Cornelius

A Surprising Church Member

READ Acts 10

Earlier on this journey, we read about Hezekiah, a king of Jerusalem who led the nation in renewal and revival. Part of his religious reforms included an enormous Passover celebration, such as Israel had never experienced before. Remarkably, this Passover celebration broke several “rules.” For one thing, they celebrated the Passover in the wrong month for logistical reasons. More striking, Hezekiah allowed people to celebrate the Passover who were not clean according to the law. These people, from the Northern Kingdom of Israel, “ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, ‘May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.’ And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people” (2 Chronicles 30:18–20). God widened the invitation!

In the book of Acts, we see God open the invitation to membership in the church in a way Christ’s first disciples never anticipated. They thought that people needed to be or become Jews in order to follow Christ. Through Cornelius, however, God showed Peter this was not the case. The invitation was wider than any had imagined.

Cornelius was a centurion, a devout and God-fearing man. Cornelius was also generous, known for helping the needy. One day God’s angel came to Cornelius in a vision. The angel commended Cornelius for his faithful prayers and for his generosity to the poor. Then the angel told him to send for the disciple Peter. Cornelius obeyed.

Peter himself received a vision from God around the same time. In it he saw a sheet suspended from the air, filled with animals of every kind. A voice told Peter to get up and eat, but Peter refused, saying, “Surely not, Lord! . . . I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice responded, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:14–15).

The messengers from Cornelius found Peter, and the next day he set out with them. When they came to Cornelius’s house, Peter had a choice to make. As a Jew, it would have been against the rules for him to enter the house of a Gentile. Doing so would have made him ritually unclean. At the same time, the vision God had given him was germinating in his heart. Peter entered the house.

Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet, but Peter told him to rise. Then Peter and Cornelius shared with each other the messages they had both received from God. Cornelius said, “We are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us” (v. 33). His heart was longing to hear God’s truth.

Peter shared the story of Jesus with Cornelius and his household, testifying also to the way his own eyes were being opened to the new thing God was doing: “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” (vv. 34–35). When Peter shared the message of Christ with his Gentile listeners, the Holy Spirit came upon them. Seeing the power of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles, Peter declared they should also be baptized. This was a second Pentecost, one in which God widened the invitation into his community.

Cornelius’s story shows us the beauty of the wideness of God’s love. As we have seen many times on this journey, God’s grace is surprising. God calls people we might not expect to be his powerful and devoted servants. We should be ready for God to do the same thing today. We cannot put boundaries on God’s love. God doesn’t judge by externals like race, nationality, or status. God looks at the heart. He sends his Spirit to gather children from every language and nation (Revelation 7:9).

Those of us who are Gentiles should rejoice in the story of Cornelius. We are heirs of the same surprising grace. We were outsiders, brought in by the mercy of God. As Paul wrote to Gentile readers, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). The fact that we were outsiders brought in by grace should instill in us the same compassionate spirit Cornelius had, praying for and serving those who are still outsiders. God calls us to widen the invitation, to go out and bring even the most surprising and unlikely people in (Luke 14:15–24). Praise God for the broadness of his grace!