Sermon Preached by the Rev. Harold T. Lewis, Rector
Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh
The First Sunday After the Epiphany; The Baptism of Our Lord,
9 January 2000
"And Peter opened his mouth and said, 'Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality.' " (Acts 10:34)
Today's story from Acts is the story of two men: Cornelius and Peter. You would not expect them to come together. Cornelius was a Gentile (somebody from outside the Jewish religion) and Peter was a Jew. Cornelius was a high-ranking officer in the army of the Roman Empire (as a centurion, he led a squadron of one hundred men) and Peter had no rank at all. His only leader was a carpenter from Nazareth who had been put to death. Cornelius was a man of the world. Peter was a country fisherman with no experience outside of Galilee. Cornelius was a professional; Peter a common laborer. They were, as we would say, from two different worlds.
So how did their lives intersect? Peter grew up with the strict laws of the Jewish religion. He wondered what it really meant to be God's "chosen people." Did it mean that God would favor some people more than others? This didn't seem right to Peter. Cornelius was a religious man, a "God-fearing man" according to the Book of Acts. He went to the synagogue, said his prayers, but could only go in the outer courts of the sanctuary because he was a Gentile.
Peter was on a mission. Although he had grown up as a Jew, he had become a Christian, and he went around preaching about Jesus. He wanted Cornelius to become a Christian, too, but many people believed that since Jesus had been a Jew, and had come among Jewish people, if you wanted to become a Christian, you had to become a full-fledged Jew first. Peter thought, "I don't think so."
So he preached a sermon. But the sermon wasn't preached in a church. It was preached in Cornelius' house. Peter started off his sermon by saying "God shows no partiality." Another translation of the Bible puts it this way: "God has no favorites." I'll give you a Greek lesson. The word in the Greek New Testament literally means "God is not an accepter of faces." In other words, God does not look at our faces and decide to like some people because of the way they look, and to dislike others because of the way they look. Then Peter says, "In every nation, anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him."And after Peter finished preaching, Cornelius and everybody in his house decided that they, too, wanted to follow Jesus, and they were baptized.
Now although God does not show favorites, people sometimes do. Perhaps you have heard in the news about a little boy named Elian. He comes from Cuba. People in Cuba do not have the same freedoms as most people have in the United States, so almost every day, people try to escape from Cuba and seek a new life in this country. Elian's mother and many other people tried to get here in a boat but they drowned, that is, all except little Elian. Elian's daddy wants him to come home, but many people here believe that he should stay, because they believe that he can have a better life here. A few weeks ago, some people from Haiti, another place where people do not have freedom, took a boat to the United States so that they could be free. Their boat got stuck on some rocks near Florida, but when they were discovered, they were sent back to Haiti. The difference is that almost no one protested and said that they should be given a chance to stay in the United States because they could have a better life here. Do you think it's because sometimes we accept some faces and not others?
In his sermon, Peter talks about Jesus' baptism. He basically tells us that when we are baptized, we agree that God does not show partiality, and therefore, neither should we. This is why the boys and girls to be baptized today will be asked some important questions, including these two: "Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?" and "Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?" And to each question, the boys and girls (or their godparents) will respond: "I will, with God's help."
Let us pray that all of us who are baptized will show no partiality, but like God, will treat everyone the same.
AMEN.
Please feel free to contact Dr. Lewis
if you have questions or comments about this or any sermon.