Two Preachers at Joppa

I recently met a fan of Bible trivia who asked, “What preacher left Joppa because of Gentiles?” After a moment, I replied “Peter”, thinking of Acts 9. Actually, it turned out to be a bit of a trick question. It turns out that Peter, as well as the prophet Jonah, left Joppa, but with different attitudes toward Gentiles. This left me curious enough to explore the parallels between these two departures. As I studied Acts 9-10, the pronouncement of Jesus in Matthew 16:17-18 seemed increasingly relevant to Peter's situation in Joppa. To set the stage, we first need to consider the contextual significance of these accounts.

First, we observe that the confession of Peter in Matt 16 was unique but not necessarily new. In John 1:49, Nathaniel acknowledged Jesus as “Son of God” after John the Baptist is said to have done so in the same chapter. In Matt 14:33, the sinking disciples exclaimed Jesus was truly “Son of God”. More directly, in John 6:68-69, Peter had said there was nowhere else to go for truth since Jesus is the “Holy one of God” (I.e., the Christ). What was the difference between these early recognitions and the confession of Peter in Matthew 16:16? RC Foster notes that “these apostles had declared before this time that they believed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God, but their faith had not as yet been so sorely tried... At Caesarea Philippi, Peter speaks with a larger understanding a more precise statement in the face of all the attacks and rejections.”[1] 

In Matthew 16:17, Jesus can be seen as being more than polite by using Simon’s formal name. While I do believe Simon’s father was literally named Jonah, after prolonged study of this passage, I suggest there is more significance to this identification than first meets the eye. Raised as a highly devout Jew by a man named Jonah[2], Peter had the prophet’s example deeply ingrained in him as part of his spiritual heritage. Christ could be subtly suggesting (foreshadowing?) that Simon fulfilling his apostleship in building the church upon confession of Christ’s identity would involve avoiding the tendencies of his forefather: the stubborn preacher Jonah, who resisted reaching Gentiles.[3] 

Let us now fast forward to Acts.

Although Jewish, the tanner in Joppa would likely have been considered “unclean” due to being associated with animal hides. In Acts 10:10-14, we carefully observe that Peter, while in Joppa, was in preparation for a meal when he fell into a trance. During the vision, Peter claims he has never eaten anything unclean, from which we can safely infer he expected the upcoming meal to be in line with his dietary rules. God replied that the distinction between clean and unclean foods had already been eliminated. Peter is said to be “greatly perplexed” by this vision in Acts 10:17. When exactly had all foods been cleansed? Peter ruminated on the teachings he had heard from Jesus over the years, recalling the exchanges with the Pharisees. When denouncing the purity traditions of the Pharisees back in Mark 7, the author (a disciple of Peter) adds in verse 19, “thus [Jesus] declared all foods clean”. Gaertner remarks that Peter’s vision in Acts 10 “reinforced this teaching of Jesus… In Mark 7, the words of Jesus are brought into close connection with attitudes toward people. Just after Jesus made these comments, he healed the daughter of a Gentile woman. Purity regulations about eating were associated with purity regulations about people.”[4] 

The apostle had recently encountered converted Samaritans in Acts 8. Peter probably saw this as the final expansion of the Great Commission. He had done his part, so why the need for a sudden revelation from God? Sometimes we can ruminate or fixate on trying to discern something so intensely that we do not realize God may be providing clarity of direction through other things that do not seem directly related to our issue at hand. Not long after the vision, there is a knock at the door. Messengers were requesting Peter to journey to see Cornelius, the Gentile. Here in Acts 10, we see Peter (called Bar Jonah by Christ) sitting in the very same seaport that one of his spiritual forefathers, the prophet Jonah from Galilee, departed from precisely to avoid preaching to Gentiles.[5] The apostle had been instructed repeatedly to consider all foods clean. Peter was forced to make a decision that day, even though he did not yet fully comprehend the implications of the vision. It wasn’t like he did not have other options. He could have hopped on a boat set for Rome, which had a considerable Jewish population at the time. If the worst happened, he could have resumed his fishing career. The apostle instead knew to heed the instructions of his master and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:29 says Peter gladly left Joppa “without even raising any objection”. God promptly used Peter’s preaching to bring about the first Gentile conversions after his arrival. 

We today have the advantage of hindsight. It is easy for us to understand that the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20 inherently includes Gentiles; however, it seems Peter had not grasped the full sense of the words he spoke in Acts 2:39. “All who are far off” was not just the Jewish diaspora or the Samaritans which Peter understood them to pertain to in Acts 8-9. We know Simon Bar Jonah was surprised by the inclusion of Gentiles because in Acts 10:34, he blushingly admits, “I now realize God does not show partiality”. (Some translations say “now understand/perceive”.) Simon finally understood that, as God deemed there would be no unclean foods, so also the peoples of every tribe and nation are not ineligible for receiving the good news. By submitting to God at Joppa, Peter proved himself to be a “chip off the old block” (the “rock” being Christ himself) rather than be a mere “son of Jonah”.

This same apostle later writes in 1 Peter 2:5 that we all “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house”.  Are there people we today consider to be out of reach? God’s people are to “look to the rock from which you were cut and the quarry from which you were hewn,” in Isaiah 51:1.