Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon. – Acts 9:43

 Today's Scripture Reading (January 20, 2021): Acts 9

There are many ways that we divide, even if that is not what we intend to do. There are people in our lives with whom we don't associate. We divide along economic, cultural, racial, and religious lines. And these are lines that we don't cross. Sometimes it is just that we never think to cross the line. Sometimes it is because we don't believe we have the opportunity to cross the line. Or maybe we don't know how to cross the line. But usually, if we are honest, we are afraid of how others might react to our crossing the line. And so we remain where it is safe, on our side of the line.

Some years ago, a friend admitted that they were upset when a Muslim family moved in next door. She wanted someone to befriend, someone with whom she could be a neighbor, but instead, she received someone that she did not understand. Finally, she admitted that she had a conversation with God, and God told her that she was afraid of death; in this case, death was represented by a neighbor who lived on the other side of the line. It was a nice try, but not the real story. The truth was that there was a line that she didn't know how to cross, and she was scared at what it might mean if she did try to cross that line.

Luke casually informs us that "Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon." He says it so nonchalantly that the reader is tempted to skip over the words to what happens next. But instead, we should be invited to camp out here in this one verse and with this one thought. For some time, Peter made his home with Simon the Tanner. The story of Cornelius, which comes next in Luke's history, is crucial because it shows a growth in Peter to the point that he was willing to cross a line, welcoming a Gentile and his household into the emerging Christian Church. We miss that the process had already started because Peter had made his home with Simon the Tanner. A line had already been crossed.

The significance of Peter's stay with Simon, the Tanner, has nothing to do with Simon's nationality and everything to do with the fact that he was a tanner. According to Jewish law, anyone who came in contact with the dead body of an animal was deemed to be ritually unclean. Because a tanner dealt with dead animals regularly, the law instructed that a tanner had to build his home at least twenty-five meters (or seventy-five feet) outside of any town or village. G. Campbell Morgan writes that "The trade of a tanner was held in such supreme contempt that if a girl was betrothed to a tanner without knowing that he followed that calling, the betrothal was void."

And yet, Luke casually tells us that "Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon." Peter had crossed a line that must have caused him significant discomfort. But God was already showing him that things were different and that lines were created to be crossed.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Acts 10