The dispersion saw the message of Jesus going north as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Phoenicia is modern day Lebanon and the principal cities are Tyre and Sidon. They are up on the north east corner of the Mediterranean Sea. Cyprus is an island off the coast in that area and was the home of Barnabas. Antioch is in Syria about fifteen miles inland. It was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, next to Rome and Alexandria in North Africa. Antioch became the mission headquarters for Paul's three missionary journeys.

It is in Antioch that the Church first begins to preach to the Gentile in earnest. Also it was in Antioch that the disciples are first called Christian. The church is now spreading out in concentric circles, as a pebble dropped into a pool of water, and the ripples go out in never ending circles. Unfortunately, Acts only goes north and west. The gospel went in all directions.

Jerusalem, still maintaining its authority, sends Barnabas to Antioch to see what is going on. He is so impressed with their faith that he encourages them to spread the gospel and then decides to stay and help them. Barnabas travels to Tarsus to get Paul. This was right up his alley, his kind of work. Together Paul and Barnabas work for a year in Antioch until a prophet by the name of Agabus predicts the great famine throughout the empire. As Judea was to be much worse off, they decide to take up a collection for the church in Jerusalem and send Paul and Barnabas to deliver it.

The elders referred to in Acts 11:30 probably mean James the brother of Jesus and his helpers. The Apostles may have all been away from Jerusalem at the time. We date this event between 43 and 44 A.D. Herod died in 44 A.D. and Paul's first missionary journey starts about 46 A.D. Paul's letter to the Galatians helps with some of this dating

In chapter 12, Herod starts to persecute the Christian church in Jerusalem. This was to win favour with the Jews in that city. James, the brother of John is beheaded. He is the first of the apostles to be killed. Herod found this so pleased the Jews that next he arrests Peter with the same probable intent. This time he was not going to be let off with a slap on the wrist. Therefore, God sent an angel to lead him out of prison right past all of the guards, including the two to whom he is chained. God's work is not going to be thwarted. Peter's mission was not yet finished. Notice also this is the season of Passover, does that sound familiar?

Peter quickly goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark and probably one of the centres of Christianity in that city. Here we again see Luke's humour. Peter knocks on the door, expecting any moment to see the prison guards come around the corner. The maid, Rhoda answers the door and didn’t even let Peter in. She slams the door in his face and goes back into the house to tell her mistress and poor Peter is left standing there, exposed to the city street. They begin to argue about what the poor servant girl really saw. Was it only the ghost of Peter? Remember they had been praying all night for Peter's release and here he is and they don't believe it! He starts banging on the door, and finally Mary lets him in before he is picked up. Peter explains what has happened and tells them to tell James and the other elders in Jerusalem and he then flees the city. This James is the brother of Jesus and he becomes the head of the Jerusalem Church as the apostles move out. John, after the death of his brother James, probably left Jerusalem at this time. He took Mary, the mother of Jesus with him and eventually ends up at Ephesus. He and Peter however were back in Jerusalem about 50 AD. in time for the Council of Jerusalem.

The poor soldiers who were guarding Peter were put to death. It was not really their fault but someone had to pay. That was the usual price for losing a prisoner.

Herod goes to Caesarea and dies there and the word of God continues to increase in Jerusalem.

Paul and Barnabas take Mark with them back to Antioch and they get ready for their first missionary journey. Thus, begins the spread of the gospel into Asia Minor.

Syrian-Antioch becomes the centre of the missionary church. It is the starting place for all three of Paul's missionary journeys.

In Antioch we see many exciting things happening, especially with the words of prophecy occurring there. There is a certain excitement to new beginnings.

Paul emerges as the leader of this missionary group. Barnabas is happy in his role of the encourager. Encouragers are rarely the charismatic leaders. Barnabas doesn’t seem to resent this shift, but John Mark may have.

It was the Holy Spirit who spoke to the church in Antioch to set apart Paul and Barnabas for this special work as missionaries. After fasting and prayer, they are set apart by the church and commissioned by the laying on of hands for this purpose. They take Mark, Barnabas's cousin with them and set off for Cyprus.

