Queerying Easter 5C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 11:1-18
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard

that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.

²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem,

the circumcised believers criticized him,

³saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men

and eat with them?”

⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them,

step by step, saying,

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying,

and in a trance I saw a vision.

There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven,

being lowered by its four corners;

and it came close to me.

⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals,

beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.

⁷I also heard a voice saying to me,

‘Get up, Peter;
kill and eat.’

⁸But I replied,

‘By no means, Holy One;

for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹But a second time the voice answered from heaven,

‘What God has made clean,

you must not call profane.’

¹⁰This happened three times;

then everything was pulled up again to heaven.

¹¹“At that very moment three men,

sent to me from Caesarea,

arrived at the house where we were.

¹²The Spirit told me to go with them

and not to make a distinction between them and us.

These six believers also accompanied me,
and we entered the man’s house.

¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying,

‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon,

who is called Peter;

¹⁴he will give you a message

by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

¹⁵And as I began to speak,

the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.

¹⁶And I remembered Jesus' words,

having said,

‘John baptized with water,

but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷If then God gave them the same gift

that God gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,

who was I that I could hinder God?”

¹⁸When the apostles and believers who were in Judea heard this,

they were silenced.

And they praised God, saying,

“Then God has given

even to the Gentiles

the repentance that leads to life.”

Queeries for the text:
Why do they only care about the men in the story?  What about people of other genders?
Where and with whom does the story really begin?
What do the animals have in common?
Why is Peter so invested in binaries?
Why does it take Peter so long to get what God is trying to say?
Which six believers?
Did the Holy Spirit trip?  On what?
Who needs to be silenced today?  Who needs to stop being silent?  How does God surprise us into silence?
Why are Peter and the believers so surprised that God is with those who are different from them?

What are your queeries?