Acts 10 23b-48 Witness of Everything Jesus Did

Dearly loved people of God,

My name is Simon of Joppa, a tanner by trade. As someone who deals with sheepskin, goatskins, and leather, I’m pretty sensitive to the purity laws in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Skinning dead animals doesn’t just make my shop a little smelly, the teachers of the law say it makes me ceremonially unclean.

The Apostle Peter was living on the edge a little by staying with me. But our mothers are related, 3rd or 4th cousins, or something, so he’s family. And my wife’s a good cook.

Peter really pushed the boundaries when we travelled up the coast to Caesarea. He was summoned by a Centurion. It wasn’t the usual summons by our Roman Occupiers. The messengers were really polite about it, even if one of them was a soldier. But Cornelius has a reputation along the coast as a God-fearing Gentile, devout and generous to the poor. It was still surprising when Peter invited the messengers into my house to eat and spend the night. We don’t usually eat with Gentiles; esp. Roman soldiers.

They told a good story. An angel visited the Centurion while he was praying. Told him to send for Simon, called Peter, staying with Simon the tanner. That brought them to my house by the sea.