Cyprus was the home of Barnabas but Paul is obviously in charge. He speaks in the Synagogue. This would set a pattern for his missionary endeavours. He would go first to the synagogue. There are several reasons for this. First, it would give him a ready-made audience, including some Gentiles. In every major synagogue throughout the empire, there were many God-Fearers. (Remember Cornelius?) These gentiles had a great respect and interest in the Jewish religion but did not want to convert to Judaism, which happened very seldom. They regularly attended the synagogue for teaching and would be a ready audience for Paul's message. Second, Paul was a Jew and always remembered his Jewish roots. Third, he believed that God's redemptive plan of salvation was to save the Jews first and then the Gentiles. See Romans 1:16 AI am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.@

In Paphos, the west end of Cyprus, Paul is invited to appear before the Roman authority, Sergius Paulus. Here he met the sorcerer Elymas, and confronted him to his face. He called him a child of the devil and caused him to be blinded. (Notice the similarity with Paul's own conversion)

They are now attracting the ruling class to this new faith. With the mission to the Jews it had appealed mainly to the lower classes. With the exception of a few temple priests, the Jewish authorities would have nothing to do with Christianity.

Paulus was convinced by Paul's words and the miracles he saw. The purpose of signs and wonders in God's plan is to help convert and convict people. God doesn’t usually cause illness such as blindness but the symbolism of this blindness is his inability to see the message of Jesus Christ as presented by Paul. Luke suggests that this blindness is only temporary.

Next they go to Perga, the capital of the province of Pamphylia. This is on the coast of Asia Minor. Mark leaves the mission at this point. No reason is given. Perhaps he is homesick. Perhaps he is unhappy about the leadership of Paul rather than his cousin Barnabas. Whatever the reason this would later cause a major rift between Barnabas and Paul.

On to the other Antioch, called Pisidian-Antioch in Asia Minor. Paul again gets up to teach in the synagogue. He relates the history of the Jews from Abraham to David and then relates how Jesus is the direct descendent of King David. David represented the great king of Israel. He shows that Jesus is the promised Messiah and even brings in John the Baptist who was the forerunner to the Messiah. He carefully builds a case for them to understand who Jesus is

By putting Jesus to death, the religious authorities in Jerusalem were actually fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament. He preached Jesus crucified, resurrected and appearing to many witnesses from Jerusalem to Galilee.

Paul was well received at the synagogue and even invited back the following Sabbath. The next week the whole city turns out and the Jewish authorities are jealous of his popularity. As the Jews reject him, he turned his attention to the God-Fearers and the other Gentiles. Luke tells us, “all who were appointed for eternal life believed” (13:48) Do we see the beginning of Paul's theology of predestination here?

Again the Jewish authorities stirred up the civic leaders and they expel Paul from Antioch.

The disciples are filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit (13:52). On to Iconium. Here again they followed the same procedure going first to the synagogue. Again, after some initial success, the leadership is stirred up usually because of the popularity of Paul and Barnabas even though many signs and wonders followed their speeches.

They spent a considerable time in Iconium but again had to leave because of the persecution.

On to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe. At Lystra Paul healed a man who had been paralyze from birth. The people thought they were the Greek gods of Zeus and Hermes and they try to make sacrifices to them. This was rather embarrassing and not what they wanted to happen. They were trying to turn the people from worshipping these false gods and to worship the one true God revealed in Jesus Christ.

The Jewish leaders from Pisidian-Antioch show up and turn the people against Paul and Barnabas. They stone Paul but somehow he survives. He is dragged outside the city wall and left to die. His disciples come to him and he gets up and goes back into the city, probably daring them to try and kill him. Wisely, he left the next day but he left behind an established church presence in Derbe as in other places he visited.

