Happy May, everyone! Our reading this week covers the meeting of St. Peter and Cornelius, a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judea. Cornelius is described in the New Testament’s book of Acts as a “devout man who feared God with all his household.” We’re told that he prayed unceasingly and gave generously to the poor, for which the Jews held him in high esteem, despite the fact that he was a “gentile” or non-Jew.
The story begins like this. One day Cornelius receives a vision of an angel instructing him to meet with a man named Peter, whom Cornelius then sends his servants to go find. Meanwhile, that same Peter, the famous disciple of Jesus himself, is preparing to eat. Suddenly, he enters into a trance and sees a large sheet descending, which carried “all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air.”
A voice instructs Peter to eat. He refuses, explaining that he could never eat anything “profane or unclean.”
The voice retorts: “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”
After Peter and the voice go back and forth like this three times, the sheet finally disappears.
We’re told that Peter was totally confused by this vision. As a faithful Jew, Peter had spent his life abstaining from certain “unclean” foods. Why now was he being asked to eat freely? To erase the distinction between clean and unclean?
As if on cue, Peter receives his answer. Suddenly, Cornelius’ men arrive and explain that an angel wanted Peter to speak to Cornelius. Peter agrees.
The next day, Peter and some companions travel to Caesarea. They arrive at Cornelius’ house, which apparently was full of his “relatives and close friends,” invited for the occasion. Immediately, Cornelius is overcome with reverence. He falls at Peter’s feet in worship, but is quickly rebuked: “Stand up; I am only a mortal.”
Peter then addresses his audience, commenting on the unconventional nature of their meeting:
You yourselves know that it is improper for a Jew to associate with or to visit an outsider, but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. … I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.
Acts 10:28-29, 34-35
Indeed, after receiving Peter’s Christian teaching, the visiting Jews were amazed to see the Holy Spirit descend on Cornelius and his fellow gentile Romans. Peter had no choice but to baptize them into the Christian faith, the meaning of his vision now abundantly clear.
God shows no partiality
The story of Peter and Cornelius takes us back to the earliest days of the church, when Jesus’ movement was evolving from a minor Jewish sect into a religion with increasingly broad appeal.
It probably didn’t take long for non-Jewish people to convert to Christianity. Tradition holds that Longinus—the Roman soldier who, at the Crucifixion, famously declared that “truly this man was God’s son”—was the first gentile convert. Cornelius himself, along with his household, are likewise believed to be among the first, along with the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8.
Chronology aside, there was considerable discussion among the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus as to how these people should be integrated into the faith. The meeting of Peter and Cornelius illustrates a key moment in this debate.
Recall how Peter is prompted in his vision to disregard his Jewish dietary observances. Predicated on the concept of “uncleanliness,” Jews were expected to abstain from certain foods, as outlined in the Hebrew Bible. This included pigs, horses, shellfish and certain birds. It was a commandment of God and a key distinction, along with circumcision, between Jews and non-Jews.
It’s unsurprising, then, that Peter is initially confused and hesitant when asked in a vision to forsake his dietary commitments. The tradition of his ancestors, of his entire people, was at stake then. It must have felt paralyzing, like staring across a point of no return.
Thankfully, Peter’s concerns are eventually assuaged. When he arrived at Cornelius’ home, we get the sense that Peter was thoroughly impressed with the people he met there. Cornelius, known for his generosity and prayer, likely shone with virtue. In fact, the way he initially greeted Peter by falling down before him dramatically signalled his humility. Little is mentioned of the rest of the household, but it seems they were perceived similarly.
The sheer virtue of this gentile family led to a pivotal realization on behalf of Peter and his companions. It’s one that echoes down through the ages: Just because someone is different than you, that doesn’t mean they can’t be a good person.
Indeed, “God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.” What a profound revelation! God doesn’t care about one group more than another. He doesn’t discriminate based on religion, race, gender or status. Rather, “all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). None are “unclean” under God.
The meeting of Peter and Cornelius, two people from very different backgrounds, bridged the gap between Jewish Christians and the society they inhabited. It represented an olive branch between a community of followers enamoured with their Lord, who they loved and had loved in the flesh, and those who grew up worshipping Apollo. It was an early, pivotal step in the right direction.
This universalism helped pave the way for the explosive growth that Christianity would see in the following centuries. Eventually, the tiny Jewish sect would expand across the Mediterranean and to the far reaches of the Roman empire. Within a few hundred years, Christianity was practiced in India as well as Great Britain. It accomplished all this partly because it was so open to “outsiders.”
God’s universal love
Yet, how could it have gone otherwise? The other reading from Mass this week reminds us about who God is:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:7-8
God is love. It’s not merely one of His attributes, something he expresses towards us unconditionally. Rather, it simply is who He is. When we love, then, we’re embodying Him through whom all things were created. When we worship Him, we’re placing Love at the top of our value hierarchy. When we engage in divine communion, whether alone or as part of a faith community, we’re opening our hearts to be filled by Love.
It’s no wonder that as the disciples entered deeper into their relationship with God, their love extended further and further beyond the narrow confines of their own community, beyond merely what was familiar. It’s no wonder that Christians embraced all people, especially the most marginalized. This was the bedrock of their faith, even if putting it into practice sometimes was proven easier said than done.
Do we not all share in this struggle today? How often do we judge others simply on the basis of being different? Who or what in our own lives do we dismiss as “unclean” or “unworthy”? Maybe it’s someone we’ve held a grudge against for years. Someone with a different political opinion or religion than us. Someone who looks different or has a different lifestyle than we do.
The story of Peter and Cornelius reminds us that no one, no matter how different, deserves to be cast aside ignorantly. Rather, anyone who is a good person is a good person. It’s something that seems so obvious, yet somehow is insidiously easy to forget.
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