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[00:00:00] John: Well, David, we spent our last podcast just on the first two verses of chapter 10 because my goodness, they were dense with material. As we thought about Cornelius, this incredible introduction that we were given to this man Centurion, Caesarea, the Italian regiment or cohort, and in.

[00:01:09] Verse two, dynamic symmetry that he was a devout man. God faring, give to the poor praise regularly. We just, it's just this curve ball is given to us. So we, we just reflected on just the potency of that introduction into chapter 10. How this is setting something huge up. And and we're just gonna continue that conversation now into the rest of the story of, of Cornelius.

[00:01:35] So it was, it was quite an amazing introduction to him, wasn't it?

[00:01:38] David: Well, I think it's, it's classically Luke now when he pays attention to something, we should pay attention to that, that something, cuz I think he's saying, Hey, don't miss this by the way. This is, this is really gonna help you. And I think that rules. Into then, verse one, look, he's Cornelius, he's a centurion.

[00:01:57] He's in Caesar Zia, verse two. He's devout fears. God gives generously praise constantly to God. And then we roll into one afternoon about three o'clock. I mean it's, I mean, even, and I was curious to what you thought about even the reference to the time, very specific. But at three o'clock he saw an angel and.

[00:02:20] John: Yeah. Well, and of course if, if our, if our listeners, if you've been with us through the whole book of acts, we've bumped into three o'clock before,

[00:02:28] David: Hmm.

[00:02:29] John: so back in chapter three, I know that feels probably like a million years ago. We talked about chapter three, but in chapter three, of course, we have that amazing story of Peter and John.

[00:02:38] Going to the temple and the raising up of the, the paralyzed man at the gate. Beautiful. And that happens, they are going to the hour of prayer, three in the afternoon. Some, some old translations will have the ninth hour, but it's three o'clock in the afternoon. So it feels to me, David, like this is not a coincidence.

[00:03:00] We've just, we've just read in verse two that this is a man who prayed continuously Now. If I, if I was a Roman centurion coming into some. Of, of faith a a God fairness, that seems to put me on, on at least the fringe of that Jewish world, if not entirely into it. Then if I was wanting to learn how to pray, I'd probably try and follow the patterns.

[00:03:28] Of maybe the people that are starting to influence him influence me. And it could be that he is literally following the hour of prayer as followed by, by Jews in Jerusalem. So, so it, it doesn't, it doesn't feel weirdly coincidental, the fact that the Dr. Luke drops that piece of detail in just, Ooh, hold on.

[00:03:50] We've met that before. Is that one of those God incident moments? Where when all these wonderful Jewish believers and followers of Jesus are praying at three in the afternoon, he just happens either by implication to be praying, but certainly he gets this vision at three in the afternoon. So it, it feels to me very significant in terms of his own spirituality.

[00:04:14] David: when you say three o'clock in the afternoon in Luke 23, you've. About noon. Darkness came all over the whole land until three in the afternoon, and I am just struck by the, the, it was dark until three, and now at three, this news of great , hope is arriving with the one who was maybe previously in darkness.

[00:04:38] I don't know, maybe I'm pushing it too far, John.

[00:04:40] John: Yeah, I love it. Love it, love it. No, it's great. No, I, I think well, at, at the very least, as we often say to our listeners, you may not build your house on this, but it's worth keeping on the table, right? Isn't it? So, so you, in the look in narrative, we've had three references to the ninth hour. One to do with the crucifixion, one to do with the healing of a.

[00:04:59] Of a paralyzed man and any other to-do now with a centurion. And, and there is at least a beautiful connection that, that from the death of Jesus at the ninth hour, you've got this lovely golden thread of healing and now potentially salvation. One a Jewish example and one a gentile example. Could be all complete coincidence, but it's a pretty cool coincidence if it is.

[00:05:24] It's really

[00:05:24] David: Things, things happen at three o'clock, that is yeah.

