Peter’s speech embodies the apostolic preaching, though C. H. Dodd suggests that "the speech before Cornelius represents the form of kerygma used by the primitive Church in its earliest approaches to a wider preaching."

• Shall persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or . . . racism keep the gospel from being heard and embraced? NO! Luke says in this lesson. Persecution might have blocked the hearing (Acts 7), and now racism could slam the gospel door to the gentiles (Acts 10-11). Yet this lesson clearly demonstrates that closed doors are God’s beginnings. Once again, the Spirit of Pentecost erupts and holy chaos happens. The result is a new Christian community.

• Quote:

When things are at their worst, you had better be alert and wakeful, more vigilant then than ever, for that is the likeliest hour for a new decisive emergence of the Spirit of God upon the scene.

 

Become a homiletic professor listening to this sermon (remember those days?) and read this lesson as if you are hearing Peter’s message for the first time.

Beginning: self-admission, a self-discovery of a new truth: God doesn’t have favorites.

Re-telling the Story: Peter is aware that his audience apparently has some previous knowledge of Jesus: "You know . . . the message God sent . . . " (v. 36).

Notice the information that the audience must have already heard about Jesus: Jesus was God-anointed; he was known as "Jesus of Nazareth," his power was connected a "Holy Spirit," and the stories circulating included selected miracles and exorcisms;

Death, Burial, and Resurrection: Notice how Peter continues his story by selecting what apparently were the salient points of early Christian preaching: "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day" (verse 40).

The Commissioning: Like the commissioning that follows Isaiah’s vision in the Temple and the women’s encounter of the angel (and Jesus) at the tomb, so the resurrected Jesus commissions Peter to "testify" to Jesus’ story and reality.

 

For suggestions on ways to frame or block this passage for a homily, please see "Don’t Fence Me Out," which was posted on DPS for Easter Sunday, April 15, 2001.