The
following day, Peter and those travelling with him arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them, so he gathered
up all of his friends and family in anticipation of Peter’s arrival. When Peter shows up, Cornelius bows down to
worship him. However, Peter tells him to
not do so because Peter is just a man like everyone else in this world. Peter and Cornelius talk for a little bit
before Cornelius invites him in and Peter sees the gathered crowd. Peter realizes that he has been invited into
a gathering of Gentiles and according to his Jewish custom it is not lawful for
him to be here. Now Peter understands
the meaning of the vision. God
determines what is clean or unclean, not us.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
The
distance from Joppa to Caesarea was 30 – 35 miles, depending on which route
they took (overland or along the coast).
No stop for a moment and think about this. The average person can walk 2.5-3 miles per
hour and do it for some length of time (humans can walk faster than that, but then
we get tired and have to stop and rest if we do). So, Peter is likely looking at a journey of
10-12 hours. In order for Peter to go to
Casearea, he’s looking at a trip of substantial commitment.
So
here’s a question. Pick someplace that
is 30-35 miles away. If there was a
group of people that wanted to hear about God there, would you be willing to
walk it?
Or
maybe we should talk about driving. Get
a map, or go onto Google Maps. Find New
Orleans, LA. Then Find Little Rock,
AR. Then find Chicago, IL. Then Find New York, NY. Then find Miami, FL. Each of those places represents a drive of
about 10-12 hours from Wilkesboro, NC. In
your mind, draw a line between all of those places. If you knew that someone in that space that
wanted to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, would you be willing to drive that
distance just to tell them about God?
Or
maybe we should talk about flying. Is
there anywhere in the world to which you cannot fly and arrive at within 12
hours of travelling? If you had the
resources available to you and you knew that someone within 12 hours of
travelling needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus, would you go?
What
stops us from being willing to go?
Second Thought:
How
cool is Cornelius’ faith? He doesn’t
know for sure whether or not his people met with Peter. He doesn’t know for sure whether or not Peter
agreed to come back with them. He doesn’t
even know when they are going to return.
But what does he do? He invited
friends and family over because he believes in God. He believes Peter will come. Now that’s faith. That’s someone who wants to know God.
What
stops you from acting in faith? What
stops you from inviting all your friends and family to listen to someone that
you know who can genuinely teach them about God?
Third Thought:
Peter
begins to get it! Woot! Peter begins to understand that God is asking
him to be willing to follow wherever God takes him rather than always living “inside
the box.” Not that we should look for
ways to cast off tradition, but we should be willing to go outside of tradition
when God makes it clear that it is where He is leading.
How
much joy do you have in hearing Peter “get it?”
How much joy do you think it brings to the lives of other people when
you “get it,” too? How much joy does it
bring to people’s lives (and most importantly to God!) when they hear of your
willingness to follow God inside or outside of the box?
Fourth Thought:
{This
thought is from a long-time friend of mine … actually, a former student that I
had in ninth grade. Hard to believe we’ve
been friends for over a decade since she was my student! Anyway, this thought was inspired by a
conversation I had with her and she spoke truth to me about this passage.}
Peter’s
speech about God showing him that Peter is not responsible for determining what
is clean or unclean is really about tolerance.
The idea of “clean” and “unclean” is an idea that the Jews often took to
intolerance. It segregated their
life. It hindered their ability to tell
people about the love of God. Now Peter
is learning that he needs to be tolerant of people regardless of their “ritual
purity.” He needs to be tolerant towards
them because that is the only way that they will ever truly know God’s
love. Cornelius and his family would not
have been receptive to Peter coming and telling them how much their life is
screwed up and how many things they need to change in order to even begin to be
acceptable to God. But they are very
receptive to Peter coming and talking to them about the love of God and how
they can respond to God’s love.
How
tolerant are you in your life? Are there
areas where you are very tolerant and areas that you are not at all
tolerant? What drives you tolerances?
Passage for Tomorrow: Acts 10:30-33
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