Are You Going to Eat That?

Suggested by Marie, actually it was more of a dare...


Acts 10:9-16

About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wish I was in Tijuana
Eating barbecued iguana

"Mexican Radio" Written by Charles T. Gray, Marc Moreland, Oliver Joe Nanini, and Standard Ridgway Funsten, recorded by Wall of Voodoo on "Call of the West"

Have you ever been offered something to eat that you just look at and want to say, "er...No thank you, I just ate!" If you say no, here's a word for you, tripe. If that didn't work, how about escargot? It just takes one word, or maybe two, to make you think again.

Some animals and parts of animals have such a weird reputation that the TV show "Top Chef" once did a street vendor challenge using entrails. People were making meals of pig ears, cow brains, and yes, tripe. The judges said the tastes were good, though some much better than others. Still, the "tripe fajita" will never catch on at Taco Bell.

Let's not even discuss what happens when foodie Andrew Zimmerman shows up with take-out.

The Jewish dietary restrictions were many. In the day though, one of the reasons for the restrictions was food safety. Undercooked pork and poultry still cause disease today. Storage of raw foods was another matter. What other animals ate was another restriction that could make someone sick if consumed. Bottom feeders beware, it may not be safe to eat.

Peter almost brags to God that he has never eaten anything that is unclean. But God tells Peter to kill and eat. Yeah, some of this stuff isn't in the same time zone as kosher, but you can eat it now. Peter then almost boasts to God that he's never done that! Unclean food has never passed his lips. So God tells him that “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

In Peter's time, it was very obvious that God is doing something new. Some of the old restrictions were being changed, and that was all in the plan. Yes, now we can have bacon wrapped lobster tails stuffed with shrimp... and God love us for it. Crawdads, the mudbug is now on the menu so get ready to suck the heads. Catfish, it may not have scales but it is very tasty. At one time you could get Rocky Mountain Oysters at Coors Field in Denver, strangely, it tasted like shrimp. At least it does to me.

We can even go to Tijuana for barbecued iguana if we wanted, and it's all good.

God is doing something new. This was obvious to Peter and it should still be obvious today. God continues to do something new. We are called to be a part of that work, and if we can do it with a hot dog that'll be fine too. It doesn't have to be Hebrew National.