28 January 2011
St. Thomas Aquinas
Third Week of Epiphany
Morning Prayer
Chapel of the Resurrection
Valparaiso, IN
Acts 10: 1-23
Reflections on On Our Way, Chapter 10
Knowing and Loving Our Neighbors of Other Faiths
THREE MEN ARE SEARCHING FOR YOU
In our world of globalization and religious pluralism, these verses from the
book of Acts let us a peek into an ancient world that resembles ours in
startling ways. Cornelius is a soldier, commander of part of an elite force.
A handful of other centurions are mentioned in the bible, but his is the only
one whose outfit is named. We are supposed to know that Cornelius was
one of “The Emperor’s Own”. We learn that he is a worshiper of God (not
the emperor) as was his whole household, which would include the two
slaves he sent along with his devout soldier to find the Simon who was
called Peter, as opposed to the Simon who was the tanner. Cornelius
gave money to the poor and prayed constantly. Reading this text again,
it crossed my mind that he might be a follower of Islam. Later, we learn he
isn’t, but we don’t know if he is a Christian. We know that he has earned
great respect from the very people his army is occupying, and that his
faith practices are highly developed. In other words, he is one very
remarkable fellow; he is not like anyone else we have met before.
Peter, too, lived a life that bore witness to God. By now, his reputation as a
Jewish preacher of The Way of Jesus is growing. He is learning to be a
leader in this new religious movement that we know today as Christianity.
While his lunch is being prepared, he spends time in prayer. A vision from
God comes to him.
This story always comes to us during this season of light and revelation—
Epiphany—and we have understood it as the light dawning on Peter that
his God will not be put in a box, nor will any edible thing God has made
be kept out of a lunchbox. In the moment, Peter doesn’t see Epiphany
light; he sees a blanket full of animals coming at him. As I tiptoe forward
next to him to peek over the edge, I am always mildly creeped out at
what we will find in there. As a youngster, all the grown-ups I knew ate
liver…and liked it. Thus I was forced to eat it too, and expected to like it.
My faith put no constraints on my diet, but I was in solidarity with Peter;
1
there were things on that blanket that no one in their right minds would
eat. It has been a long time since any liver crossed my lips, but I traveled
to China last year. These days, that blanket contains live eels and frogs of
unusually large size, along with voluptuous chicken feet, and duck
tongues. Students, staff and faculty here have traveled to Africa, India,
and South America, and more. If you are one of the travelers, let me ask:
What’s in the blanket you see?
Before Peter can recover from the vision he has just seen and heard, he is
interrupted by the Holy Spirit, who tells him three men are downstairs
looking for him. He is to get up and go with them. Peter immediately
obeys. At the gate, he clears up any confusion: “I am the man you are
looking for”. By the next morning, they were on their way to the home of
Cornelius, where an entire group of people were gathered to listen to
Peter speak about his faith.
As an infant, Jesus, too, had been visited by three foreigners who had
followed a star to the house where he was. Mary and Joseph, in true
character as those who welcomed God, had also welcomed them. As a
man, Jesus had identified himself to those who would crucify him as the
man they were looking for. Since the day some time back, when Andrew,
Peter’s brother came to say they had found the Messiah, Peter had come
to know and love the Jesus who talked with and touched people who
were considered “the other”.
The reality was that Jesus, the Messiah, had come to them, had become
one of them, one of us. Jesus carried no deep reservations about hanging
out with some people and not others. But Peter did. The vision given to
him by the Holy Spirit transformed him into a more Christ-like Peter, one
who could practice hospitality by accepting the gracious hosting of a
person he would never have ever dared to share a table with. It was
God’s conversion of Peter before he encountered Cornelius that provided
him the grace to accept all things that God had created as good.
Humbled by his vision, Peter entered the Holy Spirit’s space of grace, and
told his story. He shared the incredible way Jesus’ life, death and
resurrection had made in his own life, and of the people in his community.
Cornelius told how his own vision from God had moved him to look for
Peter, to hear what he had to say. The Holy Spirit was active in that space,
and lives were transformed.
Cornelius and Peter provide us an amazing example of what it looks like to
encounter someone altogether different from ourselves, when we
genuinely listen to one another’s stories. God is powerfully at work in us, in
2
places and people we least expect. We pray that God would transform
our hearts and minds, we pray for eyes and ears of expectation, we pray
that God will work through us in ways we cannot imagine. We pray for
God’s grace and humility so that we can share the everlasting love and
mercy of Jesus with all creation.
3