A momentous event is the subject of Acts 10: Gentiles, specifically the centurion Cornelius and his household, receive the Holy Spirit for the first time. This is preceded by Peter’s dream, where God instructs him that he may eat any animal, for “what God has cleansed, you must not call common.”
Why does God give Peter this dream prior to his meeting with Cornelius? Why did God forbid the Jews from eating certain animals and then lift that restriction during the Age of the Church?
A purpose of some of the Mosaic laws were to set apart the people of Israel, to distinguish them from other nations as God’s specially chosen people. Sabbath observance, circumcision, and unclean foods all served this purpose (which is not to say it was the only purpose). God did not counsel the Jews to go and make converts of other nations; on the contrary, he advised them repeatedly in the Old Testament not to mingle with other nations, lest they succumb to their customs and abandon God’s laws.
Yet God also spoke repeatedly in the Old Testament of a time when, through Israel, the message of salvation would be extended to all nations. That time has arrived. Jesus initially limits His disciples to preach to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 10:6), but after His Resurrection, He gives them (and us) the great commission:
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:18-20)
It’s challenging for us to place ourselves in the mindset of the apostles. Having been raised on the importance of the Mosaic law and all of the customs that had been prescribed by God to set the Israelites apart, they needed to be told clearly and repeatedly that they needed to preach the Good News to the Gentiles, and that it was time for some of the old laws to go. God told Peter in the dream that no animals are unclean. Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, had the insight that this teaching applied as well to people. Upon meeting Cornelius, Peter told him, “You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean” (Acts 10:28-29).
Lest there by any lingering doubt, God Himself took the initiative of sending the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius and his household as Peter was sharing the Good News with them. Peter himself proclaimed the universality of salvation when he concluded his speech, saying, “To him [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). After Cornelius and the other Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, Peter asked his fellow disciples rhetorically, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the holy Spirit even as we have?” (Acts 10:47). In the same vein, when he related the story to the astonished apostles in Jerusalem, he asked them “‘If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?’ When [the apostles and brethren] heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, ‘God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.’” (Acts 11:17-18)
What can this story teach us today? Are we to set ourselves apart from the pagan culture? Or enter it to bring others to Christ? The answer is yes. Peter and the apostles could not make disciples of all nations unless they engaged with all nations. That meant breaking bread – sitting down and sharing a meal with them – so that they could win them for Christ and break bread with them in Holy Communion. On the other hand, engaging with the culture did not mean embracing pagan gods and animal sacrifices and a host of things that were at odds with Christ’s teachings. The apostles, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, had to discern where to engage and what to reject, as we do today.
St. Paul described his willingness to embrace different cultures “for the sake of the gospel” in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law—though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ—to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)
Saint Carlo Acutis is an excellent modern example of what St. Paul is describing. Carlo played video games in moderation with his school friends while also sharing his love of Jesus in the Eucharist with them. He died in 2006 at the age of fifteen, not long after completing his website and exhibit documenting Eucharistic miracles through the ages. He is a reminder that God raises up saints in every age to share the light of the gospel.
Image: Painting depicting an angel appearing to Cornelius by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (from Wikipedia Commons).
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day for the salvation of souls.
