For All the People – July 28, 2024

Psalm 96, Acts 10:1-33
July 28, 202

After Easter and Pentecost, in recent years I’ve been focusing on the book of Acts.  I’ve had us consider the people in that book, and the various events that took place in their lives, and the “acts” they did, in the early days of the Church.  I haven’t done that so much this year, but in the past couple of weeks, I’ve found myself drawn back into it.  And this week I found myself drawn to this story from Acts 10. 

And yes, the early days of the Church was a very interesting time to me.  The new believers, who were all Jews, had found a new faith in this young rabbi, Jesus.  But they were seeing their new faith simply as the next stage – an upgrade to their Jewish faith.  And when they had difficulties in those early days, their conflicts had taken place within Judaism.  And that part of it was tough enough.

But now, that world was expanding.  Here in this story, God gives Peter this vision.  And it was a vision about him “killing and eating” things that were forbidden – things that weren’t “kosher.”  And Luke tells us how Peter felt about that.  He said, “No, Lord, I’ve never eaten any of those forbidden things!”  He was reluctant to make such a big change in the faith he had kept to his whole life.  And that wasn’t the only change he was called to deal with that day.  There was an even bigger one!

When he came down from the rooftop, where he had this disturbing vision, Peter found these Gentiles at his gate.  We can only imagine what he felt about that.  Yes, he had seen Jesus reaching out to Gentiles. And I suspect he was not always entirely comfortable with that.  Now these Gentiles were there asking for him.  Now he was being called on to deal with Gentiles, himself!

But Peter had an “epiphany” that day.  He had an “aha moment.”  He realized that the vision on the rooftop, and the visit of these Gentiles were not a coincident!  He was being told – by God – that what was considered unclean “food-wise” and those who were considered unclean “people-wise,” were one and the same.  As the readers, we see that.  But it’s fun to see Peter realizing it, too!

I love the way this is told as a “story within a story.”  Because this wasn’t easy for Peter  And I believe Luke was telling us that in the way he told the story, with these two visions intertwined.  And I believe, of course, that God set up the story this way for the same reason.  Remember what I’ve said before.  God has a great flair for the dramatic.  And why?  Because he doesn’t just want to teach our minds.  He wants to touch our hearts!

Luke begins by telling us about this man Cornelius.  He’s a Roman officer.  He’s a centurion, which means he is in charge of a hundred soldiers.  But he’s also, as Luke says, “a devout man who feared God, who gave alms to the people, and who prayed constantly.”  That’s important to see as this story progresses.

Peter goes with the men to the house of Cornelius, he meets him, and he says to him, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with, or even to visit, anyone of another nation.”  And we know what he meant by that!  He meant Gentiles!  “But!” he said, “God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”  “So I came without objection.” (Acts 10:28-29)  That had to have been a tough one for Peter to swallow!  But there he was.  He was starting to accept that.  But notice, he still wasn’t sure why he was there!

It seems to me that sometimes we too are called to do things by God that we don’t know why, or we don’t know what the outcome might be.  That’s not easy for us, is it?  We want an explanation about things before we do them.  We want to ask, “Where’s this going, God?”  But God doesn’t always give us that explanation.  Sometimes, we’re simply called to do things in faith.

That’s where Peter was at that moment.  He didn’t yet know why he was there.  So Cornelius explained his own vision.  And remember, it’s a vision we know about.  Again, we’re the readers.  But Peter didn’t.  Now he’s listening to this Gentile tell him how God had given him a vision, too.  And that was something it took great faith to accept!  Again, it wasn’t just that this man had a vision, but that he was a Gentile who had this vision.  Peter had to accept that.  And sometimes we too are called to have faith to accept what we know God is telling us!  Especially when it’s something we’re not crazy about!

As this goes on, we can see the level of Peter’s acceptance.  Cornelius gathers his family, and Peter speaks to them.  And here’s what he says.  “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality.  But in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right, is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34)  That’s an amazing statement, considering where Peter was coming from.  He wouldn’t have believed that before Jesus!  And even though he explained to them here that God sent the Good News to the Jews first, he was now realizing that the Good News was “For all the people.”  (That’s the inspiration for my sermon title!)

Well, the story doesn’t end there.  Because God then confirms all of this.  He puts the final exclamation point on this story by touching these Gentiles with the Holy Spirit.  And they begin to speak in tongues – just like the Apostles on Pentecost.  God gave them that same spirit he gave the disciples that day.  There’s no doubt that the Good News truly was “for all the people.”

But even that’s not the end of the story.  Because here’s another interesting part.  Luke tells us that there were Jewish believers present there at the time.  They had come with Peter.  And they too had to accept what Peter was saying about these Gentiles.  Think about that.  They too had to accept Peter’s words that “In every nation, anyone who fears God and does what is right, is acceptable to him.”  And they, too had to accept that God was giving these Gentiles the Holy Spirit!  And that can’t have been easy for them, either!

So, Peter’s statement to them came in the form of a question.  “Can anyone forbid water for baptizing these people – people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”  He put it on those Jewish Christians.  Yes, he next commanded that the Gentiles be baptized, but he first asked that question.  Can anyone forbid this?  And the answer was, of course, “No.”  Because it was God’s doing.  It was God’s idea.

And it would go on from there.  Later in the book of Acts, Peter would have to explain all of this to the new Christian leadership.  Which he did!  And he put the question on them, too.  “Is anyone against this?”  And of course some were.  But as he told them, “This is what God is doing!”

If you think about it, there have been over the years many people who have gone against what God was clearly doing.  Certainly the Jewish leadership was doing just that in the early days of the Church.  As we read these stories, we see that they were fighting against God.  And that’s what the rabbi Gamaliel warned them against in chapter 5.  “If what these men are doing is of God, you will not be able to stop them,” he said, “and you may even find yourself fighting against God.” (Acts 5:39)  We see that.  And we see the great irony in their actions.

So what about us?  Everything in our faith tells us that the Good News is “for all the people.”  And if you think about it, we are “all the people.”  Yes, Christianity came out of Judaism, but “all us Gentiles” are now part of it.  And because of that, I think “For all the people” should be on our minds and in our hearts constantly.  Because, humans have always tried to exclude other people.  They’ve done so as long as there have been humans.  People are always trying to decide who’s in and who’s out.  And we have to recognize that tendency within us, and bring the Gospel message to bear upon it.

And it may even have been us!  For some of us, we were the outsiders to the faith.  And yet God brought us in.  And as Paul would tell us, it wasn’t of our doing.  He told the Romans, “God shows his great love for us that it was while we were yet sinners, that Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)  We need to remember that amazing Grace that God gave us, and recognize that Grace he has given to others.

With that in mind, I would close with the words of Peter himself.  This comes from his first letter.  And I wonder if he had this story of Cornelius in mind when he wrote this,  Because this is truly a story in which he learned that the Good News was “For all the people.”

He wrote, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people.  Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy!” (I Peter 2:9-10)

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to be the people you call us to be, by listening to your Spirit, and answering your call upon our lives.  Help us to be people who know that the Good News is “for all of the people.”  Help us to put away our divisive thoughts and to truly the love the world that you so loved when you gave us your Son.  For we pray in his name, and for the sake of his kingdom, Amen.