Homily 23 — Acts 10, verses 23 to 43

“Then he called them in and gave them lodging. The next day Peter went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went with him. The day after that they entered Caesarea. And Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends.” [a]

“He called them in and gave them lodging.” Good: first he treats the men kindly after the weariness of their journey and makes them at home with him, and “the next day” he sets out with them. And some of the brothers go with him. This too was arranged by God’s providence, so that they could be witnesses afterward, when Peter would need to declare himself in the right.

“And Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends.” This is what a friend does, this is what a devout man does: where blessings like these are concerned, he takes care that his close friends share in all of them. Naturally, his “close” friends means those in whom he had always had full confidence; with so much at stake, he was afraid to trust the matter to others. In my opinion, it was Cornelius himself who had brought both his friends and his relatives to a better mind.

“And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshiped him” (verse 25). He did this both to teach the others and as a way of giving thanks to God and showing his own humility. In this way he made it plain that, although he had been commanded, he also had great devotion of his own. What, then, did Peter do? “But Peter lifted him up, saying, Stand up; I myself am also a man” (verse 26). Do you notice how, before anything else, the apostles teach people this lesson: not to think great things of them?

“And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. And he said to them, You know that it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to keep company with, or come to, someone of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (verses 27 and 28). Notice that he speaks at once of God’s mercy, and shows them that it is a great grace God has shown them. Notice also how, while he says great things, he speaks modestly at the same time. He does not say, “We, who do not deign to keep company with people like you, have come to you.” What does he say? “You know” — it was God who commanded this — “that it is against the law to keep company with, or come to, someone of another nation.” Then he goes on to say, “And God has shown me” — he says this so that no one would think the thanks were owed to him — “that I should call no man” — and so that it would not look like flattery toward Cornelius, he says “no human being” — “common or unclean.”

“That is also why” (verse 29) — so that they would not think the affair a breach of the law on his part, and so that Cornelius would not suppose Peter had given way because Cornelius held a position of command, but so that they would credit everything to God — “that is also why I came without objecting as soon as I was sent for.” Yet it was not permitted even to come to him, let alone to keep company with him. “So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.” Peter had already heard the whole matter from the soldiers too, but he wants them to state it themselves first, and so to make them ready to accept the faith.

What does Cornelius do? He does not say, “Why, didn’t the soldiers tell you?” But notice again how humbly he speaks. He says, “From the fourth day I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and look, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms have come up as a memorial before God. And at the ninth hour,” he says, “I was praying” (verses 30 and 31). It seems to me that this man had also set himself fixed times for a stricter way of life, on certain days. That is why he says, “From the fourth day.” See what a great thing prayer is! It was when he had advanced in devotion that the angel appeared to him.

“From the fourth day” means the fourth day of the week, not “four days ago.” For “the next day Peter went away with them, and the day after that they entered Caesarea”: that is one day. The day on which the men who were sent arrived at Joppa is another. And on the third the angel appeared. So there are two days after the day on which Cornelius had been praying.

“And look, a man stood before me in bright clothing.” He does not say “an angel,” so unassuming is he. “And said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. So send to Joppa and call here Simon, whose other name is Peter. He is staying in the house of a certain Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you. So I sent to you at once, and you have done well to come. Now therefore we are all here present before God, to hear everything that God has commanded you” (verses 31 to 33).

See what faith, what devotion! He knew that it was no human word Peter spoke when he said, “God has shown me.” So the man says, “We are here to hear everything that has been commanded you by the Lord.” That is why Peter had asked, “For what reason have you sent for me?” — precisely so that Cornelius would say these very words.

“Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation the one who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him” (verses 34 and 35). That is, whether he is uncircumcised or circumcised. Paul too declares this when he says, “For there is no partiality with God” (Romans 2, verse 11).

Someone may ask: “What then? Is the man over there in Persia acceptable to him?” If he is worthy, he is acceptable in this respect: that he will be granted to be brought to faith. God did not overlook the eunuch from Ethiopia. “What will anyone say, then, about the devout men who have been overlooked?” It is not the case that any such man was ever overlooked. What Peter is saying amounts to this: that God rejects no one. “In every nation the one who fears God and practices righteousness” — by righteousness he means every virtue. Notice how he puts down any swelling of pride in him.

So that the Jews would not seem to be in the position of people cast off, he adds, “The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ: he is Lord of all” (verse 36). He says this also for the sake of the Jews who were present, so that he may persuade them too; that is why he makes Cornelius speak. “He,” he says, “is Lord of all.” But notice, at the very outset: “The word,” he says, “which he sent to the children of Israel.” He gives them first place. Then he brings forward these Gentiles themselves as witnesses: “You know,” he says, “the thing that happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee” — then he confirms it by this too — “after the baptism that John preached” (verse 37), “Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power” (verse 38). He does not mean, “You know Jesus,” for they did not know him; he is speaking of the things he did.

“Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” By this he shows that many cases of lost senses or paralyzed limbs are the devil’s work, a wrenching of the body by him, as Christ also said. “For God was with him.” Again, humble language. “And we are witnesses of all the things he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem” (verse 39): both “we,” he says, and you. Then comes his suffering, and the reason why they do not believe: “Whom they also killed, and hanged on a tree. God raised him up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen beforehand by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (verses 40 and 41). This is a proof of the resurrection. “And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is he who has been appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead” (verse 42). This is a great thing. Then he brings in the testimony of the prophets: “To him all the prophets bear witness, that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins” (verse 43). This is a proof of what was about to happen; that is why he cites the prophets here.

But let us go over again what concerns Cornelius. He sent to Joppa, it says, to fetch Peter. “He was waiting for him,” and so on. See how fully he believed that Peter would certainly come! “And fell down at his feet and worshiped him” (verses 24 and 25). Notice how on every side it is shown how worthy he is! The eunuch in that other story asked Philip to come up and sit in the chariot (Acts 8, verse 31), though he did not know who he was, with no other introduction than the one the prophet gave him. But here Cornelius fell at Peter’s feet. [g]

“Stand up; I myself am also a man” (verse 26). Notice how free from flattery his words are on every occasion, and how full of humility. “And talking with him, he went in” (verse 27). Talking about what? I suppose he was saying these very words: “I myself am also a man.” Do you notice Peter’s unassuming spirit? He also shows that his coming is God’s doing: “You know that it is unlawful for a man who is a Jew,” and so on (verse 28).

And why did he not speak of the linen sheet? Notice how free Peter is from all empty glory. That he was sent by God he does mention; the way in which he was sent he does not speak of for now. When the need arose — since he had said, “You know that it is unlawful for a man who is a Jew to keep company with, or come to, someone of another nation” — he simply adds, “but God has shown me,” and so on. There is no empty glory here. “You all know,” he says. He makes their own knowledge his guarantor.

But Cornelius says, “We are here before God to hear everything that has been commanded you by the Lord” (verse 33) — not “before man,” but “before God.” This is the way one ought to listen to God’s servants. Do you see how awake his mind was? Do you see how worthy he was of all these things?

“And Peter,” it says, “opened his mouth and said, Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality” (verse 34). He said this also to declare himself in the right before the Jews who were present. For since he was on the point of entrusting the word to these Gentiles, he first puts this forward in his own defense. What then? Did God show partiality before? Far from it! Before, too, it was just the same: “Everyone,” as he says, “who fears him and practices righteousness” would be acceptable to him. It is as Paul says: “For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law” (Romans 2, verse 14). “Who fears God and practices righteousness”: he takes for granted both right teaching and a right way of life. Such a man is “acceptable to him.” For if God did not overlook the Magi, nor the Ethiopian, nor the thief, nor the prostitute, much less will he in any way overlook those who practice righteousness and are willing.

“What do you say, then, to this: there are considerate people, men of a mild disposition, and yet they will not believe?” Look, you have named the cause yourself: they will not. Besides, the person he speaks of here is not this sort of considerate man, but the man “who practices righteousness”: that is, the man who is virtuous and blameless in every respect, when he has the fear of God as he ought to have it. But whether a person is such a man, God alone knows. See how this man was acceptable; see how, as soon as he heard, he was persuaded. “Yes, and now too everyone would be persuaded, whoever he might be.” But the signs we have now are much greater than those, and more wonderful.

Then Peter begins his teaching, and he keeps for the Jews the privilege of their birth. “The word,” he says, “which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace” (verse 36) — not bringing judgment. He was sent to the Jews too; yet for all that he did not spare them. “Preaching peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all.” First he speaks of his being Lord, and in very lofty terms, since he was dealing with a soul loftier than most, one that took everything in with eagerness. Then he proves how he was Lord of all from the things he accomplished “throughout all Judea.” “For you know,” he says, “the thing that happened throughout all Judea” — and here is the wonderful part of it — “beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John preached” (verse 37). First he speaks of his success, and then again he says of him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Why, what a stumbling block that birthplace was! “How God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power” (verse 38). Then again the proof — how is this shown? From the good he did.

“Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil”: here is the greatness of the power shown when he overcomes the devil, and here is the cause: “because God was with him.” That is also why the Jews spoke this way: “We know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these miracles unless God is with him” (John 3, verse 2). Then, when he has shown that he was sent from God, he goes on to speak of this: that he was killed. He says it so that you would not imagine anything unfitting. Do you see how far they are from hiding the cross from view? On the contrary, along with the other facts they also tell the manner of his death. [j]

“Whom also,” it says, “they killed by hanging him on a tree. And God granted,” it goes on, “that he should be made manifest, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen beforehand by God, to us.” And yet it was Christ himself who chose them; but this too Peter refers to God. “To those chosen beforehand,” he says, “to us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead” (verses 39 to 41). See where he draws his assurance of the resurrection from. Why is it that after he rose he worked no sign, but only ate and drank? Because the resurrection itself was a great sign, and nothing was so much a sign of it as the eating and drinking.

“To testify,” he says — in words meant to alarm them — so that they would not be able to fall back on the excuse of ignorance. And he does not say “that he is the Son of God,” but what would alarm them most: “that it is he who has been appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead” (verse 42). “To him all the prophets bear witness,” and so on (verse 43). When he has shaken them with fear, then he brings in the pardon, and not as his own words but as the prophets’. What is frightening comes from him; what is mild, from the prophets.

All of you who have received this forgiveness, all of you who have been granted to come to faith: learn, I beg you, how great the gift is, and take care not to treat your benefactor with insolence. For we received forgiveness, not so that we would become worse, but to make us far better and more excellent. Let no one say that God is the cause of our evil deeds because he did not punish us or take vengeance. If, as the saying goes, a ruler catches a murderer and lets him go, tell me, is he not judged to be the cause of the murders committed afterward? See, then, how we expose God to the tongues of the wicked. For what do they not say? What do they leave unsaid? “God himself allowed them. He ought to have punished them as they deserved, not honored them, or crowned them, or admitted them to the highest privileges, but punished them and taken vengeance on them. The one who honors them instead has made them what they are.” [k]

Do not, I beg and implore you, do not let anyone say such things on our account. Better to be buried ten thousand times over than that God should be spoken of this way because of us! The Jews, we read, said to Christ himself, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross” (Matthew 27, verse 40), and again, “If you are the Son of God.” But the insults here are worse than those: that through us he should be called a teacher of wickedness!

Let us make people say the very opposite, by living in a way worthy of him who calls us, and by coming worthily to the baptism of adoption. For great indeed is the power of baptism. It makes those who share in the gift altogether different people from what they were; it does not let them remain mere men. Make the pagan believe that the power of the Spirit is great, that it has remolded you and fashioned you anew.

Why do you wait for your last breath, like a runaway slave, like a criminal, as though it were not your duty to live for God? Why do you feel toward him as if you had in him a ruthless, cruel master? What could be lazier, what more miserable, than those who make that the time to receive baptism? God made you a friend and granted you all his good things, so that you might act the part of a friend.

Suppose you had done someone the greatest of wrongs: insulted him and brought endless disgrace on him. Suppose you had then fallen into the hands of the man you wronged, and he, in return for all this, had honored you, made you a sharer in everything he had, crowned you in the gathering of his friends — the very people before whom he had been insulted — and declared that he would hold you as his own son by birth, and then had died at once. Tell me, would you not have mourned him? Would you not have thought his death a disaster? Would you not have said, “If only he were alive, so that I could make him a fitting return, repay him, and show that I am not base toward my benefactor”? So where it is only a man, this is how you would act; and where it is God, are you eager to be gone, so that you need not repay your benefactor for such great gifts? No; rather choose your time for coming to him so that you will be able to repay him in kind.

“True, but I cannot keep the gift.” Has God commanded the impossible? This is why everything is turned upside down; this is why, all the world over, everything is spoiled: because nobody makes it his aim to live for God. So those who are still catechumens, because they make this their object — how they can put off baptism to the end — take no trouble to lead an upright life. And those who have been baptized — whether because they received it as children, or because they received it in sickness and afterward recovered and had no real desire to live for God — these too make no serious business of it. Even those who received it in health have little enough to show of any good impression; they are warmly moved for a while, and then they too soon let the fire go out.

Why do you run away? Why do you tremble? What are you afraid of? Surely you do not mean that you will not be allowed to go about your business? I do not separate you from your wife; it is from sexual immorality that I keep you. I do not bar you from enjoying your wealth; only from greed and plunder. I do not make you empty out all your coffers; I ask you only to give some small amount, as your means allow, to those in need — your surplus for their need — and not even this without reward. We do not press you to fast; we only forbid you to drown yourselves in drunkenness and gluttony. The things we would cut away are only the very things that bring you disgrace, things that even here, on this side of the fire of hell, you yourselves admit should be avoided and hated. We do not forbid you to be glad and rejoice; only do not rejoice with a disgraceful and unseemly merriment. What is it you dread? Why are you afraid? Why do you tremble? Where there is marriage, where there is enjoyment of wealth, where there is food in moderation, what matter of sin is there in these things?

