Text: Acts 11:1-18 Easter 5C
SN: 0078 05/18/2025
Paradigm Shift
A paradigm shift is a radical change in how a person or society views something. A few examples of this: Nicolas Copernicus proposing the radical idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe, the idea that germs, not “bad air,” spreads disease, Einstein’s theory of relativity, the Civil Rights Movement, and the advent of the digital age. All these events forced people to evaluate their long-held beliefs and change their thinking. This kind of change is never easy, and people can often be reluctant to set aside long-held beliefs.
The early Christian church faced such a paradigm shift soon after the events of Pentecost. At his Ascension, Jesus had commanded his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, but the implications of that command had not really sunk in. The early church leaders thought this meant converting their fellow Jews to Christianity and then teaching the Gentiles about the Gospel and having them conform to a Jewish way of life, following all of the requirements of the Mosaic law code. But this was not God’s plan. God did not want to limit the Gospel to one specific group of people; he wanted his Apostles to go out into all the world and proclaim the good news that because Jesus had offered his life as a sacrifice on the cross, all people had been freed from their sins and the requirements of the law. The Apostles were not quite ready for this. They were still set in their old way of thinking. God used the example of Cornelius and his household to shatter the Apostles' preconceived notions and prepare them to accept the rapid growth of Gentile believers as Paul proclaimed the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
One day, while Peter was staying in Joppa, he went up on the roof of the house he was staying at to pray. While he was praying, he received a vision from God. A great sheet was lowered down from heaven, containing all sorts of different kinds of animals. A voice from heaven commanded Peter to “Get up! Kill and eat.” Peter was shocked to his very core because the sheet contained many animals that he was not allowed to eat according to the Law of Moses. Peter simply could not believe that God would be commanding him to do something that he knew was against God’s law. Peter replied, “Certainly not, Lord, for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.”
But the voice from heaven responded, “What God has made clean, you must not continue to call unclean.” This happened three times, emphasizing that this was an important vision from God. Peter was dumbfounded. He had no idea what this vision could possibly mean. Suddenly the Spirit said to him, “See, three men are looking for you! Now get up, go downstairs, and don’t hesitate to go with them, because I have sent them.” At that very moment, three men came to the house and asked to speak with Peter. They said that they had been sent by a Roman Centurion named Cornelius, who had been visited by an angel who told him to seek out Peter. Peter suddenly realized that this was the meaning of his vision. God was telling him to set aside his preconceived notions of God’s will and welcome Gentiles into the family of God without hesitation.
Peter journeyed with the men to the house of Cornelius. When Cornelius saw Peter, he fell on his feet. Peter immediately helped him up and explained that he was just another servant of God. Peter then had a paradigm shift in his way of thinking. All his Jewish upbringing told him it was wrong to enter into the house of a Gentile, eat his food, and have fellowship with him. But this is exactly what Peter did. He eagerly went into Cornelius’s house and shared the message of the Gospel with him and his entire family. As Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit suddenly came upon Cornelius and his household, and they began to speak in tongues just like the disciples had on Pentecost. Peter now understood that God wanted Gentiles to be part of his chosen people, and he immediately baptized the entire household of Cornelius.
Word of this quickly spread, and many Jewish Christians began questioning why Peter had done something that so clearly went against the law of Moses. They could not understand how Peter would eat with someone who had not been circumcised. Peter told the people questioning him exactly what happened, and they understood that this was God’s plan for his church. God had set up the laws of the Old Testament to keep his people separate so that the Savior could be born. Now that Jesus had come, God no longer wanted his people to be separate, but to go out into all the world and share the message of the Gospel. So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try to stand in God’s way?” When they heard these things, they had no further objections, and they praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted repentance that results in life also to the Gentiles!”
The story of Cornelius teaches us an important lesson. Like the people in Jerusalem who questioned why Peter had done something so radical, we sometimes are not very accepting of those who are different. We like to separate ourselves into armed camps. We insist that our way is the only right way, and those who are different must conform to our way of thinking. We don’t like to be loving towards those who are different from us. We judge people based on their race, culture, political party, appearance, mannerisms, or even worse, which sports team they support. We justify our general unfriendliness or even hatred by making the excuse that, because they are different from us, we don’t need to love them. This is the thinking of the world. We place our needs and our opinions before the needs of others. We insist that our way is the correct way and hate those who are different. But Jesus has given us a paradigm shift. He has called us to no longer conform to the patterns of the world but to do something radically different. Instead of hating and despising those who are different from us, we are called to love them. “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This is the paradigm shift that Christ himself gave to us. Because of our many loveless and selfish sins, we deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. We do not deserve forgiveness, but Christ in his great love died to save us. While he was on earth, he showed perfect love to those who were not accepted by his society. He loved Samaritans, tax collectors, and other sinners. He showed that God’s grace was for all people, not just a chosen few. He showed perfect and selfless love to all people by his death on the cross. He offered his perfect life as a sacrifice that paid for our sins. By his death, all the times that we are not loving to those who are different from us, or when we selfishly demand that others conform to be like us, have been completely forgiven.
This is the message that we have been called to proclaim to the entire world. The message of the Gospel is not just for those who agree with us or are part of our tribe, it is for everyone in the world. As Christians, we are called to show love and compassion to all people. This is not an easy task. We know how hard it can be to love people who share our values and opinions. It is far more difficult to love those we don’t agree with. But this is exactly what Christ has called us to do. We are to be his witnesses in the world who reflect the amazing love that he showed to us. Think of how Paul describes this love: Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
The early church went through a paradigm shift as it struggled with the idea that Gentiles could become part of God’s household without first adopting the Jewish way of life. We, too, struggle with accepting those who are different than us. We get caught up in our own prejudices and insist on our way of doing things. We fail at times to show selfless love to others. But we remember why we love. We know that we are exactly the same as every other person in this world who stands condemned by the holy law of God. We know that we have been saved not because of anything we have done but only by the grace of our Savior. And so filled with the amazing love of our Savior, we seek to serve as his disciples and share the love of Christ with all. We set aside our prejudices and opinions and seek to lavish others with the love of Christ. Amen.
Hear these words of encouragement from the Apostle Paul: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility consider one another better than yourselves. Let each of you look carefully not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.