No Partiality

Here are some thoughts about this Easter Sunday's first lesson. This was sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.
First Reading: Acts 10:34-43
34Peter began to speak to [the people]: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

 
Peter is on a journey, one of learning that God’s love and redemption in Christ Jesus extend to all, even Gentiles! Before this passage, Peter had a vision showing him God’s love for all. This does not mean that he doesn’t stumble and fall at times. We find this later in the New Testament when he was with Paul and refused to eat with Gentiles.

I have bolded all the phrases emphasizing the universality of salvation in Christ Jesus. God’s love is not just for the Jewish people or the Catholics or the Protestants. Lutherans are not going to be the only ones in heaven.

This is what the phrases look like together:
·      God shows no partiality,
·      in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him
·      he is Lord of all (not only of a chosen few)
·      [Jesus] went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil
·      everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

This message of God’s love and care for all literally runs throughout this passage.

That’s very nice, but what do we do about it? I highlighted the two places where Peter refers to being witnesses. There are two aspects to being a witness here. The first is in verse 30, as in being witnesses to all that happened. Secondly, Peter emphasizes the importance of God choosing witnesses to share the good news of Jesus. In this case, he was referring to the apostles.

We too can experience the wonders of our Lord Jesus, seeing him actively at work in our own lives and the lives of others. Then, the onus is on us to share that good news. That is how Christ’s church grows.

Do you hear echoes of the Creed in this passage? The gist of the gospel is here and that is what we see in both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. Sundaysandseasons.com nicely summarizes this passage, “Peter’s sermon, delivered at the home of Cornelius, a Roman army officer, is a summary of the essential message of Christianity: Everyone who believes in Jesus, whose life, death, and resurrection fulfilled the words of the prophets, “receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

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