| Acts 10: 24 – 48 Cornelius, a verified Theophilus, a lover of God, doesn’t have his dogma fully ironed out. When Peter shows up at his door, he falls at Peter’s feet and worships him. ‘On your feet,’ says Peter, and he is invited inside where he finds quite a crowd of the centurion’s family and friends gathered. Peter sounds a bit condescending for someone who has just been invited into the home of a respected centurion: “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” That seems like a good start for any of us. Let’s not view others as profane or unclean. It is bad manners, and besides, God decrees otherwise. Cornelius, who is probably accustomed to being shown greater deference, absorbs the insult and relates his story of a visitation from a divine messenger instructing him to summon Peter from Joppa, which he has done, and from whom, despite Peter’s bad manners, Cornelius and company are ready to hear. To say that someone is “mal educado” in Mexican Spanish is not to say that they haven’t finished High School; it is rather to say they have not been well brought up and lack the basic courtesies essential to comport oneself adequately in Mexican society. Upon meeting an acquaintance to tend to business, to fail to take the time to inquire about their well-being and that of their family, to cut directly to the task at hand…is to be “mal educado,” as is failing to wish fellow diners in a restaurant “buen provecho” when walking past their tables. |
| “Mal educado” Peter nevertheless proclaims the Good News of Jesus, and as he does, further insight dawns on him: “Now I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him!” This isn’t the first time Peter has shown himself a little slow on the uptake. In his Galilean travels with Jesus he never seemed quite the sharpest tool in the shed. The implications of the Good News of Jesus further animates Peter. I wish this were so for a greater number of people who call themselves Christians. Rather than perceiving that a fair swath of the world’s people are lovers of God within the constructs of their own cultures, there is often an assumption that those inhabiting other religions or perspectives are profane. Missionary endeavors are rife with tales of missionaries who seemed more concerned with getting trousers on loin-clothed jungle-dwellers and bras on comfortable island women then with the message of God’s glad embrace. One takeaway from today’s reflection might be that we should assume the best of others, chasten our own arrogance, and make way for the Spirit of God. God interrupts Peter and pours out the Holy Spirit on all of those gathered in Cornelius’ home, to the astonishment of Peter’s companions, who are under the impression that a surgical procedure on male genitalia is a necessary preamble for the work of God to unfold in a life. All the Gentiles are baptized, and all the non-Gentiles are invited to stay for several days, which, to their credit, they do. How fascinating that both Cornelius and Peter have to be prepared for this meeting in advance. The soil had to be tilled if the seed already planted in each man were to bear fruit. Cornelius isn’t quite ready for the fulsome Gospel, and Peter isn’t quite ready to see the universal equality of all people. Yet, God’s work seems to require these two human beings and their stumbling efforts to more fully unleash his own endeavor in the world. We are participants with God in the mystery of God’s labor among humankind, however bumbling and inadequate and mal educado we demonstrably show ourselves to be. God is at work in you and through you, tilling soil, planting seed, getting you ready for the precise juncture when iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another. Grace and peace, The Reverend Canon George F. Woodward III Rector FROM THE LITANY OF ST. CHAD The keeping of Christ about me, The guarding of God with me To possess me, to protect me From drowning and danger and loss, The gospel of the God of grace From brow of head To sole of foot. The Gospel of Christ, Be as mantle to my body All I speak, be blessed to me, O God. All I hear, be blessed to me, O God. All I see, be blessed to me, O God. All I sense, be blessed to me, O God Each step I take, be blessed to me, O God. Previous Reflections may be found on the parish website StPaulSMA.com under ‘Blogs’ here. YouTube postings are available here. Previous editions of THE EPISTLE can be found here. |
| St. Paul’s Anglican Church Calzada del Cardo, 6 Centro 37700, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico 415.121.3424 www.StPaulSMA.com |