IV.
Let’s return to Peter’s words to this crowd.

In Acts 2 Peter’s address to a large crowd on the Day of Pentecost is recorded. There is much in those words and these that are the same. That crowd is described as Jews and proselytes who have come to Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost.

In Acts 10:1 we begin to read of Peter’s encounter with Cornelius, a Roman centurion.

In Acts 10:9-16 we read of Peter’s vision when on a sheet lowered before him with both “clean” and “unclean” animals on it and he is instructed to eat. His response is that he doesn’t eat anything that is “profane or unclean.” Then he hears a voice telling him, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” And for good measure the vision is repeated three times.

While Peter is still trying to figure out the vision, representatives from Cornelius come to Peter asking him to come to Conelius’s home. An invitation that under most circumstances Peter would find impossible to accept.

But he goes, and later we hear Peter’s words in this passage.

V.
Acts 10:34-47 (NRSV)

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how 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. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not 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. He 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. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

VI.
What do you think?

What “visions” and “circumstances” might God bring into our lives to improve our vision to help us to see the universal reach of the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, and our responsibilities as disciples of Rabbi Jesus?

What comes to mind?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}