Forgiveness for Any Believer – Acts 10

A text – Acts 10:34-43

10:34 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
10:35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
10:36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ–he is Lord of all.
10:37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:
10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
10:39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
10:40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,
10:41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
10:42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.
10:43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

A reflection:

After Jesus’s ascension, Peter sums up Jesus’s entire ministry, 3 years long, in 3-4 verses here: his baptism, his miracles, his teaching, his death and resurrection, and his appearances to the 12 and others after he was raised. He tells the people that those witnesses were told by Jesus to preach to the people and testify that Jesus is the one ordained by God to judge the living and the dead, and that those who believe in him will receive forgiveness through his name.

Not only was Jesus the miracle-worker who was killed but also raised from death, but also he is the judge of all who will grant forgiveness to anyone who believes. Truly the savior of the nations. And if that weren’t enough, Peter, in his speech, declares that this forgiving Lord is in fact Lord of all, Jew and non-Jew. Salvation came to the whole earth, not just for the Jews.

This passage of Acts is a summary of the upside-down nature of Jesus’s life and ministry – not just for Jews, not to topple Rome and make the Jewish state independent, and our salvation not about good works that follow the law but merely by believing in Jesus and calling upon his name. Great news for us Gentiles, to be sure. But perhaps hard news for those who had devoted their lives to scrupulously following the Law. To folks who were actively “earning” salvation through discipline and rule-following, God’s letting the lazy Gentiles into heaven could not have been welcome news. We rule-followers love to judge those who break the rules. But Jesus said in many ways that Judgment is God’s, not ours, to do. It’s hard to give up superiority, unless we, too, need God’s mercy. I do. Do you? Then, rejoice.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for extending your peace and your heavenly kingdom to all who fall short of rule-following perfection. Help us not to judge others and leave that and the delivering of mercy to you, Lord. You are bountiful.   Amen.