He returns through Lystra and Iconium, making his way back to Antioch, Perga and Attalia. In each place, Paul establishes a small house church with elders to pastor the people. They appointed these leaders only after much prayer and fasting. The house churches would carry on in his absence and he would keep in touch with them both by letter and by revisits. I am sure there are many more letters of Paul, which did not survive than there are of the ones we possess in the New Testament.

They sailed back to Syrian-Antioch, their headquarters and reported to the church there on their missionary endeavours. Interesting their report was not to Jerusalem but to Antioch. We see the start of a shift in the centre of the church away from Jerusalem.

Now that I have said this, the next chapter deals with the Council of Jerusalem about 50 A.D. Jerusalem is still the centre of the Jewish Christians and of the Apostles, but the centre for the missionary endeavours has certainly shifted to Antioch.

The Gentile church in Antioch is plagued by Christian Jews called Judaizers, who come down from Jerusalem and teach the need to follow all of the Jewish laws especially circumcision. Paul and Barnabas both agree this is not necessary and they dispute with these Jewish Christians. This dispute leads eventually to the need to appeal to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas and others from Antioch are sent to Jerusalem to talk to the Apostles, especially Peter and the Elder James who seems to be head of the Jerusalem church at this time. This is the brother of Jesus. The apostles were busy travelling about the countryside, and probably left James in charge of the Jerusalem church.

Paul and Barnabas share the success of their Gentile missions with the Apostles and elders. They were well received by the Jerusalem church. However as the Pharisaic Christians continue to proclaim the necessity to follow all of the laws of Moses; the Council of Jerusalem is called into session. This is about A.D. 49 - 50.

Peter relates his experience with the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:) Paul and Barnabas relate their experiences of signs and wonders that God did among the Gentile believers.

It is the Elder James who is the most Jewish of the early Christians, who proposes a compromise solution. If the Gentiles agreed to abstain from meat offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from meat of strangled animals, and from blood, they would not have to obey the other laws of Judaism, including circumcision. Strangled animals meant the blood had not been drained from their body. The kosher way of slaying an animal was to slit its throat and drain all of the blood out of it.

This was agreeable to the contingency from Antioch so a letter was drafted to this effect from the Apostles and they sent Judas and Silas with them back to Antioch to help explain the decision of the Council of Jerusalem. The major issue here is they did not have to submit to circumcision. This is very significant. To be circumcised was to be a Jew and most Gentiles were averse to actually becoming Jews. This was a major issue in the early church and it almost split it, although the Council of Jerusalem had ruled in favour of the Gentiles. This issue was not fully resolved until the demise of the Jerusalem church and the end of Jewish influence upon the church.

You will notice in the letter to the church at Antioch from the apostles, Barnabas's name is mentioned first? To the church in Jerusalem, he was still the leader of the church in Antioch and of the missionary journeys, although to all intents and purposes Paul was. The Apostles really could not figure out Paul and except for Peter, this was true for the rest of his life. The letter also begins, Ait seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us@ The early church lived by being directed by the Holy Spirit.

This letter greatly encouraged the church in Antioch. They had won all that they wanted, i.e. No circumcision. Paul and Barnabas remain in Antioch and decide to go back into the field to revisit the churches from the first missionary journey.

Barnabas wanted to take Mark, but Paul refused because of the way Mark had acted on the last trip. They had a falling out which was unfortunate for they made a great team. Barnabas and Mark head to Cyprus and Paul takes Silas with him. I often wonder what Paul and Barnabas may have accomplished if they had stayed together. They were a great team and needed each other but they are never completely reconciled. Barnabas does not appear again in the Acts. Paul does speak kindly of him in one of his later letters but there does not seem to be a further meeting between them. On the other hand, Mark and Paul do make up and Mark was with Paul at his request as he neared the end of his life in Rome.

Next week we will look at the second missionary journey of Paul with Silas about 51 A.D. Chapters 16 through 18:22 in the Acts.

Some questions for further reflection:

How do we deal with conflict in our church?

Are we able to confront and challenge one another in love in this place?

Are we able to suffer for our faith?

