Surrendering What We Know - Acts 10

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. ² He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. ³ One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷ When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. ⁸ He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

Cornelius is a centurion.  He is a professional officer in the Roman military.  Centurions were to originally command 100 legionary soldiers, but that number varied over time.  Different Caesars changed that number and it could have been double.  In this day and time, that is a formidable local force.  

The previous mention of a centurion is with Jesus in Matthew 8:5-13.  ⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

Jesus indicated that this particular centurion, this Gentile, had more faith than anyone He had encountered in Israel, among God’s chosen people.  This would have been a terrible insult to the people of Israel and to His own disciples.  Surely Peter was there at the time Jesus spoke those words, yet now it is Peter who has more faith and will lead the centurion Cornelius.

Jesus foretold that Gentiles would be saved.  Cornelius is considered to be the first of the “many who will come from the east and the west”.  An important aspect of this is that God has to overcome Peter before His Message can reach Cornelius.  

We are too often the same as Peter.  We know the truth, but we are unwilling to offer it to someone who has hurt us previously; we don't want to speak to those who hate us; we don't want to be around those that make us uncomfortable.  Often, that doesn't even include teaching the gospel message, but being a Godly character person and letting His Spirit be more than our own in a moment or in moments.  Peter had to surrender what he knew and had been taught by society to follow the Spirit and do God's will, we should be willing to do the same.