[00:05:27] John: that. I love

[00:05:28] David: And, and so he sees this, this angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius, I mean, I love even the familiarity of that, that he knows, he knows his name. Like it's good, isn't it? It's, it's this sort of, 

[00:05:42] John: and, and, and again. Back to chapter nine, I couldn't help but notice, so remember we talked about Shaul Shaul, the double emphasis in on Saul when he's called, and maybe that I referenced it, something very significant in the TaNaK. But then when the Lord speaks to an Anais, it's one word, Ananias.

[00:06:02] An Ananias responds, yes, Lord, I'm listening and you're. Same echo here, Cornelius, he just has to say his name once 

[00:06:11] David: and,

[00:06:11] look at his response.

[00:06:12] John: Indeed, indeed. There is a little bit of an Ananias echo there within that. So if we were putting 10 and 11 10 and nine together, you're sort of going, oh, that's interesting.

[00:06:24] David: Who are 

[00:06:24] you Lord? Who are you? Lord is Sauls here I am. Lord is Anais. And what is it?

[00:06:31] Lord is 

[00:06:32] John: it?

[00:06:33] David: Oh, it's so good. It's so good.

[00:06:35] John: Isn't that great, isn't it? Yeah. So, so you get three moments of encounter that all have three separate, slightly different responses, but they're saying something about where that person is, Saul saying, who, who are you, Lord, sort of thing. And then, and then we've got, we've got almost like a, like a Roman soldier would respond, what, 

[00:06:55] David: Yeah.

[00:06:56] John: what is it you want?

[00:06:57] It's like he's, he's like expecting an order. He's expecting the Lord to tell him to do something and like a good centurion would do. He would just obey what he's told to do sort of thing. But, but again, gorgeous, that Lord language again, isn't it beautiful? It's just that that runs through all three responses in chap's name.

[00:07:15] David: And, and, and also just, are harking back to other things we've said in previous episodes of two tests, two texts. Notice that Mary continues her streak of being the only person to encounter an angel and not be terrified. And,

[00:07:30] uh, 

[00:07:31] John: right. Come on. 

[00:07:32] David: so there's this constant, angels are clearly not the thing you want to encounter.

[00:07:38] And to be fair, if you read the descriptions of Angels in Isaiah and also in Revelation, you kind of realize that maybe the children's angels are not, are, are not good descriptions, but, but. I was interested as well. So you this gorgeous, Cornelius knows him by name. He responds in knowledge, although afraid.

[00:07:59] He definitely is aware. And, and, and it's not lost on me that it's. He is a devout man who feared God and here he encounters God, and, and there is a sense of, of, of fear that's going on there. He was he was, he was afraid. And, and so I think that's, there's maybe something to sort of, draw that link there, but I was curious about this.

[00:08:24] Almost temple like language. Your prayers and your arms have ascended as a memorial before God. I mean, what a, what a gorgeous thing to hear from the Lord. But, but this idea of, I mean, do you feel that that sense of it, it, there's a little bit of temple stuff going on here.

[00:08:43] John: certainly. Uh uh, and, and again, isn't it, isn't it lovely that the connection, prayers and gifts, so what Luke has introduced is clearly not just Luke trying to be. Sort of generous about this man e even, even now, the Lord, the messenger of the Lord is acknowledging exactly the same thing and responding to this.

[00:09:06] And, and again, I, I love this language, a memorial offering before God. That's a very, Very strong sort of, dynamic idea. Again, I I, in our last PO podcast, I said, I was reflecting on the story of Zacharia and, and the angel of the Lord says, Zacharia, you're, you're the Lord has remembered your prayer.

[00:09:27] It's come up before God. I love this sort of, and it's, and, and Cornelius is doing something. Can we say carefully that has got God's a.

[00:09:37] God is literally responding. Now we, we know and we have, we have millions of times said the Lord is a God of grace. He often reaches out to us proactively and generously and 

[00:09:47] David: Mm. 

[00:09:48] John: but, but we also see within the biblical text, he responds to, to certain things, responds to certain attitudes, response to certain behavior.

