Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-august-30-2024
Acts 10:34-48
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation those who fear him and do what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—38 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.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 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. 42 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. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Today’s reading is the end of the story we started thinking about yesterday – the story of Peter’s visit to the home of a Roman centurion named Cornelius. As you might remember, angelic messengers arranged the meeting between the two so the centurion and his household could hear Peter’s testimony about Jesus. The supernatural appearance to Peter included a vision telling him it was now acceptable to eat gentile food previously considered unclean, so the disciples could break bread with gentiles as a part of their ministry to the world beyond Israel.
If the beginning of the reading seems familiar, it’s because I’ve included the last two verses of yesterday’s reading to remind you where we left off.
In today’s part of the story, Peter tells Cornelius and his family and friends about Jesus’ life and ministry and death and resurrection. And Peter stresses that he and the other apostles are eyewitnesses who can personally testify to the truth of the resurrection.
It seems important to stop and think about the significance of the apostles declaring themselves eyewitnesses to the resurrection. They’re not just passing along reports they’ve heard from others, and they’re not just speculating on what happened. The apostles are bearing witness to their own personal experience with Jesus. When you think about that, it should probably come as no surprise that their testimony had a powerful impact on those who heard them tell the story.
It’s important to remember that the original gospel account – in the Gospel of Mark – is understood to be Peter’s eyewitness testimony. And in that account, Peter comes off looking pretty bad. He admits that he argued with Jesus about the need for him to be crucified, leading Jesus to call him ‘Satan.’ And even worse, Peter admits that he denied even knowing Jesus on the night of his arrest, then ran off crying into the night. (Some ‘rock to build the church on!’)
The fact that Peter and the other apostles were so brutally honest about their own failings and weaknesses makes their eyewitness testimony about the resurrection seem a lot more credible. And it helps to explain why their eyewitness testimony had such a powerful impact on those who heard it.
And, as you might have noticed, Peter says that the disciples shared meals with the risen Jesus. That makes it plain that Jesus really had risen physically from the dead. If he ate solid food, then it wasn’t just a ghost or disembodied spirit that the disciples had seen. This detail shows up in several of the gospel accounts of the resurrection, so it’s clear that the apostles were completely convinced that Jesus really was with them ‘in the flesh.’
And this detail of Peter’s witness seems especially significant given that God had spoken in a vision to give Peter – and presumably the rest of us who follow Jesus – permission to share table fellowship with gentiles. The risen Jesus broke bread with the disciples and empowered their ministry, and our ministry can take on special power when it takes place around tables today.
It seems to me there’s a lesson here about effective witnessing, as well. Lots of Christians think that to convince others to “get saved,” we have to persuade them to accept complicated theological doctrines like substitutionary atonement and so on. But in the story, Peter doesn’t get into any of that. He just tells what he saw, and lets the Holy Spirit take it from there.
At the end of the story, Cornelius and his newly baptized household are hungry to hear more about the story of Jesus, so they ask Peter to stay with them a few more days. The secret to a new and abundant life had been revealed to them, and this group of gentiles wanted to know more.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for revealing the resurrection to honest and plain-spoken people, who were credible to the world because they were honest about their own sins and weaknesses and plain-spoken about what they had experienced. Empower us to be honest and plain-spoken about our own experiences with Jesus, so that others may receive the Spirit because of our testimony. Amen.
Have a great weekend, and worship God joyfully on Sunday!
Henry
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