The good news about Jesus is delivered to us in the basket of the culture in which we live. The leaders of the early church, like Peter, have been raised in the teachings, language and customs of the Jewish faith. The challenge was to work out what aspects of their Jewish religion had to be carried forward by the followers of Jesus. The readings from Acts chapter 10 and 11 describe the painful adjustments made by the first believers and the discovery that sometimes God’s actions do not conform to the expectations of God’s people. The Gentiles, outsiders to the Jewish faith, decided to follow Jesus and received the gift of the Holy Spirit even before Peter finished preaching. For the early church this was a sign that the Good News could be received and shared amongst new peoples – from Jerusalem, to Judea and to the ends of the earth.