[00:09:58] Responds here to this Gentile because actually his prayers and gifts are, are a memorial. And I, I, I sort of in, in terms of that idea of memorial, I, I heard an echo David, so I hunted this echo down. Ta Malachi. And there, there's a lovely connection sort of in the idea of memorial in Malachi th this to these gorgeous words.

[00:10:24] In, in Malachi, Malachi three, then those who feared the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and heard. I love that. A scroll of remembrance, or that's that idea. Their memorial was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honor. His name and then it was on to say this in verses 17 and 18.

[00:10:49] On that day, when I act says the Lord Almighty, they will be my treasured possession. I will spur them just as a father has compassion and spurs his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not. And I, I saw this, this gorgeous link.

[00:11:13] Between what the centurion was doing, the spirit of what the centurion was doing, and this idea captured this memorial Remembrance captured even in Malachi of this, that, that Lord the Lord listened and heard those who feared him and talked about him. And back to back to Cornelius's household, we've already talked about the fact that that.

[00:11:39] His house. It wasn't just his immediate family, but his house. And, and this idea that perhaps in this house, these people who fear the Lord have been talking about the Lord. The Lord has heard them, the Lord has listened to them. And actually there's, there's a remembrance of this that's coming up. There's almost a, a.

[00:12:00] As his gifts have been a remembrance, a memorial to the Lord. It's like the Lord has remembered his words and responded back. It's a gorgeous sort of hook around that. Now, I, I know I could be stretching it a little bit, but I love that idea of the Lord, hearing and listening, the conversation of those who fear him, and I think that's partly what's been going on in Cornelius's house.

[00:12:21] David: But I, I'm, I'm interested even in the illusion to Malachi, just generally, Malachi is an interesting text for the Cornelius story. You know, this, this idea that. That the Lord is going to put things right, but it might not work in exactly the way that everybody expects. Because just a few verses after what you have just read.

[00:12:48] You've got the end of Malachi where the Lord is. Coming to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse. Like, that's, that's literally a five, six verses on from what you just read two verses on from what you've read.

[00:13:08] You've got You who revere the my name, the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from Theto, from the stall. There is this sense that Luke is, well, I mean, lemme say it better like this. This is the Bible for Luke. There is no New Testament at his era.

[00:13:28] Is there? So he's, he's rooted in these texts when they're reading scripture. These are the prophetic texts they're looking at. There is a level wherein what Malachi's talking about is coming true in Cornelius. And and so this idea that, that Cornelius is somehow Echoing and the language is echoing.

[00:13:51] What we're seeing in scripture, I think is, is what we, we should have by now know that scripture is constantly doing this. It's echoing itself all over the place. It's how the Old Testament is constantly echoing the Old Testament and the New Testament's doing the same thing. And, and that to me adds to the depth of the, the, the scripture in, in that, in that sense that they are.

[00:14:14] That's a gorgeous line in verse 17. They are my special possession. Now think about that. A caesarian. Man called Cornelius, who is a centurion, in Malachi is in, is in mind. Perhaps you know that, that he is God's special possession. That we are God's special possession. I mean, I, I dunno, I just find that deeply emotional at the, the intersection of scripture and, and the plan of God, I think.

[00:14:44] Yeah. I love that, John. If that's not obvious,

[00:14:46] John: It's, it's delightful, David. It's delightful. And, and that, that sense that the lord, we, we've been pursuing this idea and X of the disruptive. Sort of work and presence of the spirit and that sense that the Lord is seen over the wall, he's seen in the Cornelius's house, he's seen in the cornelius's heart that, the optics would say, this man is excluded.

[00:15:12] This man will, will not be interested. This man is a battle hardened soldier, and yet the Lord. Over the wall and the Lord responds to this man. And do you know, at at a wider level, David. It gives me great hope for the world. I think, sometimes if we're not careful as, as religious people, we think that th certain things can only happen a certain way.

[00:15:36] That, that actually if people are going to come to faith, they come to faith because we, we do the things we normally do. And of course do I believe that, of course I do. But I love the idea that the Lord is at work in Cornelius all over the world, that the Lord is at work amongst people who are in the secret place crying out, or they are trying to somehow make sense of a broken world, or they're trying to do righteous things.

