From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
February 2nd - Cornelius The Centurion
All that we know of Cornelius is contained in the Book of Acts
(chapters 10 and 11). A centurion was a Roman army officer,
theoretically in charge of a hundred men. Several centurions are
mentioned in the New Testament (Matt 8:5
Luke 7:2; Matt 27:54
Luke
23:47; Acts 10:1; 22:25; 23:17,23; 22:23; 27:1), and they are
consistently portrayed favorably.
Cornelius is called a God-fearer--that is to say, he was a monotheist,
a Gentile who worshipped the One God. The Jews traditionally
recognized that such Gentiles had a place in the Family of God, and
they are mentioned along with the priests (House of Aaron), the
Levites (House of Levi), and the Jews or Israelites (House of Israel)
in Ps 115:9-13, Ps 118:2-4, and Ps 135:19-20. In New Testament times,
an estimated ten per cent of the population of the Roman Empire
consisted of God-fearers, Gentiles who recognized that the pagan
belief in many gods and goddesses, who according to the myths about
them were given to adultery, treachery, intrigue, and the like, was
not a religion for a thoughtful and moral worshipper, and who had
accordingly embraced an ethical monotheism -- belief in One God, who
had created the world, and who was the upholder of the Moral Law.
Although only a few of them took the step of formal conversion to
Judaism, undergoing circumcision and accepting the obligations of
keeping the food laws and ritual laws of Moses and his rabbinical
interpreters, most of them attended synagogue services regularly.
=C2 =C2 =C2 Cornelius, then, was a Roman centurion, and a God-feari=
ng man.
One day, as he was praying, an angel appeared to him and told him to
send a messenger to Joppa and ask Peter to come and preach to him.
Peter, meanwhile, was given a vision that disposed him to go with the messenger. When Peter had preached to Cornelius and his family and
friends, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on the first Christians at
Pentecost (Acts 2), and they began to speak in other tongues. Thus,
there was ample evidence to convince Jewish Christians who hesitated
to believe that it was the will of God that Gentiles should be brought
into the Church.
Cornelius was the first Gentile converted to Christianity, along with
his household, and Luke, recording this event, clearly regards it as
an event of the utmost importance in the history of the early Church,
the beginning of the Church's decision to admit Gentiles to full and
equal fellowship with Jewish Christians.
Cornelius lived in Caesarea, the political capital of Judea under
Herod and the Romans. (Given that Jerusalem was a holy city to the
Jews, it would have been needlessly provocative for the Romans to
establish their headquarters there.) Although he is not mentioned
again, he and his household presumably formed the nucleus of the
Christian community that we find mentioned later (Acts 8:40; 21:18) in
this important city.
Saint Quote:
If God had drawn the world from preexistent matter, what would be so extraordinary in that? A human artisan makes from a given material
whatever he wants, while God shows His power=C2 by starting from nothing
to make all He wants.
--Saint Theophilus of Antioch
Bible Quote:
And the centurion, making answer, said:=C2 Lord, I am not worthy that
thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my
servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority,
having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to
another Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth
it. And Jesus hearing this, marveled; and said to them that followed
him.=C2 Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel.
(Matt 8:8-10)
<><><><>
PRAYER
=C2 =C2 O God, who by thy Spirit didst call Cornelius the Centurion
to be the first Christian among the Gentiles: Grant to thy
Church, we beseech thee, such a ready will to go where thou
dost send and to do what thou dost command, that under thy
guidance it may welcome all who turn to thee in love and
faith, and proclaim the Gospel to all nations; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)