Opening The Old Testament A Christ for All: Easter Reflections
on Acts 10:34-43 It is of course highly unlikely that a preacher
would not choose one of the four gospel accounts of the
resurrection of Jesus on which to base a sermon on this of all
days (!), but a good case can be made for including this grand
passage from Acts 10 as a significant part of the celebration.
This is so for at least two reasons: 1) the Acts pericope is
among the most important statements of Christian inclusivity in
the New Testament, and 2) so many people will be in the
sanctuary who are not regular church-goers that the preacher is
well-advised to include in her sermon not only the announcement
of the glad tidings of the resurrection but a clear and powerful
statement of the amazing implications of that announcement.
Peter and Cornelius can be our guides here as we all begin to
explore just what God's victory over death in Jesus might mean
for us 21st-century folk. Luke, the apparent author of Acts,
tells as usual a most dramatic