[00:16:07] Now. Now, now. So that none of. Listeners misunderstand. I, I know that we're only saved by grace, that we're not saved by our own works of righteousness. But, but like Cornelius, here's a man attempting to make sense of the world by doing right things. He's probably killed people in his life. He's probably got blood on his hands.

[00:16:29] He's probably seeing horrific things on the battlefield or else he wouldn't have got to where he got to. And here he is. His prayers, his arms are, are a, a perfume and offering like that temple image, a sacrifice to God, a memorial to God. It's, it's the, it's the sort of, Language that's been used, the Passover, it's the language that's used here in Malachi.

[00:16:54] It's this, this permanent language. This, this is not just God. Oh yeah, there's Cornelius. No, no. This is, this has come up as a, a memorial to God. God has taken note of this man, and I'm really, David, I am deeply encouraged by the providential love of God, that that doesn't just wait for people to be fine.

[00:17:15] And doesn't just wait for people to seek, but sometimes seeks out people, even, even in the privacy of their world that I, I don't know if that makes sense, but a, a pick up on the glorious emotion of the Malachi and, and uh, X link there.

[00:17:30] David: well even, the angel turns up and says Cornelius, he's like, like, does Cornelius? Does Cornelius know that God knows his name? Does Cornelius, is, is Cornelius aware that he's on first name terms with the Lord Almighty? Like, and I'm not saying that Irreverently, but that's what's happening here in this text.

[00:17:51] You know that, oh. I am known by God, and, and not only like, just, I mean, it's stunning. Is it, not only are you known God, but like you really are known by God because God has a plan. Because just now there's a guy called Simon and he's sit, he's staying with another guy called Simon, and and they're by the sea.

[00:18:10] So I know where they are too. And, and you should go get them, and, and it's like, it, it's, I, I, I love the significance of. The, the God who I, I think it's one of my favorite Pauline scholars. J Martin talks about the God whom always moves first, and that, that everything humans do is a response to this God.

[00:18:34] And, and, and we like the agency, I think of saying, oh. Let, lemme say it stronger than that, John. Actually, I, I think there is something in our hearts that likes to think that we are somehow more special than other people, and that we have, even if it's just by our faith, we have earned something from God.

[00:18:56] And, and I think stories like this remind us that God is always moving ahead of us. God is always moving first and that even our faith. Is a gift from him, and and, and I mean, that always strikes me again, I've said it already in this episode. We're recording this, in a few days after Easter.

[00:19:14] If that story doesn't hit you hard as you go through Easter, rather that God is moving before we move and And, the Romans five, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So, so once you realize what God is willing to do before we've even flinched him, then turning up with healing in his wings at Cornelius's house is, is on type for God.

[00:19:41] This is exactly what you should expect of him. And, and I think even in act, even in 10 chapters of acts we've been through so far, this is the God who will turn up if we are not prepared to turn up. And that seems to be what's, he will, he'll dump us in the desert to go and speak to an Ethiopian he'll.

[00:19:58] He'll send us off to, remove scales from the eyes of a persecutor. And now a Roman centurion is in one sense, an anomal. And in another sense, absolutely on form for what we've encountered with Ax and, and, and what's beautiful about what you're seeing is it's not new. This is, Malachi was talking about this.

[00:20:20] John: Mm mm Oh, it's beautiful. And, and, and I think at two levels I was just reflecting and thinking as you were sharing. I think, we have in Cornelius this gorgeous personal intimacy,

[00:20:32] That the God of Heaven knows his name. And, and as you rightly point out the, there are two Simons in this story, so just in case Cornelius gets confused, it's Simon also called Peter and Simon the Tanner, so that that's separate them out.

[00:20:45] So 

[00:20:45] David: by the sea?

[00:20:47] John: Yeah. Yeah, he's nice about to say. So, so, so you get the God who reads our meal, the God who, who knows our WhatsApp thread, the God who knows all about us, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And yet he comes and, and we've seen consistently over the booger acts God calling someone by name.

