Acts 10:1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” 4 Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?”
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants. 8 He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa.
There is a story told about a Christian missionary who was working in South America. One day, the missionary heard that there was to be a city – wide crusade, involving all the churches in town, including one denomination who had fought with this missionary. The missionary began praying, “Lord!” the missionary said, “why do I have to work with these people? They don’t believe all the same things that I do!” “Well,” replied the Lord, “I don’t believe all the same things that you do either, but I still work with you!”
In our heart of hearts, most of us secretly believe that God really shares our prejudices; only we don’t label them as such. We have all kinds of language we use to disguise the fact that we would rather not deal with certain groups of people.
Things were no different in the days following Pentecost. Jews still tried to have as little as possible to do with anybody else, even though Jesus had commanded them to take his message to the uttermost parts of the earth. But God was getting ready to blast that misconception, and Cornelius the centurion was about to be God’s instrument.
There were many reasons why the Jews hated and feared the Romans. Rome controlled the entire country and could demand extra taxes or other measures upon a whim of the Caesar. The Romans worshiped a pantheon of corrupt deities, rather than the one true living God. Many of the Roman soldiers had no wish to be in Israel and took out their resentment on the local people, bullying them and demanding that they carry out menial tasks on a whim. To the Romans, the Jews were a rebellious and argumentative bunch who were far too emotional and illogical. The Jews were just one more troublesome race to be subdued under the Roman juggernaut.
Even though the disciples had watched Jesus heal the servant of one Roman centurion, they probably thought that was just a fluke, something Jesus did but not something he expected them to copy. And Peter probably shared all of these assumptions, even after just having helped with a revival in Samaria. Peter might have even thought, “Well, at LEAST the Samaritans do worship God, even if they also mix in a whole bunch of other idols.”
God does not play favorites, and God was about to teach Peter, as a leader of the early Christian church, that salvation was for everybody and not merely a select few races. Now God was ordering Cornelius to send for Peter. Fortunately, Cornelius was used to giving and following orders and so had no scruples about sending for Peter. God was setting up everybody in the situation to have their prejudices shredded.
Today the COVID – 19 pandemic is forcing some groups to work together with others with whom they have no experience but about whom they have lots of skewed beliefs. And all the time these groups are griping about having to work together, God is probably chuckling to Himself. God desires that every person might come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Today, we should examine our hearts. Whom are we trying to avoid? Why?
PRAYER: Lord, thank you that you are no respecter of persons. Thank you that you so loved the whole world that you sent Jesus, your only Son to die for our sins. Today, help us to be channels of love to all those around us, including those with whom we do not agree. To the praise and glory of your holy Name. Amen.
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