Imagine for a second that neither you nor anyone you knew was a follower of Jesus Christ. No one who shared your ethnicity believed in Jesus Christ. What would it take for you to believe? Most people are more comfortable around people like themselves. For you, however, to have forgiveness, hope, peace, and a true knowledge of God, someone would have to cross ethnic and linguistic boundaries to share the good news.
At first glance, the events of Acts 8:25–11:30 seem like they are simply inspiring stories. We read of three conversions: the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul of Tarsus, and Cornelius the Roman centurion. Should these stories inspire us? Certainly. They have, however, much more to teach us, especially as we think about God’s will for humanity and our own comfort zones.
The first of these stories begins with Philip, one of the seven men appointed to assist the apostles in Acts 6. The Holy Spirit led him to a desolate road toward Gaza, where he encountered an Ethiopian court official. The official was, through God’s providence, reading the prophecy of Christ’s suffering in Isaiah 53. Philip explained the gospel, which the man believed before receiving baptism.
The second story is perhaps the most dramatic conversion in the New Testament. The Lord appeared to Saul in a blinding light while Saul was seeking to arrest Christians in Damascus. The Lord explained that Saul would bring the name of Jesus “to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites” (Acts 9:15, CSB). Saul immediately began proclaiming the gospel in Damascus and later Jerusalem.
The third story returns to the Apostle Peter. In Acts 10, Jesus granted Peter a vision that spurred him to proclaim the gospel to a Roman centurion named Cornelius. Cornelius, along with his family, accepted the gospel. In chapter 11, Peter defended his ministry to the Gentiles, noting how the Holy Spirit enabled the Gentiles to speak in tongues in the same way that the apostles did in Acts 2.
What do these three stories teach us about God’s will for humanity? The Lord Jesus had promised that the apostles would be witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8, CSB). Luke was showing that the last phase of the Lord’s promise was beginning to be fulfilled. The gospel was crossing ethnic boundaries.
God sent His Son Jesus Christ to be “a light to the nations” (Isa. 43:6), and we who are Gentiles are recipients of God’s gracious decision to extend His love to the nations. Philip, Paul, and Peter all exhibited faithfulness in their responses to God’s call. They stepped out of their comfort zones at the Spirit’s leading. The question for us is whether we are listening to the Spirit pushing us out of our comfort zones. Philip, Paul, and Peter didn’t speak English. For us English speakers to believe in Christ, someone had to cross that linguistic boundary. Do we, like Philip, Paul, and Peter long for those outside our ethnicity and language to believe in Jesus Christ?
None of us need reminders that we live in a fallen, broken world. Yet we, like Philip, Paul, and Peter, have the cure that our world so desperately needs. Someone must cross boundaries for broken people to be healed.