleansed, you must not call common."
This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
In a Nutshell
Peter had a dream that challenged his ideas about cleanliness.
Questions
How did Luke come by these stories of Cornelius vision and Peter's dream?
On this particular day, Peter had three dreams in the middle of the day, as he waited for his lunch. Three times the great sheet appeared with animals in it and he was commanded to rise, kill and eat. Each time he declined and he did so because of his religious scruples. Each time the voice rebuked him!
Peter the Jew had been a Galilean fisherman. As a disciple of Jesus, he was now a prominent member of the apostolic synagogue in Jerusalem. He had experience of the times when the religious leaders criticised his Master because He did not demand washing like the Baptist had required of his disciples.
A fellow named Papias of Hierapolis, who lived in 130AD, said that Mark's Gospel is based on Peter's reminiscences. If that is so then this dream might have something to do with how Peter understood Jesus' reply to the religious leaders. He had said "what comes out of the heart defiles a man." In Mark's gospel there is a bracketed statement which reads "Thus He declared all foods clean."
It's interesting isn't it? Peter, Luke and the people in house of Simon the Tanner in Joppa were obviously aware of dreams as part of every-day experience. The way Luke tells it indicates he knew that dreams relate to what is going on around us. But it is not just a matter of dreaming about things that are about to happen on your lunch table. Dreams also bring things we have forgotten together with other things of which we are only too aware.
What Luke is telling us is about the way the church of Jesus Christ depends upon the Holy Spirit. Peter had to deepen his understanding of what Jesus had taught. The Holy Spirit gave him the opportunity to tell other believers. It wasn't just a matter of sitting down to lunch and talking over a weird dream and then it would all become plain. It was a puzzle. If Peter was to work it out he needed the Holy Spirit's help. This story is one more indication that the apostles were on their learning curve. At this point it's possible they had not realised that the church would need a written account of their experiences in Jesus' school. But when the Holy Spirit is active then it is possible that even our dreams will become part of the story of how Jesus' work has expanded to the end of the earth.