Some theological thoughts:

The list of prophets present in Antioch in Acts 13 suggest an interesting array of people from many walks of life and backgrounds. The church is starting to appeal to all sorts and conditions of people. Also notice after the prophetic words given by the Holy Spirit, the church had to ratify these words with prayer and fasting and then lay on hands symbolizing their commissioning and strengthening.

Paul and Barnabas represent the Christian community. They were always conscious that they were responsible to this community. They did not go off and do their own thing!

Paul was first and foremost a Jew. This is demonstrated at every stop along the way when he goes first to the Jewish synagogue. For Paul the gospel is the completion of the promises of God to Israel. A visitor in a Jewish synagogue is usually asked to bring greetings and perhaps a word of encouragement. Note, it is Paul who speaks for the Christians. He uses this opportunity to proclaim Christ by showing the Jews that Jesus was indeed the expected Messiah. He appeals to their history of God working out his purpose in that history. Jesus is the culmination and completion of this history.

Paul proves his role as an apostle in healing, confronting evil and in confounding his listeners.

With the Gentiles Paul used a different tack. He proved to them the existence of God, this was the God of the Jews and Jesus was his Messiah.

In Acts 13:52, Luke is again giving us another Pentecost experience. AThe disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.@ These little gems appear throughout the Acts.

The Judaizers proclaimed that if the Christians are to share in salvation, they must be part of the covenant community. The way to do this was through circumcision. Without it, they could not be saved. You can understand why they could cause such confusion when they preached to new Gentile converts.

At the Council of Jerusalem the church showed that controversy was not wrong in itself. They needed to air their respective views. The method of settling this controversy is rather instructive.
a.) they appeal to tradition represented by the apostles.
b.) they appeal to experience.
c.) they appeal to scriptures.

All three are necessary in arriving at a reasonable solution. Often the solution is found in compromise.

The Book of the Acts illustrates Jesus willingness to suffer in obedience to God and through his suffering, God glorifies him. Luke is appealing to the church to keep the faith in face of persecution. Remember Paul who could withstand a stoning, picked himself up and walks back into the face of danger daring them to try to kill him.

Last week we ended with the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. This set in motion several events, which helped to shape the future church.

First is the persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem. Luke tells us that a great persecution broke out and many Christians scatter throughout Judea and Samaria. Only the apostles remained in Jerusalem, and they were probably in hiding. They would not be safe anywhere in Judea and the thought of leaving Palestine comes much later.

With this dispersion, Christians, other than the apostles, start to share the word with the people they met along the way. They were still preaching to the Jews, but at least they had started to get out from Jerusalem.

Saul is at the centre of much of the persecution, as he searched the homes and arrested all who even appeared to have some Christian tendencies. His first reaction to being present fro the stoning of Stephen seems to be one of anger and frustration. This was a frightening time for the young church, and the fiercest persecution by the Jewish authorities to date.

Philip who had been elected as a deacon with Stephen, went to Samaria and preached in that city. The Samaritans were the remnants of the ten northern tribes of Israel who had been left behind during the exile in 722 B.C. They had intermarried with the Canaanites and were considered unclean and impure by the Jews. The northern tribes disappear from the pages of history. When the Jews in the south returned from their exile in 480 B.C., they treated the Samaritans rather shabbily. For more than four hundred years, this hostility continued to simmer, so by the time of Jesus, the Samaritans were the hated enemies of the Jews. They would have nothing to do with each other. So much so that if a Jew was going from Jerusalem to Galilee, he would walk several miles out of his way to avoid going through the land of the Samaritans.

Jesus' special treatment of the Samaritans was very unusual and he was often criticized for his involvement with them. Remember, they were still Jews although not of pure bloodlines.

So here we have Philip following the Lord's example and taking the Gospel into Samaria. He preaches and heals, just as Stephen had done and many miracles are occurring in that city, As Luke tells us, there was much 'joy in the city'. (This was the theme of the first Charismatic conference I have ever attended. It was held in Convocation Hall at the University and I can't even remember the speakers, only the music and the beautiful praise time and of course the theme.)

