This statement is found in the conclusion of the story about a man named Cornelius… a Roman Centurion, in the Italian Battalion, a Gentile, living in Samaria. Peter is a Jewish fisherman turned follower of Jesus, but is still struggling with the idea of a non-Jewish person being accepted by God. Then God shows up.
Peter is hungry, falls into a trance right before dinner, has a vision of all kinds of animals, and a voice tells him to kill and eat. I have totally had that same dream, but for Peter this was new. The animals were not to code according to Jewish food restrictions, and Peter being a good Jew refuses to do it. The voice in the dream tells him it’s cool… God has made it clean, it is no longer unholy.
Cornelius has a vision too. He was told to find a man he doesn’t know (named Peter), bring him home and listen to what he says.
It works. Peter agrees to visit Cornelius and tells him how to become a follower of Jesus, Cornelius goes all in, Peter understands the dream is about people not food, it’s a beautiful story… if you’re Cornelius. This is much more difficult for Peter. This experienced rocked his world.
In Acts 10:34 one of the first church leaders finally gets it. “It” still remains one of the great truths of following Jesus… Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”
Every nation. Accepted. No favoritism. How true. Realize.
