Last updated on November 15, 2024
Since the time of Abraham, God’s plan had been to bless the nation of Israel so that they would therefore be a blessing to the entire world. And God sent Jesus not simply as the Messiah (rescuer) for the Jewish people but as Messiah for the entire world. But as we’ve seen before, God’s ways often looks very different from ours.
Today’s story centers on a Roman centurion living in Caesarea named Cornelius. Luke describes him as devout, generous and God-fearing. One day while he was praying he had a vision. The angel told him to go and find a man named Simon (Peter). That was it. But Cornelius sent some men to go find this Simon Peter.
The next day Peter was in a city called Joppa. It was about 40 miles from Caesarea. He was on the roof praying. He was also hungry. He too had a vision. In the vision a large sheet was let down, and the sheet showed every kind of animal. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up. Kill and eat.”
Weird vision, I know. But it was even stranger to Peter. On that sheet were plenty of animals that it was ok to eat, but there were also a lot that were considered unclean. He had been brought up believing that it would be a great sin for him to eat something unclean. He said as much to the voice, and the voice said in response, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times.
While Peter was wondering what in the world this vision was about, there was a knock on the door. The men who had been sent by Cornelius had found Peter, and they asked if he would return with them to meet Cornelius. So the next day they left for Caesarea.
While it was against the law for Peter to eat something unclean, it was also against the law for him to even associate with Gentiles, which is what Cornelius, his household, and all of his friends who had shown up were. Peter mentions this to them, but then tells them that these recent events were causing him to repent/rethink things.
After Cornelius shared the vision he had, Peter shared about Jesus. And he shared that he now believed that the message of Jesus was for all people, not simply the Jewish people. He said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).
The Holy Spirit coming upon a person was the way that everyone knew that God was
After seeing the Holy Spirit come upon them just as it had that Pentecost day and in the days since, Peter then asked Cornelius and the others if they would like to be baptized. They said yes.
All was well and good until Peter got called to Jerusalem to explain his actions to the apostles. The key issue was a simple one. He had gone into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.
So Peter explained the vision and the two guys and the trip to Caesarea and then everything that happened after that. His final sentence to them was, “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us (the Holy Spirit), then who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way” (Acts 11:17).
I love the response by the apostles. This went against everything that they knew, but they trusted Peter, and they all had plenty of other experiences to look back on where Jesus did not do things the way they thought it would. So while it didn’t make sense to them, maybe it made perfect sense.
They said, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance (rethinking) that leads to life” (Acts 11:18).