A Year in Luke/ActsSample

Peter explains that the message God had sent to Israel was “preaching peace by Jesus Christ - he is Lord of all” (v36). This phrase might not be accidental when addressing a Roman officer:

“In contrast to the alleged peace of the empire established by Augustus and the Roman military, God was offering humanity terms of true peace through Jesus Christ. For a Roman officer, Caesar might appear lord of all, but this is a title that most Jews applied exclusively to YHWH.” (Keener, p303, Acts)

The peace that Jesus offers is not like the kind of peace empires promise. This is the true peace promised in Isaiah 52:7 of the one who brings good news and will establish their rule through suffering.

Often, in order for us to experience this peace, we have to be willing to make extreme sacrifices. In this story, we have examples of this in Peter’s willingness to have his view on what was pure or impure changed, which had been ingrained in him since he was young, or Cornelius, who embraced a completely different way of seeing the world, having progressed through the ranks of the leading empire at the time and understanding what it meant to wield violent military power.