And yet those outside command the very opposite, and they are obeyed. They do not make their demands according to your means; they say, “You must give this much.” And if you plead poverty, they will take no account of it. Not so Christ. He says, “Give of what you have, and I will enroll you in the first rank.” Again, they say, “If you want to distinguish yourself, leave father, mother, relatives, friends, and wait constantly at the palace, laboring, toiling, slaving, distracted, suffering countless miseries.” Not so Christ. He says, “Stay at home with your wife and your children, and reform and order your daily occupations with the aim of leading a peaceful life, free from cares and dangers.”

“True, but the other promises wealth.” Yes, but Christ promises a kingdom, and more than that, he promises wealth along with it. For he says, “Seek the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6, verse 33), throwing in as an extra gift what the other holds out as the main thing. And the psalmist says that he has “never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37, verse 25).

Let us set about practicing virtue; let us make a beginning. Only let us take hold of it, and you will see what good comes of it. For surely you do not succeed in those worldly things so easily, without labor, that you should lose heart over these higher ones and say, “Those are had without labor; these only with toil.” No — what need is there to tell you how things really stand? — those are had only with greater labor.

Let us not shrink back from the divine mysteries, I beg you. Do not look at this: that someone baptized before you turned out badly and fell from his hope. Among soldiers too we see some who do not do their duty in the service, while we see others distinguishing themselves; and we do not look only at the idle ones, but we try to match the ones who succeed. Besides, consider how many after their baptism have gone from being men to being angels! Fear the uncertainty of the future. Death comes “like a thief in the night” — and not merely like a thief: it falls on us while we sleep and carries us off while we are idle. This is why God has made the future uncertain: so that, because we cannot tell what to expect, we may spend our time in practicing virtue.

“But he is merciful.” How long will we have to hear this senseless, ridiculous talk? I affirm not only that God is merciful, but that nothing can be more merciful than he, and that he arranges everything concerning us for our good. How many do you see afflicted all their lives with the worst form of leprosy! How many blind from their earliest youth to old age! Others who have lost their sight, others in poverty, others in chains, others again in the mines, others buried together under the earth, others slaughtered in wars! “These things do not look like mercy.” Tell me, could he not have prevented these things if he had wished? And yet he permits them? “True. Then tell me: those who are blind from infancy, why are they so?” I will not tell you until you promise me to receive baptism, and, once baptized, to live rightly. It is not right to give you the answer to these questions. Preaching is not meant just for entertainment. For even if I answer this, another question follows right behind it: there is a bottomless deep of such questions. So do not get into the habit of looking to have them answered for you, or we will never stop asking. Look: if I answer this one, I only open the way to question upon question, as countless as snowflakes. So what we learn is to raise questions rather than to settle the questions that are raised.

For even when we do settle them, we have not settled them completely, but only as far as human reasoning goes. The proper answer to such questions is faith: knowing that God does everything justly and mercifully and for the best, and that to grasp the reasons for it is impossible. This is the one answer, and no better one exists. For tell me, what is the use of having a question answered? This: that one no longer needs to question what has been answered. And if you bring yourself to believe that all things are ordered by the providence of God, who for reasons known to himself permits some things and actively brings about others, you are rid of the need to question, and you have gained what the answer would have given you.

But let us come back to our subject. Do you not see so many people suffering punishments? “God permits these things.” Then make right use of your body’s health for the health of your soul. “But what use to me are labors and toil, when I can be rid of all my sins without labor?” In the first place, this is not certain. It may happen that a person not only fails to be rid of his sins without labor, but departs this life with all his sins upon him. But even if it were certain, your argument would still be intolerable. He has brought you into the contest; the golden armor lies there. When you ought to take it up and use it, you want to be saved without glory and do no good work!

Tell me: suppose war broke out, and the emperor were here, and you saw some charging into the middle of the enemy’s battle lines, cutting them down and dealing wounds by the thousands, others thrusting with the point of the sword, others chasing the enemy this way and that, others charging on horseback, and these were praised by the emperor, admired, applauded, crowned; while others thought themselves well off if they came to no harm, kept to the rearmost ranks, and sat there idle. Then, when the war was over, suppose the first sort were summoned, honored with the greatest gifts, and had their names proclaimed by the heralds, while of the second sort not even the name became known, and the only good they got for their reward was that they were safe. Which sort would you want to belong to? Why, if you were made of stone, if you were duller even than senseless and lifeless things, would you not ten thousand times rather belong to the first?

Yes, I beg and implore you. Even if you had to fall in the fighting, should you not eagerly choose it? Do you not see how it is with those who have fallen in wars, how famous they are, how glorious? And yet they die a death after which there is no receiving honor from the emperor. But in that other war there is nothing of the kind: you will certainly be presented with your scars. May it be granted to all of us to have such scars to show, even without persecutions, through Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit together, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.