In Samaria there was a magician called Simon Magus (which means magician) who did great feats of magic and was very popular. He and several of his followers heard the words of Philip and saw his miracles, and were baptized by him.

The Apostles hiding in Jerusalem receive word about the work of Philip and send Peter and John to check it out. This seems to be a common occurrence in the early part of Acts. The apostles made sure that anything done in the name of the church was right and proper. After all, Philip was only a deacon!

Peter and John liked what they saw. Philip's evangelism was reaping a great harvest. So they laid hands on the heads of the believers and they received the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Here is yet another Pentecostal experience in Acts. What did the Samaritans do? We are not sure, but their reaction was so significant that poor Simon Magus wanted to buy that power. This magician who supposedly had great power of his own, wanted this power possessed by the Apostles. He wanted to buy the power accorded the Apostles in confirming the faith on the believers.

A loose translation of Peter's answer was 'go to hell with your money.' One cannot buy the apostolic gift. God freely gives it upon those He has chosen.

Peter confronts Simon with these words, “Your heart is so evil you will have no part of this gift until you repent and ask his forgiveness. If you do so, perhaps God will forgive you, but right now your heart is too full of bitterness and caught up in sin.@ Peter again confronts evil and prevents it from becoming part of the church. (Like Ananias and Sapphira)

Simon Magnus does seek forgiveness and is not struck down dead, and we don't know if he became part of the church in Samaria. I think he did. Legend suggests that he later became a Gnostic and led the attack on the church from within.

This passage has been used for many years by the church as the basis of Confirmation. Notice, it is the Apostles who do the laying on of hands. The bishops are the successors of the Apostles. We believe that the Holy Spirit is given at Baptism but it has yet to manifest itself with the believers at Samaria. As Peter and John lay hands on them, the Holy Spirit starts to make his presence known. The Holy Spirit within us needs to be released. Confirmation should be a release of this Holy Spirit. The church has not taught this very well, has it!

The bishops are the sign of unity within the church. Thus, the bishop is necessary in Confirmation, to join this Christian believer with the whole church of Jesus Christ. Confirmation is taking on this adult responsibility of church membership. This theology of Confirmation still needs to be rethought in this 21st century. It is not as clear as it was 25 years ago and hopefully the next 25 years will see much more thought and prayers about its role in the church. Some churches no longer have confirmation. Young children and communion have made it unnecessary for them. That is not good theology either!

I personally feel confirmation is necessary and essential. It needs to be taught differently. I believe the Holy Spirit is given to each person in baptism. Then that person needs to grow in the faith and be nurtured until he or she is ready to make an adult profession of their faith. Confirmation then becomes a reaffirmation of what we believe and a release of the power of the Holy Spirit so we can do the work of a Christian. It becomes our empowerment, or our baptism in the Holy Spirit. We have not done a good job of teaching confirmation over the years. (Myself included)

Peter and John return to Jerusalem preaching throughout the villages of Samaria as they go and the Christian faith takes root in that part of the country.

Philip meanwhile, being led by an angel, heads south to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Here he encounters and Ethiopian Eunuch. The Ethiopian had been to Jerusalem to worship. He is obviously a Jew and he has made his pilgrimage to the Holy City. He is reading from Isaiah as he travels. The Holy Spirit tells Philip to go up to the chariot and preach to this Ethiopian. As he interprets the prophet Isaiah for him, he starts to explain how Isaiah was really talking about Jesus and he shares the good news with him. They come to a pool of water, the Ethiopian asks to be baptized and he was. The Holy Spirit leads Philip away and the Ethiopian goes on his way, singing praises to God. This is also a Pentecostal experience, not quite as vivid as some others are, but Luke does suggest that the Eunuch in praising God is demonstrating that he too is filled with the Holy Spirit

Now this Eunuch was not just any old Eunuch! He was in charge of the treasurery for Queen Candace. Thus, he had an important post in the Ethiopian government. Did he go home and establish a Christian Church there? We don't know, but we do know that by 300 A.D. Christians in Ethiopia outnumbered the Jews!

