Acts 10:34-48 “God shows no partiality”
The Good News is for All
34 And Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; 41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit
44 While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
From the start of his encounter with Cornelius, Peter knew that he and the Church were in uncharted waters. Here was an outsider—granted, a righteous and prayerful man but an outsider nonetheless—who now demonstrated the signal experience of the Holy Spirit that was supposed to differentiate the followers of Christ from everybody else. How could this be, if it was not from the Lord Himself? The outpouring of the Spirit on Cornelius and his household meant that these Gentiles were already in some sense part of the household of Christ. And therefore they ought to be welcomed, baptized and brought into the full life of the Christian community.
Note the humility of Cornelius. Peter sets out his testimony to Christ and ends by saying that “every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Cornelius accepted that he had sins—despite the praise he had from others and even from the Lord for his godly way of life—Cornelius knows his inward being. He knows he needs forgiveness, no less than Paul who at the end of his life told Timothy, “I am the first of sinners” (1 Tim 1:15.)
The Library of Congress
In Washington, DC, I spent yesterday at the Library of Congress (my first visit), registered as a researcher and went to the Manuscript Room to look at some of Metropolitan Leonty’s papers housed there. It’s an extraordinary collection that includes his personal diaries from 1912 to 1960 that cover key moments and periods in the life of our Church. To give just one example, he was at the 1917-18 All Russian Council during the Bolshevik Revolution and has detailed notes on the proceedings. Much of the text is written in difficult Russian handwriting—and long sections of old-fashioned Russian shorthand—so it will take academic experts to make these invaluable resources available to the wider world.
Today I fly from Washington to Chicago, to join Father John Matusiak for his last weekend as rector of Saint Joseph’s parish in Wheaton, Illinois. Father John is retiring but will continue at Saint Joseph’s as Pastor Emeritus and—thankfully—will also keep up his decades-long service to the Orthodox Church as writer, editor and iconographer. May the Lord grant him a peaceful and fruitful “retirement!”
On Friday, after the March for Life, his Beatitude flew from Washington to San Francisco to take part in the ordination today of Archimandrite Daniel (Brum) as auxiliary bishop to Archbishop Benjamin of the West. May the Lord grant the new Bishop Daniel grace and strength in his new role. Eis polla eti Despota!