What does Acts 11:11 mean?

Peter is in the middle of telling the story of a vision he had, one which resulted in the unprecedented act of a Jewish apostle eating with Gentiles. God had explained to Peter that the Mosaic laws against eating certain foods has been annulled. As Jesus had said, food merely goes in the mouth and comes out the other end; it is the heart that contains the foolish, evil, and selfish attitudes that make a person unclean (Mark 7:14–23).

God gave Peter a vision to tell him the Mosaic laws regarding clean and unclean food are revoked (Acts 10:9–16). Barely had the vision finished when three strangers came to the house where Peter was staying. They had come to Joppa, near modern-day Tel Aviv, from Caesarea Maritima, thirty-five miles north. One was a soldier, assigned to a cohort in King Agrippa I's capital city. Cornelius, a centurion, had sent them after being instructed by an angel (Acts 10:1–8, 17–23).

Years before, Peter had watched as Jewish elders approached Jesus with a similar request. A centurion, who was well respected by the Jewish community, needed Jesus to heal his servant. The centurion represented the Roman empire and the pagan Gentiles who occupied the land promised by God to Abraham's descendants. Jesus, so Peter thought, was the Jewish Messiah come to raise an army and defeat all who oppressed the Jews. But Jesus willingly healed the servant and even praised the centurion's faith (Luke 7:1–10).

Peter followed the Holy Spirit's direction and followed the men to the centurion's house not to heal a broken body but to share the story of Jesus with a houseful of people (Acts 10:17–43). As he was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles, and Jesus healed their eternal hearts (Acts 10:44–48). Peter didn't eat with "uncircumcised men"; he ate with fellow Jesus-followers.