Text: Acts 10:34-43
Focus: Easter
34Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
He is Risen! (He is risen indeed!)
He is Risen! (He is risen indeed!)
He is Risen! (He is risen indeed!)
Happy Easter everyone.
As it turns out this year, Passion Weekend falls on the same weekend as the Jewish Passover. And for some reason, the Orthodox Church will celebrate Easter next weekend.
I don’t understand how the Jewish people originally set their calendars. They didn’t use the Roman calendar system. Their new year coincides with the celebration of the date of the first Passover and their redemption from bondage and slavery to the Egyptians.
That first Easter happened to Jewish people in Jerusalem. In today’s text, we read the account of the first sermon preached specifically to Gentiles, that is, people who were not born of Jewish descent.
That is why I titled the sermon, The Resurrection Expands. Because in today’s text, we see that the salvation that God provided to the Jewish people is now the salvation provided to the whole world through Jesus Christ.
Peter is preaching this sermon in the house of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius. Remember, the Romans were the enemy. As we get angry at the war crimes committed in Ukraine currently, and we see the people’s need for some sort of revenge, we remember that the occupying army does not treat the civilian enemy population with basic respect or basic human civil rights. Men are being executed and women are being raped as spoils of war. It makes me angry and along with others, we cry out to God for peace and justice on behalf of all the victims.
Jesus cried out for justice and it got Him killed. In the face of a political struggle, Jesus got political and the other side had Him murdered because He spoke truth to their abuse of power. And the sad thing is that they used devotion to God’s word and scriptural purity as an excuse to create outcasts of everyone they decided didn’t fit in. They used the excuse that they were defending the faith when they murdered Jesus.
And the instrument of that power to murder Jesus was sitting right before Peter in the form of the Roman Soldier as Peter is preaching the good news to him.
Preaching the gospel to your enemy is what the gospel is all about. Praise God for the resurrection power of Jesus Christ that can transform lives through the proclamation of the good news!
Our text does not include the ending of the sermon where before Peter even finishes, they start believing and the Holy Spirit falls on the room as a witness to their conversion to Christ.
Although Cornelius was a Roman officer, he was not really the enemy of God’s people.
He had already become a convert to Judaism. And apparently he understood what it was all about. I mean, he understood that it was about loving others.
When the people came to Peter and asked him to come to the house of the gentile enemy, the symbol of their oppression, they told Peter that Cornelius was already a righteous person.
Out of his own funds he built a synagogue for the people and he gave regularly substantial gifts to help the poor.
And that is where our text picks up in verse 34. Peter finally understands what had been a mystery to him before: God’s impartial love.
The Jews were a proud people and they were oppressed. So Cornelius made it clear by his lifestyle that he was not going to act in a way that was unjust.
We read the account of those whom John the Baptist converted before Jesus appeared. The Roman soldiers are mentioned among that group and John tells them to do their jobs with justice.
And by justice I do not mean judgment and execution, but with mercy and love and fairness, the kind of justice that Jesus proclaimed.
Cornelius understood what kind of justice that was, and so, God went out of the way to expand the power of the resurrection through his conversion.
I keep mentioning how in Peter’s eyes, he was the enemy. And I find it wonderful that Peter would not hold on to his bitterness and unforgiveness any longer and instead he offered mercy and love to one of those whom he could blame for the misery of his people.
God cares for those who do acts of justice. The Bible says that whomever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord and the Lord will repay.
God paid him back in a big way. The story earlier also tells us that Peter had a vision whereby God told him three times that God is able to cleanse what is made unclean. The vision happened right before the men came from Cornelius to ask Peter to come to the house.
I imagine that after Cornelius has a dream telling him to ask for Peter to come. And Peter has a vision telling him that God cleanses the unclean and they had shared those stories before Peter started preaching to them that the group gathered in the house was pretty excited about what was going to happen next.
And we are excited today as well. We are excited because the salvation provided by Jesus Christ goes to the world entire.
And there are two clues to this salvation. 1st. God appears to have chased after Cornelius in order to save him. There are a lot of people searching for God who do not get the privilege of prophets and apostles coming to their house to share the good news with them.
And the conclusion that I draw from that is that Cornelius already demonstrates a deep faith in the love, mercy and justice of God before he is converted to salvation.
One could almost say that his good deeds saved him. I am not advocating works only salvation.
Because tied in with this is the fact that God took the time to tell him what he needed to do in order to be saved. He was, obviously, already doing it. But God points him to the resurrection and the power of faith in Christ and the power of what can happen when that faith is combined with the Holy Spirit living inside of the believer.
God had a lot more in store for Cornelius and his household. Just as God has more in store for us.
The resurrection expanded to the gentiles on this day and we are grateful for what it means.
And that last verse explains the purpose of the cross and the resurrection, that everyone who believes in him will have forgiveness of their sins.
Cornelius received that salvation because God is faithful to the just and is always seeking those who love as Jesus loved.
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