The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” – Acts 10:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 14, 2017): Acts 10

Charlotte Bronte in “Jane Eyre” writes “Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.” All of our prejudices are rooted in ignorance or a severe lack of understanding. Unfortunately, prejudice not only grows from a lack of understanding, but it also forms a barrier to our desire to understand. Prejudices are almost always terminal conditions; they are unwarranted opinions that we will not release until we are securely in the grave.

Peter was a prejudiced person. He was not alone in this. Most of his compatriots were also prejudiced. It is hard to have it drilled into you that your people are the chosen people of God and emerge from that processes without having some prejudices, and misunderstandings of your role in life. The instructions given to Abraham was that his seed would be blessed so that they could be a blessing. More than just being God’s chosen people, the children of Abraham, of which Gentile Christians believe that we are a part by adoption, were supposed to be a conduit of God’s blessing to the world. This is a task at which the children of Abraham have almost universally failed. Instead of understanding our role as conduits of God’s blessing, we begin to believe that we are somehow unique and elevated by God over all other people. And this forms the beginning of our prejudice.   

So God begins to try to educate Peter. He knows that unless Peter comes to a new understanding of his position within the society, there is no way that he will be able to minister to people like Cornelius. Cornelius was a Gentile; translation, not one of God’s blessed people. Even worse, Cornelius was an officer in the Roman army. Israel was an occupied nation, and the Romans were the enemies. Cornelius wanted to hear the Gospel message from Peter. But for Peter to be a conduit, he had to give up the idea that he was superior. This kind of humility was not going to be easy for Peter, and there are indications that he struggled with his prejudices for most of the rest of his life.

The invitation from Cornelius’s servants comes in two parts. First, Peter is told that Cornelius was well-respected among the Jews. I am not sure how much influence that would have had on Peter. No matter how well respected Cornelius might have been, he was still a Gentile and still a Roman soldier. The second part of the invitation was that an angel of God had sent them to Peter. That comment, along with the lesson that Peter had just received from God, was probably what moved Peter. Things were changing quickly, and God was apparently beginning to step outside of his chosen people. As a result, Christianity was starting to look different than its ancestor faith Judaism. No longer would believers be marked by their obedience to the Law of Moses. Now, followers of God would be defined by their relationship with Jesus, their willingness to be servants and conduits rather than insisting on an elevated status in the world, and their surrendering of their prejudices, which only then would allow them to respond to the world in love.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 11