Acting Up and Out

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.  One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.”  He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.  Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter;  he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.  Acts 10

This passage is exactly why I find Acts so wonderfully challenging.  Cornelius is part of the Italian Cohort...which sounds like a great name for a band.  But make no mistake, Cornelius is part of the industrial military complex of Rome.  He was part of the group who were stationed to keep the masses in-line, walk/wonder around to make sure people knew who was really in charge.  Remember, it was the Roman Empire that had hung Jesus on the cross.  Those facts all add up to saying, Cornelius was the embodiment of the enemy.  When he walked past you, you adverted your eyes while muttering and mumbling under your breathe.  Many would have seen him and his cronies as the problem.  "Everything would be so much better without those people!"  See how wonderfully challenging this passage is...because those exact words about getting rid of people as the way to make things better are uttered today.

And what makes this passage even more wonderfully challenging is that he is called a "devout man".  Wait...he was part of the complex that killed Jesus, part of the problem, part of everything that is wrong, unjust AND he fears God...gives generously and prayed constantly.  Don't you hate it when people won't stay confined and defined by the boxes in which we try to place them?  That neighbor of yours who watches MSNBC or Fox or whatever media outlet you think should be taken off the air... suddenly that person is the one who offers to bring your trash cans up and drive you to a medical appointment.  Cornelius is also the embodiment of complexity.  Cornelius challenges us today to stop trying to sort out which side people are...because the truth is three dimensional not one.  Until we stop trying to categorize and compartmentalize, we are always stuck in a rut of prejudice and stereotypes.  And we are only two sentences in to this passage!

And what makes this passage even more wonderfully challenging is God decides to chit-chat with Cornelius.  God goes and decides to be in cahoots with the evil enemy.  Reminds me of a great quote from Dostoevsky who wrote, "It is easy to condemn your enemy...it is much harder to understand him or her."  It is like a clarion call across the centuries the ways today we are so good at condemning others and struggle so much to try to understand each other.  Now part of the issue is that to understand someone takes time...it is a delicate dance where it is one step forward in understanding and two steps backwards when we say something that hurts/harms the other.  When we say in my church that God is still speaking, do we think only through the talking heads we agree with?  When God always seems to be on my side, doing things my way, perhaps I have built a God in my image rather than the truth God seeks to flow through all people.  God goes to Cornelius and Cornelius recognizes and responds faithfully to God.  What if that would happen today?  What if is and we don't even notice it?  Ugh...God is so challenging.

Finally, what makes this passage so wonderfully challenging is God goes to Cornelius, Mr.-You-Can't-Contain-Me-in-a-box, first.  It is only after this scene that God goes to Peter, Mr.-Original-Disciples that Peter should minister to/with Cornelius.  And if you keep reading chapter 10, while Cornelius gets it right way, Peter misses the point spectacularly!  He doesn't get it.  He doesn't understand why God would call him to reach out to the enemy...and this guy hung out with Jesus who said, "Love your enemies."  When am I like Peter missing the mark of God calling me out of my preciously held believes to draw the circle wide?

Ugh...so challenging and complex...and wonderfully so.  There is more than a trace of God's grace in these words, if we are only willing to listen and let our life respond.

Grace and peace~~