How does Acts 9:43 connect with Jesus' teachings on associating with all people? Setting the Scene in Acts 9:43 “And Peter stayed for several days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.” (Acts 9:43) • Peter has just raised Tabitha and the gospel is advancing along the Mediterranean coast. • Instead of moving on to more comfortable accommodations, he chooses to lodge with Simon the tanner—someone whose occupation involved constant contact with dead animals. Why a Tanner? Understanding the Cultural Weight • Handling carcasses rendered a person ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 11:39-40; Numbers 19:11-13). • Tanners were often required to live outside towns because of the odor and perceived impurity. • By staying in this home, Peter steps over long-held social and religious lines, mirroring Jesus’ pattern of close fellowship with “outsiders.” Echoes of Jesus’ Example Jesus repeatedly crossed barriers of ritual purity, ethnicity, and reputation: • Ate with tax collectors and sinners “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? … I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:30-32) • Touched the untouchable leper (Mark 1:40-45). • Spoke alone with the Samaritan woman “Jews do not associate with Samaritans.” (John 4:9) • Chose Zacchaeus, the despised tax collector, for table fellowship (Luke 19:7-10). Peter’s choice of lodging shows he has absorbed his Master’s heartbeat: genuine holiness reaches toward people, it does not recoil from them. Preparing the Apostle—and the Church—for a Bigger Mission • Joppa is the same port from which Jonah once fled God’s call to the nations (Jonah 1:3). Now Peter, staying with an “unclean” host, will be called from Joppa to preach to Gentile Cornelius (Acts 10). • The Spirit uses this setting to soften Peter’s convictions about clean and unclean, culminating in the rooftop vision and his declaration, “God does not show favoritism” (Acts 10:34-35). Living Out the Lesson Today • Reject any mindset that labels people “off-limits” for gospel fellowship. • Value relationship over reputation; Christ’s approval matters more than cultural acceptance. • Serve and stay where need exists, even when surroundings feel uncomfortable. • Remember: purity of heart is preserved not by distance from people but by devotion to Christ (Mark 7:18-23). In Acts 9:43 Peter’s simple housing choice becomes a living commentary on Jesus’ teaching and practice—affirming that Christ’s followers are to cross every barrier so the good news can reach every person. |
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