Philip went to Azotus which is due west on the Mediterranean coast, and from there up to Caesarea on the coast. Philip next appears in Acts 21:8 and he is still in Caesarea. Did he stay there for the whole twenty years? We don't know, but he does remain very much a part of the Christian community.

Meanwhile Paul continues to persecute the church and more and more Christians are fleeing the holy city. Finally, he goes to the High Priest to receive letters of permission to chase the Christians as far as Damascus and to arrest any he finds there.

Here we see the use of the term 'the way' to describe Christianity. They are followers of the way. (Acts 9:2)

Paul pursues them to Damascus but he does not quite make it all the way. A blinding light from heaven strikes him, he falls from his horse and as he lay there, he meets the resurrected Jesus. This was not a vision for Paul. This is reality. Paul later uses this experience to prove that he is an apostle. One of the marks of the apostle was to be a witness to the resurrected Jesus. If Paul met him, as he said he did, then he is indeed a witness to the resurrected Jesus. Are you going to dispute Paul on this? I'm not!

Paul was led into Damascus by the hand and he fasts for three days. Meanwhile, God tells Ananias, a local Christian leader, to go to Paul and heal him and baptism him because he has been chosen by God to become the evangelist to the Gentiles. This is not the same Ananias we meet in Acts 5 who died because he tried to deceive the Church of Jesus Christ! Paul got his marching orders right from the beginning. It would be sometime before he put it into practice.

Paul is healed, receives the Holy Spirit and then is baptized. Paul begins at once to preach in the Synagogue in Damascus. There goes his career as an up and coming rabbi!

Paul grew more powerful in his preaching and he baffled the Jews as he continued to prove that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After about three years in Damascus and other parts of Arabia (see Galatians 1:17-18) Paul has to flee Damascus and heads to Jerusalem

Here the disciples are afraid of him and he is cut off from the Christian community. Finally, it is Barnabas who comes to his aid and trusting Paul, he leads him to the Apostles' hideout. Barnabas was taking quite a chance. Here was the man who had been persecuting the Church in Jerusalem and suddenly he has a change of heart! This must be suspect. His trust is rewarded and Paul begins to preach in the synagogues in Jerusalem. He especially goes to the Greek speaking Jews. The apostles were all Palestinian Jews, so Paul figures he might as well go to the other group. But it is still to the Jews.

Again he must escape Jerusalem and he is whisked off to Caesarea, (with Philip?). Then he is sent to Tarsus his home. He spends the next several years there before he begins his mission to the Gentiles. (We will come back to Paul next week, and in fact, he will dominate the rest of this course. Next week I will look at the man Paul, and his theology)

Luke tells us there is a brief period of peace in Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit strengthens and encourages the church. It continued to grow. Another little marker inserted by Luke.

Meanwhile, back to Peter: he is travelling about the countryside, sharing the stories and trying to support and strengthen the church. He heals Aeneas who had been a paralytic for eight years. He lived in Lydda. Many who saw this miracle turn to Jesus. Next he heads to Joppa, present day Jaffa, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Here he goes to the house of Tabitha, a woman who is called a disciple (the only woman in the Bible who has this title). She does many good works and helps the poor. She is also a maker of fine clothes. Her other name is Dorcas and many church groups use this name for a group of women who sew altar hangings etc.

At Joppa Peter raised Dorcas from the dead. Notice how Peter's healing miracles parallel those of Jesus. For the healing of the paralytic see Luke 5:24; for the healing of Tabitha, compare the healing of the young girl in Luke 8:40-42, 49-56. The power of the Holy Spirit with Peter was indeed the power of Jesus Christ. Luke is telling us that the healings in the early church are the continuation of the healings of Jesus. It is obvious that he has passed on this ministry, along with many others, to the church.

