Then Peter began to speak: “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. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us 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 whom God appointed 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.” - Acts 10:34-43
It is interesting to me the way that Peter describes Jesus, not in terms of the Jewish law or prophets, but in terms of the more universal expectations about God, the enemy of God (the devil), the mediator between God and man (Jesus), God's prophets, the God's justice, and forgiveness for offenses against God. In the wider pluralistic society of the Roman empire, these were ideas that were floating around. There were lots of gods and there were lots of prophets and special holy men. Each country and ethnic group had theirs. Their own laws and rituals and divine origin story that made them and theirs special over against all other peoples. So Peter was speaking language that the religious of any Mediterranean culture would have recognized.
In Cornelius' house, Peter finally grasped something that God had been trying teach since the early chapters of Genesis: God was the god of all peoples and he showed it in Jesus. It was a revolution. God's special people came out and said that their God didn't like his "special" people over any other group. "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins." It was a lesson that Peter himself was going to have to learn multiple times during his stint as the leader of the church, because God's people have always believed that their special insight into God's character and purposes gave them the right to dictate that to others. I have often believed that, because I have tried to gain inside into God and, having found some nugget, have felt myself qualified to speak. The very truth of God is used as a barrier to keep others out. Thus, I have to learn multiple times in my time as a disciple.
No comments:
Post a Comment