[00:21:05] David: Yeah.

[00:21:06] John: we just love this magnificence of this intimacy at a personal level and, and for me and of course, so some of our listeners will also have read the book of Acts to the end.

[00:21:17] To me, of course, it's also an indication that the Lord is wanting to read, reach into the. Of an empire that covers the earth and, and touch people who, who are far away from him at the heart of that empire that by the end of the Book of Acts, we will have reached Rome itself and Paul will be fearlessly proclaiming the kingdom of God.

[00:21:42] At the very heart of the. Empire and, and you get this lovely, for me, this lovely idea of, of a messenger of the Lord coming to a man called Cornelius, who is both an individual and his household, but also representative of a whole world.

[00:22:00] David: Mm.

[00:22:01] John: Of a Roman world that now the Lord wants to infiltrate and wants to touch and change.

[00:22:09] We've seen through the Ethiopian Munich, an individual Munich become a father of Jesus and the trajectory that the Lord wants to touch the continent of Africa. And here we have in Cornelius, this beautiful, intimate individual story. But also, is it a signal? Is it, is it God? The messenger coming, saying, actually, I, I wanna, I wanna touch, This incredible Roman world.

[00:22:36] It seems so such an antithesis to the kingdom of God, and yet the Lord wants to invade that world as well. So I, I, I, I do love, I I do love the layers within Cornelius. I think, I think there's so much represented there.

[00:22:51] David: there's also something a little interesting here, and I might be, I might be digging at nothing, but there's a, there's a, a fun little juxtaposition of the angel that comes to Cornelius. And then the Cornelius, God has a messenger that sends to Cornelius, this is what I'm trying to say.

[00:23:17] And then Cornelius sends Messengers to go and find Peter. I, I, I think that's, I, I don't, I'm, I'm not, as you can tell, I'm not fully forming an idea here, but there's an interesting little parallel there, isn't there?

[00:23:29] John: Yeah, there is. There is. I, I, I saw that as well. The sort of messenger of the Lord and then the messengers of. Of Cornelius going and not just servants, but a very trusted, clearly a trusted soldier. Someone he understood, someone he knew. So he senses three. And again, that, that lovely little, again, it's, it's, it's way too much stretch.

[00:23:51] But that three in the afternoon and in three people, so you're getting this lovely sort of, just to make sure there's no mistakes. I'll send three of you to make sure this happens. And this is, this, this gets, gets to.

[00:24:03] David: Oh. But, but, but, but the, by verse 19, which I realize we've not read, they are referred to as the three men. Right. And I can't help but think about. So if you, if you think that's a stretch, here's a bigger stretch. The this is the coming true of the promise to Abraham, right? This is the, that all of the nations of the world will be blessed, and and notice for fact, when Abraham was beginning to doubt the truth of that promise, three visitors turned up, and, and so I mean, I, I'm, I'm, I don't think there's any direct connection to that in the text, but it's another one of these beautiful little biblical cemeteries that, that three visitors generally pay attention to those stories.

[00:24:47] John: And, and of course, what's, what's striking is that in sending the soldier with the other two servants, then it, there would've been no doubt in Simon Peter's mind that he was being confronted by, by Gentiles. So had, had two servants turned up. Who, who, Servants or servants. And, and in that sense, in that culture, they, they held a certain place, but a Roman soldier turning up with the two servants, it sort of heightens, it heightens the, the sort of anticipation of what's about to happen.

[00:25:20] So I think there's wisdom as well in what Cornelius is doing. The soldier may have been sent. To safeguard the servants, the soldier may have been sent because Cornelius trusted him with his life and he trusted him to accurately communicate this message to Peter because they wanted Peter to return.

[00:25:37] So, so, but, but the sort of sending of the three, I think it's, I think it's a cool idea there. It's beautiful.

[00:25:43] David: But, but interesting as well that that Cornelius's messenger from God comes straight to him. But the Cornelius's messengers to Peter have to do a little bit of searching. They have to do a little bit of looking. They get. They get close enough to be able to go find him, but, but there's a, there's a kind of similarity and then a dissimilarity isn't there?