Peter went next to stay with Simon the Tanner. The significance of this billet is that Simon is a tanner that is he dealt with dead animals. Anything dead was unclean to the Jew. Thus, Simon would be considered unclean and not fit company for a good Jew. Yet Peter stayed with him, thus breaking down some more barriers of the Jewish law.

It is at the house of Simon that Peter has his vision about eating unclean animals, another breaking with the laws of Judaism.

Cornelius at Caesarea, about thirty miles up the coast also has a vision. He is a god-fearing man, respected by the Jews but is obviously not one of them. He is a Roman centurion, an officer in the Imperial Army. The Centurion was in charge of 100 men and is the highest rank that an enlisted man could rise to in the Roman army. The Centurions were considered the backbone of the imperial army. The Holy Spirit tells him to send for Peter at Joppa and to hear his story.

Peter is up on the rooftop about noon. This would be an unusual time to be there. Usually you went on the housetop in the cool of the evening, to catch the evening breeze. Perhaps this was the only place Peter could find peace and quiet for his prayer time. As he prays, he sees a vision of a great sheet containing all kinds of unclean animals and God tells him to take and eat. This is so against his nature that it takes three times before he finally gets it. God told him that what he has made should never be considered unclean. Then he is told to go with the servants of Cornelius and share Jesus with that household. It was not just food; it was people who should never be considered unclean.

Peter takes some Christian Jews from Joppa to Caesarea with him and they go to the house of Cornelius. Here he finds a large gathering of people. The significance of this event is that they are all Gentiles. This is the first time in the Acts that we see the gospel being expressly preached to the Gentiles. Peter relates to them his vision giving him authority to be there for he could not have associated with them if God had not given him permission. Peter realizes that God does accept all people and then he preaches Jesus crucified and resurrected to them. He tells them of course that he is an eyewitness of this risen Christ.

Now a strange thing happens. As Peter is preaching, the Holy Spirit falls upon them and they start to speak in tongues and prophesy. This is another Pentecostal event in the Acts. Although they were Gentiles, the Holy Spirit came upon them and Peter asks can they deny these people baptism? They receive the Holy Spirit before they are even baptized! This is not the usual order, but then God can work in whatever order He choices.

However back in Jerusalem, the Christian Jews are angry with Peter. What right did he have to ignore the Jewish laws? And he has to explain his actions to them. He explains his position so forcefully that the leaders in Jerusalem had to accept his actions. This would be a constant source of trouble for the young church over the next twenty or thirty years. It led of course to the circumcision controversy in the early church, which was supposedly settled at the Council at Jerusalem in 50 A.D., but many of the Christian Jews especially in Palestine did not accept it.

Thoughts for consideration:

Who are the Tabitha's (workers of mercy) and the Barnabas's (encouragers) in this parish? Every church needs them. How do we help people discover their ministry?

Some theological thoughts to remember:

Acts is primarily about conversion. There are many kinds of conversion demonstrated on these pages. Conversions can be instantaneous as Paul's appears to be, or over a long process as with Peter.

Conversion in Acts is usually a symbol. Most people we never see again (with the exception of Paul, Peter and Barnabas) God is creating a community not based on human design but a divine one. He is doing a new thing, cutting across ethical barriers and cultural differences. Symbols show the power of God at work creating his church out of every race and people (Jew, Samaritan and Gentile).

There is no set pattern to conversion. Each is unique. Conversion is not an end in itself but adds a new dimension to the church. Conversion for Luke must be ratified by the church. That is why Jerusalem, the centre of Christianity for the very early church, had to send out people to check out the various missions. They must be sure that they were teaching orthodoxy and not some false gospel. Later this role is transferred to the Bishop.

For Luke the gospel had the power to change lives. He was not interested in how it happened, just that it did happen. Our faith should be an ongoing journey for us, but the journey must be within the Christian community.

What is our vision for this church and how do we help others to share this vision? How would you chart your conversion experience? You all have one! What still needs to be converted within you?


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