Day 39: The Circle Widens with Cornelius and his family

There's a turning point in this chapter, and it begins with two men praying and seeing angels and having visions.  First, there is Cornelius, a pious Gentile, who is praying at around three in the afternoon (one of the hours of prayer, by the way), when he sees an angel who tells him to go and summon a man named Simon (who he has never met.)  This Simon will tell him Something.

In the meantime, Peter is also praying.  It is noon (another hour of prayer) and he sees a vision while he is on the roof.  In the vision, he sees a sheet full of animals that are considered unclean by Jewish law.  The voice in the vision says to Peter, "Get up!  Kill and eat!"  Peter refuses, but the voice persists.  "Never consider unclean what God has made pure."

Peter does receive a visitor, who invites him to Cornelius' home.  He finds a surprising welcome when he gets there.  There are many people waiting for him, waiting for the word that he will give him.  Peter begins by noting that Jewish law forbids him to even be in the house with Cornelius.  But God has commanded him.

So he preaches the good news about Jesus to Cornelius and his extended family and servants.  The result?  They are all "filled with the Holy Spirit" (whatever that means); they begin to speak in tongues.  Because of what Peter witnesses, he decides that these Gentiles should be baptized and become a part of the body of believers.

No longer is the church simply a small sub-set of Judaism.  It is still small, but it is a wider circle.

The other believers have questions for Peter when he gets back to Jerusalem.  They aren't happy that he broke Jewish law, and they don't understand why he baptized Cornelius.  But he explains his encounter and the power of God he witnessed there, and the other apostles change their minds.  Perhaps even Gentiles can repent, they decide.

I know that this story is literally about the divide between Jews and Gentiles, but I can't help but wonder what unclean things God might be declaring pure even now, and in whose lives we witness the power of God, if we are given eyes to see it.

That is the criteria for Peter:  I saw the power of God in the life of Cornelius.  I saw the Holy Spirit.

What about you?  Where do you see the power of God?  Are there any  surprising places?

There's a short aside after this story about the church in Antioch, and how Antioch is where the people who believed in Jesus were first called "Christians."  As well, I can't help but notice how obviously the Spirit directed the travels, words and actions of the apostles (according to Luke.)  The Spirit tells them that there will be a famine.  The Spirit tells them to go to this city, or to send this person.

I wonder what it would be like for us to listen carefully enough to know that our actions were spirit-directed.  And what do you suspect we would be called to do?