[00:26:06] That, that, that God's messenger lands right on, like right on time. In Cornelius's vision, here I am Cornelius. Whereas Cornelius's messengers have to do a little bit of looking around. So there is a little, a beautiful little disconnect between the, the divine messenger and the, and the human messenger.

[00:26:28] And, and, and I think that's, that's kind of neat as well, that it's not completely like for like, That, that humans are not quite as good as God in that, in that sort of story, which I, which I, I think is important to remember as well.

[00:26:44] John: Yes, it is. It is. And, and, and of course what's, what's sort of really striking as well is that, and, and I know we're slightly leaping over, we'll, we'll hold the line here cuz we're, we're, this is a different podcast, but they left and then it says about noon the following day, verse nine, as they were on their.

[00:27:05] That's where Peter has his vision. So you, you get this sense of, of the, in, in terms of God's timing in Cornelius. He's doing something cornelius's life. And then as they're actually on their way, the Lord starts to complete the idea with Peter. And again, at a providential level, it just shows the Lord is at work here.

[00:27:26] Tying that, the timing of these two ideas, Really profoundly together and, and making sure they happen there. So I, I, I love that little sort of, insight into the chronology of what's happening, that the Lord's orchestrating something here. It's not just something that's happening coincidentally, but there's a, there's a providential care there.

[00:27:47] David: Well, this reminds you of the Ethiopian story, doesn't it? It's, you know, that, that we, we, God structures it also that Philip arrives just at the right time that he needs. And with the Peter story, we're gonna find out if the vision that Peter has is a bit earlier or a bit late. You, you get different whole, a different whole story, don't you?

[00:28:06] John: It's true. And, and of course we, I, I think we alluded to this a little while ago, but that, that little reference again he is staying with Simon the Tanner, which is a little throwback to the end of. Of chapter nine where it says Peter Stead in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon. And, and of course there is this lovely irony here.

[00:28:30] Is it an irony? I don't know. But, but there's this lovely moment of, of sort of, oh, that's interesting that, that Peter and the vision he's about to have about unclean things is staying with a man who sort of works. Animal skins, dead things, which are, are, it's a little bit interesting for a, for a, a good Jewish person who's trying to follow ceremonial laws of cleanliness.

[00:28:56] So, so you, you get this lovely idea that. What's about to happen in terms of what's, what's about to happen to Peter? And then the conversation Peter's about to happen to have with Cornelius, Peter is staying in the house of someone working with animals and animal skins. So, so there is, there is this lovely sense of, oh, this is been positioned just beautifully.

[00:29:20] And, and, Isn't it something of the way the Lord works? I think sometimes it's the Lord, not just speaking to us, but positioning us.

[00:29:29] David: Yes.

[00:29:30] John: Do you know what I mean? It, it's like, the Lord has the power to speak to me anywhere. But there's also a sense in which, in my experience, in my journey, there have been moments where I've been more ready to receive the word of the Lord or even more able to understand the word of the Lord because of where I've been positioned.

[00:29:48] And I find myself somewhere and then I hear something, or I find myself some. And I understand something in a different way that I would've understood it had I been somewhere else. And I think, I think this seems to nudge at that 

[00:30:05] David: I think that, and 

[00:30:06] I love the gentleness of the Holy Spirit in this, that, Peter maybe thinks that he's being superly radical by staying, and I I don't know, this doesn't say it in this text, but based on what we know of what Peter's about to say, Probably him staying with a tanner is a bit of a big deal.

[00:30:22] Like, he's like, whoa, I, I'm, I'm pretty advanced here. Look at how inclusive I'm becoming. And, and he has no idea that at noon tomorrow he's gonna have to learn a whole new level of welcome and hospitality and, And, and I think sometimes that's, I find that in my own life if I can be autobiographical about it, John is if I look back retrospectively at my journey, I can see how God was just.

