Day 33: Acts 10-12. The Mission Becomes Wider

There's a turning point in this chapter, and it begins with two men praying and seeing angels and having visions.  First, there is Cornelius, a pious Gentile, who is praying at around three in the afternoon (one of the hours of prayer, by the way), when he sees an angel who tells him to go and summon a man named Simon (who he never met).  This Simon will tell him Something.

In the meantime, Peter is also praying.  It is noon (another hour of prayer) and he sees a vision while he is on the roof.  In the vision, he sees a sheet full of animals that are considered unclean by Jewish law.  The voice in the vision says to Peter, "Get up!  Kill and eat!"  Peter refuses, but the voice persists.  "Never consider unclean what God has made pure."

Peter does receive a visitor, who invites him to Cornelius' home.  He finds a surprising welcome when he gets there.  There are many people waiting for him, waiting for the word that he will give him.  Peter begins by noting that Jewish law forbids him to even be in the house wit Cornelius.  but God has commanded him.

So he preached the good news about Jesus to Cornelius and his extended family and servants.  The result?  They are all "filled with the Holy Spirit" (whatever that means); they begin tp speak in tongues.  Because of what Peter witnesses, he decides that these Gentiles should be baptized and come a part of the body of believers.

No longer is the church simply a small sub-set of Judaism.  It is still small, but it is a wider circle.

The others believers has questions for Peter when he gets back to Jerusalem.  They aren't happy that he broke Jewish law, and they don't understand why he baptized Cornelius.  But he explains his encounter and the power of god he witnessed there, and the other apostles change their minds.  Perhaps even Gentiles can repent, they decide.

I know that this story is literally about the divide between Jews and Gentiles, but I can't help but wonder what unclean things God might be declaring pure even now, and in whose lives we witness the power of God, if we are given eyes to see it.

That i the criteria for Peter:  I saw the power of God in the life of Cornelius.  I saw the Holy Spirit.

What about you?  Where do you see the power of God?  Are there any surprising places?

Then, in chapter 12, another turning point is about to take place.  In this chapter, it is the preaching and message of Peter which still take precedence, but shortly the apostle Paul and his exploits will take center stage  Though right away we can tell that the church is growing, and that the opposition is growing too.

James, John's brother, is martyred, Peter is put in prison, and the church is under duress.  It is not explicitly stated, but the implication is that Peter is about to be matured.  But an angels leads him through locked prison doors, until he comes to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark.  (this is where the believers often me.)  He knocks on the door, and a little servant girl named Rhoda answers the door.  She is so excited to see him that she forgets to let him in!

Also, just inside, many disciples are sitting in a circle and praying for Peter.  Imagine their surprise when the answer to their prayers is suddenly standing among them.

Perhaps it felt as if Jesus had been resurrected again.

Answers to prayer are not always (or even usually) so dramatic or immediate.  But this gives you an idea of how the Spirit directed the early believers.

And now, as we turn to Acts 13, we will leave (for the most part) the story of Peter, and begin to travel with Paul....