The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (New International Version)
In this Advent season, the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings for Year C direct us toward the good news that Christ’s incarnation is not only for Jewish people; it is also for everyone.
But Peter needed some remedial teaching about this gospel. He had to get the reality that God grants repentance leading to new life for Gentiles, firmly into his Jewish head and heart.
The first advent of Jesus Christ – his incarnation as the God-Man on this earth – was meant for the world, and not exclusively for the Jewish people. Sometimes, however, it takes a vision or a dream to really get the message across.
And God is gracious to do whatever it takes in order to gain our attention and bring us to a point of changing our minds about things we are in error about.
The Gospel is for everyone.
The Gospel is Jews and Gentiles. The Gospel is for you and for me. It’s for your grumpy neighbor and your crazy uncle. It’s for that obnoxious co-worker and the persnickety church lady. It’s for the Grinches and Scrooges of this world, as well as for the already convinced.
Yes, indeed, the good news of Jesus Christ is for everyone, without exception.
I do so hope that you don’t have to learn that truth the hard way. I do rather hope that you have a wonderful experience of discovering a Cornelius of whom you had no idea even existed, until the mercy of God led you otherwise.
It is my prayer that you have (or will have) a story to tell, much like Peter’s, in which you found that the grace of God has no limits, that there is plenty of Christ to go around for everyone.
There is no need to stand in God’s way, because no one can stop God’s grace. When the mercy of God starts moving, it becomes a giant snowball gaining speed and strength and size going downhill. And when it hits, you’re going to feel it!
Grace overcomes and overwhelms everything.
One of the most scandalous truths of Christianity is that God graces common ordinary people who seem as dead as a bowling ball with the Holy Spirit and gives them life.
The Apostle Peter had to learn this with some difficulty, but he embraced the work of God among the non-Jewish Gentiles. “The Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning” was Peter’s plain account and confession of the reality that God grants repentance that leads to life for all kinds of people no matter what their race, ethnicity, gender, class, or background.
It is a wondrous and astounding spiritual truth that God’s gracious concern is not limited to a certain type of person.
Along with Peter and the other believers so long ago, let us rejoice in the work of God that brings deliverance and transformation.
Grace is and ought to be the guiding factor in how we interact with people.
Losing sight of grace leads to being critical and defensive. Whereas, embracing grace leads to the humility of seeing the image of God in people very different from ourselves.
Grace tears down barriers and causes us to do away with unnecessary distinctions between others. Our appropriate response to such a grace is to glorify God for his marvelous and amazing work.
The Gospel is not only a gift to receive; it is also a wonderful gift to give.
Gracious God, just as you brought deliverance and salvation that leads to life for people from ancient times, and gifted them with your Holy Spirit, so today continue your mighty work of transformation in the hearts of people that I share the good news of Jesus with. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 