[00:30:51] Pushing me in certain spaces and some of them I was resistant to. And it's only now a look back and go, you know what? That person was trying to teach me that, and I could have learned this lesson a little quicker. And then other times I go, oh wow, look at how gentle God was with me as I figured out certain things.

[00:31:08] And I'm sure that's probably still happening today as well. Uh uh, like I'm certain of that, but, but I think we do see, and just in the subtlety of this, that, that God allows us to take baby steps sometimes.

[00:31:20] John: Yeah, totally. And and do you know what I noticed again, David just like leaning into that a little bit, how willing Cornelius was to quickly obey and move

[00:31:30] so he doesn't question it, he moves. So the angel speaks. Go to Simon. Simon also called Peter Stand at the house assignment, and he, as you go, he, he, he sends two servants and a soldier immediate, and not just any soldier, a devout soldier.

[00:31:47] Interesting. That little reference. And yet, and, and I know we'll lean into this next podcast when, when the Lord speaks to Peter, Peter is reluctant to.

[00:31:56] David: Mm

[00:31:56] John: And, and you get this again, this lovely comparing contrast moment. Here's a, here's a, a Gentile. We're not, we're not even sure. What his understanding of Jesus is at this point, we're not even sure what he knows or doesn't know, but he's willing to respond immediately, even if it means he's putting himself into an awkward position where he is as a Roman soldier, putting himself into the hands of a Jewish citizen.

[00:32:25] David: Yes.

[00:32:26] John: Hey, just think about that for a moment. That's 

[00:32:28] David: It's amazing. 

[00:32:29] John: that's pretty radical at a social level in terms of occupying force and the relationship between Romans and Jews at the time. And, and then you contrast that to Peter, and I know, I know I'm jumping ahead, but, but it's a little nuance where, where Peter as we'll get into it.

[00:32:43] Nick's podcast seems to struggle to move

[00:32:48] David: Yeah, 

[00:32:48] John: and do you know what I mean? And, and so you're getting a man of God struggling.

[00:32:53] David: opening line to Cornelius is basically, I'm not really sure I want to be here.

[00:32:58] John: Indeed, indeed. So, so, so, so you get the centurion in such humility, willing to move to a place of social discomfort and awkwardness because he's so hungry and desperate for, for the Lord. And then you get Peter reluctant to move, even though, Peter is the one holding the keys. If you like. Peter's the one like holding the.

[00:33:23] And Peter's the one who, at least on the surface of it, is the one who really knows the Lord here out of these two men. So I find that, I find that lovely. We're introduced to this lovely contrast. Now as we move into Peter's story, Cornelius hears, Cornelius responds, Cornelius is ready, Cornelius goes.

[00:33:43] And then we move across to Peter and, and, and it becomes a slightly different story as Peter's journey is about to.

[00:33:51] David: And isn't that just like a lesson? Looking forward to what we're gonna see. But isn't that just a lesson? How often have we as Jesus' followers, Being slow to respond to somebody else who wants to follow Jesus because we don't like the packaging that they come in, or we don't like the, the background that they come from or in darker sort of, truths that we have to face.

[00:34:19] We don't like their race or their gender or, like this, this is our story. If we, if we pay attention, there's a lesson for us still. Just because you don't like a particular person, I mean, we said this. We said this in the last episode, we made an illusions to our conversations around Jonah.

[00:34:40] But look, look at that. That's what we see going on in the Jonah story as well, isn't it? This, you know that sometimes God is working in people's lives. It's just that we might not like them and therefore we might not like where God is working. And Acts 10, I think is a beautiful, very, very kind lesson to us about why we need to be careful with.

[00:35:04] John: Absolutely. Absolutely. And in Cornelius, he simply obeys what the Lord says. And, and ironically, Peter, Tries to suggest that the Lord may have got this wrong. And so you get this, this incredible tension I think that we face constantly and, and it reminds us to be humble, to be open, to be submissive, to not squeeze the Lord into our mh, but always allow the Lord to shape us in the His to.

[00:35:37] Try to fit the Lord into our agenda, but always be humble enough to surrender to his no matter how ridiculous or uncomfortable that may be for us.

[00:35:49]