Acts 10:30-43
Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.
What's it take to get God to answer our prayers?How many times have you prayed to God for him to help you out, and you got nothing?
How come some people always seem to get their prayers answered, but you come up empty?
If you're really honest, you really don't want God to answer your prayers. What you really want is for your life to be convenient, pain-free, prosperous, and always happy. You don't really want God's will to prevail in your life, you want God to prop up your life aspirations. Thus, God rarely answers your prayers. He probably doesn't even hear most of your prayers.
Be honest: you don't even really care about God. You care about yourself - and you are interested in God as long as he helps you further your plans for yourself.
I'm not trying to be harsh or judgmental, I'm just attempting to be really honest with you concerning myself. The paragraph above is unfortunately true for me at times. Is it ever for you?
Cornelius had offered up many prayers, he had given many gifts to the poor before his encounter with God. Timing is everything. God hears the prayers of those that are willing to be patient with him and kind to the poor. God is on the side of the poor. If you want to know the heart of God, get to know the poor - more than that, start to love the poor around you.
If your prayers are really about ways to honor God and less about furthering your agenda for your life, then you don't mind how much time it takes for an answer. If you are tapped into the heart of God, your prayers go up in confidence and trust. The prayer and it's answer are more about God's work in the world than my will. And to the degree that I have a heart for the poor, I'll have more of a heart for God.
And as I grow a bigger heart for the poor, I'll learn to offer up bigger prayers with more heart.
As I reflect on this story with Cornelius, I am forced to reconsider the way God works in this world. Cornelius is the Roman, a soldier - the face of an Empire. Rome is famous for their political innovations and military might. Rome brought "peace" with a sword and a cross. Cornelius carried a sword. And yet he worshipped the God of Israel and was generous to the poor of Caesarea.
I'm very curious to know how Cornelius the Centurion became an atheist in the eyes of the Romans and loyal to Yahweh of the Jews. We know about Cornelius all these years later because of his heart for God and his heart for the poor. Neither of these connections was normal, encouraged, or valued by the Roman Empire. Cornelius was courageous.
Could Cornelius have been central to this story had he not been generous to the poor? No. Would God have heard this soldier's prayer had he been closed to the needs of the local widows and orphans? No. God would connect Cornelius to Peter, and through this encounter reveal that God accepted pagans and Jews, Romans and Israel - all were welcome to join the Kingdom of God. And central to this new identity is one where followers of Yahweh have a heart for the poor.
You can't be loyal to God but be ignorant of the cries of the oppressed.
The poor are motivation for your prayers, the poor inherit the kingdom of God. One can't be like Christ and walk away from the misery of the poor. One can't trust in salvation through Jesus if one won't be the hands and feet of the Savior to the poor.
Jesus came to Cornelius after all those years to affirm his salvation, and to use his life to announce salvation to the whole Empire. Jesus can use you, he will hear you if you will hear him, if you will listen to him: feed the hungry, quench the thirsty, visit the prisoner, care for the widow, clothe the orphan.
Our Empire needs more women and men who will dig deep, live courageously and keep praying to God while they care for the poor.
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