Unsung Heroes: The Servants Of Cornelius

Introduction: The Gospel was still being proclaimed but almost exclusively to Jews when this incident occurred. A number of Samaritans (a mixed race of Jews and other peoples from several different locales, 2 Kings 17) had believed and even a high official of Ethiopia had believed in Jesus (Acts 8). Now the Lord gave Simon Peter the opportunity to share the Gospel with not just one Gentile but an entire household—and it was up to a handful of servants, unsung heroes, who made sure Peter arrived safely at the end of the journey.

Text: Acts 10:1-6, 21-23, KJV: 1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. 3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. 4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: 6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. 7 And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; 8 And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.

21 Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? 22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. 21 Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

Thoughts:

Cornelius was an officer in the Roman army, part of the Italian band (regiment, cohort, unit, etc.). A centurion was in command of 100 soldiers and these men were usually promoted from the ranks. Cornelius had apparently earned every promotion that came his way.

But he didn’t seem to cause any problems with the people of Caesarea. Luke tells how Cornelius was devout, gave alms to the Jewish people (compare this to another Roman centurion, who even built a synagogue for the Jews in Capernaum—see Luke 7:1-10) and even prayed to God always. On the surface, it seemed Cornelius was doing everything right!

Except he was lacking something and that was salvation itself. Of course, Ephesians 2:8-10 hadn’t been written yet—Paul was still Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor “par excellence” of the Church at this time—so even with all of these good deeds, he wasn’t saved. How long he had done this, we’re never told, but one day the LORD in His timing stepped in and gave Cornelius the first of two very important messages.

And that message was simple: an angel of the LORD appeared and told Cornelius exactly what to do. Note that the angel himself didn’t—couldn’t—do this; God wanted Peter to do this.

This is where the unsung heroes of the story make their entry. Verse 7 tells how Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier “of them that waited on him continually”. I take this to mean Cornelius knew and trusted these people to do what he wanted them to do.

So they departed, went to Joppa, and must have been surprised when Peter himself answered the door, saying, “I’m the man you’re looking for, but why are you here (paraphrased)?” The three messengers explained why they had come to find Peter and escort him, in so many words, to the house of Cornelius where they could hear the Gospel. They made their way to Cornelius’ house, and the rest is history.

What’s important is that these three unsung, nameless, heroes seemed to take Cornelius’ request very seriously. They could have taken their own sweet time on the journey, or relaxed for a while once they arrived in Joppa. Who knows, they could have even lied and said, “We didn’t find him sir” or other such statements. No, they went, they found Peter, and they made it to Caesarea.

You and I can be like any or all of the people in this story! Like Cornelius, we can pray and do good deeds—but that won’t get anybody into Heaven. It’s only by God’s grace we can be saved. Even so, we can still listen to God’s message and believe it. Do you know someone like him?

Then, we can be like Peter, who seemed to be always ready to share the Gospel when he had a chance. So many need to hear it. I hope we’re ready to do what we can when opportunities come.

And let’s not forget, we can be like these unsung, unnamed heroes, who because of their faithfulness, diligence, and trustworthiness, completed the job and got Peter to the house of Cornelius. Was is a difficult task? We may never know down here, but if we do what the Lord wants us to, He promised to reward us for the deeds we do in His Name!

When the Lord speaks, I hope we listen and follow Him!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).