The story of Peter's visit to Cornelius of Caesarea forces us to confront our own stereotypes of who are the outsiders and who are the insiders to the Gospel in our own time.
Peter is challenged by God, first to eat foods which had been prohibited and then to visit an outsider in his home. For Peter to visit Cornelius, who was not Jewish, was a challenge to all that Peter had been taught. Jews did not associate with non-Jews. To do so was to break a religious law and a cultural boundary.
When Peter does visit, he is given the opportunity to tell the story of Jesus' life and death. During his story telling, he sees the Holy Spirit descend onto Cornelius and his guests. God selects the outsiders for a visit by the Holy Spirit.
God's work of boundary breaking did not stop with Peter. God will not be stopped by the boundaries that we humans establish. Whatever box we build, God has a way of transcending.
In Peter's time, the boundary was between Jews and Gentiles. In the 19th century America, a boundary was between master and slave. Masters tried to restrain the ways in which slaves could hear the Good News. But God's Gospel will not be contained by human walls. Many Christian churches in the 20th century confronted the boundary of the ways in which women could serve in the church. Those boundaries also began to crumble.
Look into your own life. What boundaries might you have established that God will want to challenge? Who are we that we can hinder God?
Our God is a boundary breaker and will not be contained. Think of the Lord's Prayer in which we pray "Thy will be done!"
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