Acts 10,21-33. 3. Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Acts 10,21-33        1020 

3. Sonntag nach Ephiphanias 016 weiß

Titus, St. Paul’s disciple, Bishop of Gortyn, Crete, Martyr in Gortyn 96 or 107. W

26. Januar 2020

1. O Lord, You are greater than our thinking and understanding, pour upon us You mercy, so that we overcome our human frailties like doubt and instead trust in Your Providence in our lives.  Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for 3. Sunday after Epiphany 2020, § 1) 

2. »And Peter, having descended, said to the man: „Behold I am the one you seek: what is the reason for you being present? And they replied: „Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and a God-feared, being testified by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by an holy holy angel to send for you to go to his house and hear the your words. Having then invited them in he received them as a guest. On the next day having risen he went with them and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. Then on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them having called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet and worshipped.« 

3. Today’s Gospel pericope tells us one of Jesus’ healing miracles. A centurion’s servant had become paralyzed and was in terrible suffering. Jesus extended mercy and healed that servant by merely speaking the word. Last week we heard how Jesus miraculously turned water into wine; this miracle manifested itself when Jesus told the servants to fill the jars of water and to then draw some out and bring it to the steward of the wedding feast. 

4. Acts 10 presents us with another centurion; he is named Cornelius. Saint Luke tells us that Cornelius is a righteous and God-fearing man. He had been praying at 3 pm when an angel appeared before him and told him to send for the Apostle Peter. Cornelius was a Gentile – probably Roman – and a citizen of the empire. He was either wealthy or had wealthy patrons. He was literate. He was a soldier who worked his way up from the ranks of the legionnaires to become an officer who commanded 100 legionnaires. Luke also tells us 2 important things about Cornelius: he was righteous and a God-fearer. Cornelius worshipped the God of Israel. The Jews considered Gentiles to be unclean idolaters, but those who rejected their idols, in Cornelius’ case the Roman pantheon ruled by Jupiter, and worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were called God-fearing; he was not a Jewish convert, because God-fearing did not normally follow the dietary laws nor become circumcised, but they worship the Lord, and in Cornelius’ case he was diligent with his alms to help the poor. Such God-fearers were considered righteous and they had a place set aside for them in the temple courtyard where they could gather to worship and pray. By all accounts, Cornelius was well respected by the Jewish community in Caesarea.  

5. Jesus has sent an angel to Cornelius so he would send for Peter and thus hear the this gospel he preached to them: »Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. As for the word that He sent to Israel, preaching the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of 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, but God raised Him on the 3. day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the Prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name« (Acts 10,34-43). After the sermon, Cornelius and those in his house were baptized; they are the first Gentile Christians (Acts 10,48). 

  6. Cornelius typified how the apostles would treat the Gentiles for they too would have the gospel preached to them and all who believed it would be baptized and welcomed into the Church alongside the Jewish Christians. We see Jesus preparing the groundwork for this in Matthew 8 where He healed a Gentile slave and proclaimed that even a Roman centurion can have faith in the God of Israel (Matthew 8,10-13). And not only can a  Gentile have faith in the God of Abraham, but said Gentile, much to the dismay of the pious Jews, can have faith that outshines that the Jews!  

7. Yes, we are here, drawn together by the Holy Spirit, Gentiles from various nations confessing and believing in the God of Abraham thereby testifying that Jesus is the promised Messiah and Christ who is the Savior of Jews and Gentiles. 

8. Last week we heard how Jesus performed His first miracle. He turned water into wine for the Jews and in their midst. Today Jesus performs another miracle. He heals a Gentile servant of a Gentile centurion thus showing that God’s love and mercy is poured out upon the Gentiles too. Next week we will hear how Jesus was transfigured in His Divine Glory and discussed His impending death as His Father’s Suffering Servant.  Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You reign over all Your creation; let the earth rejoice and the coastlands be glad, so that we join in their joy and happiness as we praise and confess You as the Glory of Your Heavenly Father.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.