Crossing Boundaries----Sermon for Easter 6B (Acts 10)
We tend to live in silos where everyone looks like us, thinks like us, and believes like us. It’s a comfortable existence, but there’s little chance we’ll grow spiritually or intellectually. If this is true, then perhaps we need a nudge from the Holy Spirit to get out of our relationship ruts. Although Pentecost Sunday is two weeks from now, this morning we’ve heard a word from the Book of Acts reminding us that the Holy Spirit is the central actor in Luke’s second volume.
The Book of Acts opens with the story of Jesus’ ascension. Before he departs, he commissions his followers to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” However, he tells them to wait until the Holy Spirit comes to empower them before they head out into the world.
The first step in fulfilling this promise took place on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit fell on the disciples who were huddled in the upper room, empowering them to proclaim the gospel in languages they hadn’t learned. This Spirit-inspired commotion drew a crowd that gave Peter an opportunity to preach one of his famous sermons, which in turn led to the baptism of a great number of people (Acts 2). Later on, the Holy Spirit led a man named Philip to Samaria where he shared the story of Jesus with a group of people who stood outside the Jewish community. After they professed faith in Jesus, he baptized them. For some reason, the Spirit waited to fill this group until Peter and John came and laid hands on them, connecting them with the church in Jerusalem. Following that act of inclusion, the Spirit led Philip to the Ethiopian Eunuch who stood outside the community because of his sexual identity. After Philip shared the good news with him, Philip baptized him, welcoming him into the church (Acts 8).
This morning we watch as the Spirit takes us a step further. While we’ve only heard a small portion of this story of inclusion, like the previous events in Acts 2 and Acts 8, this is a Spirit-inspired boundary crossing that involves baptism. This is the story of Cornelius, the Gentile Roman Centurion, who was stationed in Caesarea, the Roman provincial capital of Judea. Luke tells us that he was “a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God” (Acts 10:1-2) While this is true he still remained outside the circle of God’s people. But, God heard his prayers and things would change for him.
Cornelius’ story, which is found in Acts 10, begins with an angelic visitation. An angel tells Cornelius that God heard his prayers and that he should send for Peter, who is staying in Joppa with Simon the Tanner. This Peter would let him know what God had in store for him. So Cornelius sent messengers to Simon’s house to summon Peter. That’s the end of Act 1.
The second act in this story begins around noon, as the messengers made their way to Simon’s house. At that moment Peter is up on the roof praying. Perhaps he was hungry because he had a food-related vision. In this vision, Peter saw a sheet descend from heaven filled with animals that Jews considered unclean and unfit for eating. A voice from heaven told Peter to kill and eat. But, even though he was hungry, Peter was a good Jew and so he refused. He shouted at the voice from heaven: “No unclean thing is going to touch my lips!” A voice from heaven responds: “If God says it’s clean, it’s clean.” It took Peter three times to begin to get the gist of the message, but it didn’t become completely clear until he went downstairs to meet Cornelius’ messengers. This wasn’t about food restrictions. It was about people God loves.
When Peter entered Cornelius’ house in Caesarea, he confessed that he’d always believed a good Jew should never enter the house of a Gentile. However, after receiving his vision from heaven, he realized that “God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). So, he’s ready and willing to share the good news of Jesus with Cornelius and his household. He tells them how Jesus had been executed, but then God had raised Jesus from the dead. After this Jesus sent his followers out into the world to offer forgiveness to everyone who puts their trust in Jesus.
This is where we pick up the story. Peter is in the midst of his sermon when the Holy Spirit intervenes and falls on everyone in the household. Just like on the Day of Pentecost, everyone began to speak in tongues and give praise to God.
Now, Peter’s companions were astounded by what they were seeing and hearing. I’m pretty sure Peter was just as surprised by what happened to Cornelius and his household. Nevertheless, he managed to ask the right question: “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Vs. 47).
Peter didn’t seek permission from the other Apostles back in Jerusalem. He didn’t take a congregational vote. He just knew that the Holy Spirit had acted; so who was he to deny these Gentiles the benefit of inclusion in the community of believers through baptism? The Holy Spirit had cut through the red tape and welcomed this group of Gentiles into the family before the church even realized what was happening.
Willie Jennings points that Peter’s offer of baptism signified “the joining of Jew and Gentile, not simply the acceptance of the Gospel message. Yet both are miracle. Both are grace in the raw. The Spirit confronts the disciples of Jesus with an irrepressible truth: God overcomes boundary and border. God touches first. God does not wait to be touched by us” [Belief: Acts, p. 114].
The Holy Spirit’s actions in that sacred moment remind us that there is more than one way to enter God’s realm. Peter offered one formula on the day of Pentecost when he told the crowd that if they wanted to be saved, they needed to “repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” While that formula makes sense, sometimes the Spirit gets ahead of us and puts the filling before belief, repentance, or baptism. That’s the way it is with the Holy Spirit, so Peter responded to the Spirit’s lead and he ordered the people to be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
This is at least the third time in the Book of Acts that baptism is connected with stories of God transgressing human-created boundaries. While we might erect fences to protect ourselves from perceived outside dangers, God isn’t bound by our fences and walls. As Paul reminds us in the Ephesian letter, Jesus tears down walls and unites divided peoples:
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us, 15 abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. (Eph. 2:13-16).
Since God in Christ tears down walls of hostility, we can join the Holy Spirit in transgressing dividing walls by proclaiming in word and deed the message of God’s love, justice, mercy, and inclusion.
Over the years I’ve found the story of Cornelius to be very insightful. It shows us how God opens doors and creates new opportunities for inclusion. It has opened my eyes and heart to people whom both the larger society and the church have pushed to the margins. As we ponder Cornelius’ story, what might the Holy Spirit be saying to us as a congregation about barriers and boundaries the Spirit would like to remove so that God’s love can be fully expressed to our neighbors, whoever they might be?
As we consider that question, I want to point out another symbolic event that takes place during Peter’s visit that complements the descent of the Holy Spirit and the offer of baptism. You see, after Peter baptized Cornelius and his household, they in turn invited Peter and his companions to stay with them for a few days. Since this offer of hospitality must have included dinner, I have to wonder what this Gentile household served to this group of Jews. Was there something on the plate Peter previously considered unclean? Did he eat it? In fact, once Peter got back to Jerusalem he received criticism for eating with Gentiles! (Acts 11:3). Willie Jennings points out that this act of hospitality signaled God’s desire for Jew and Gentile “to eat and live together in peace.” [Belief: Acts, p. 115].
These two acts, both of which were initiated by the Holy Spirit—baptism and an act of hospitality, perhaps sharing in the Lord’s Supper—signal that thick walls of separation had been removed. Doors were opened by the Holy Spirit and people heard and embraced the good news of Jesus. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is at work in our midst, still working to open doors and remove barriers.
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Acting Supply Pastor
First Presbyterian Church (USA)
Troy, MI
May 5, 2024
Easter 6B
Image Attribution: Wesley, Frank, 1923-2002. Peter's Vision, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59250 [retrieved May 4, 2024]. Original source: Estate of Frank Wesley, http://www.frankwesleyart.com/main_page.htm.
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