There’s a broadcast television show called “Penn and Teller: Fool Us.”  It stars the eponymous magicians and a cast of weekly guests who try to perform magic tricks that the well-known pair of magicians can’t figure out.  The guest magicians rarely succeed. Those who fail get feedback expressed in the language of professional magicians.  The disappointed guests always understand what Penn and Teller say, but the comments are unintelligible to me. 

The coded communication used by Penn and Teller provides feedback to their hopeful guests without disclosing the professional tricks used by magicians.  There is coded communication in today’s first reading, as well, but it doesn’t intend to conceal information.  The coded communication used by the author of the Acts of the Apostles might not be familiar to readers today, but it was very familiar to readers in the first century of the common era. 

Today’s first reading is an excerpt from a speech given by Peter in the house of Cornelius, a gentile who wished to be baptized as a follower of Jesus.  The baptism of Cornelius and his household was one of the unforeseen events that led the Church to expand its preaching mission to the entire gentile population of the ancient world. 

Having witnessed Cornelius’ faith in the One, True God, Peter said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34-35)  The two phrases, “whoever fears him” and “acts uprightly” are coded communication that denote someone who has an authentic faith in God.  Today, readers of the Scriptures are probably unaware of the meaning of these phrases and, therefore, need to recover the meaning of this language that used to be so common among the faithful. 

The beginning of the event that led to Peter’s speech isn’t included in today’s reading, but it provides necessary background information.  Three men had come to Peter to relay a request from Cornelius, a Roman centurion who lived in Caesarea in Galilee.  Cornelius wished to hear Peter’s witness about the resurrection of Jesus.  The men relaying the request described Cornelius as a “God-fearer,” a term used for gentiles who were devoted to Judaism. 

Judaism was attractive to some gentiles in the ancient world because it had a very humane moral code and it professed faith in a God who was unlike the petty, fickle gods and goddesses of pagan religions.  Cornelius was one of those gentiles who had learned Judaism’s teachings and read the Hebrew Scriptures.  The term “God-fearers,” used about those gentiles, was derived from the period of the monarchy in ancient Israel.   

In the ancient world, the term “fear of the lord” meant the respect one owed to one’s king, prince, or political ruler.  It didn’t mean “fear” in the sense of dread or fright; it was a metaphor for the deference given to someone more powerful than oneself.  The term was adapted by the Israelites to refer to God.  During the time of the monarchy, there were kings in Israel and Judah, but those human kings were mere proxies for God, the true King of the Israelites.  In Hebrew religion, “fear of the Lord” meant the sort of respect that one owed God because of God’s justice and goodness.  Cornelius, the God-fearer, was a man who exhibited the singlehearted respect that Judaism said was owed to God. 

The second term, someone who “acts uprightly” is related to the first.  To “act uprightly” meant to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Moses regarding human beings.  Cornelius, then, was a God-fearer who acted uprightly, that is, he fulfilled the Law of Moses’ requirements of loving God and neighbor; he followed Judaism’s practices but had not converted.   

When Cornelius heard about the preaching of the Apostles, he saw an opportunity to belong to the assembly of God’s People.  He sent emissaries to Peter who traveled to Caesarea, preached to Cornelius, and baptized him and his household.  The Church’s mission to the gentiles is not the theological issue it once was, but it continues to reveal truth to the Church about God’s mercy. 

Peter said the Cornelius was acceptable to God. (Acts 10:35)  This favorable judgment about a gentile was the result of Cornelius having fulfilled the requirements of God’s Law; Cornelius loved God in the way that God deserves to be loved and he loved other people in the way that people deserve to be loved.  (One must keep in mind that, in the Scriptures, “love” is another coded communication that means responsible behavior.)  Cornelius fulfilled the responsibilities of faithful religion and was judged to be righteous. 

On a nearly daily basis, I receive the religious equivalent of the advertisements you probably receive about Medicare surplus insurance plans.  These novel approaches to religion guarantee salvation, as long as one subscribes to a complicated (or costly) program of devotional or ascetic practices.   

The marketing success of these religious schemes is the result of a common human experience.  Everyone experiences burdens in life.  These experiences come in a variety of forms, but all are painful reminders of the limitations of human nature and the randomness of world events.  In the absence of a better remedy, these experiences can lead to either shame or resentment.  The various novel approaches to religion treat the common experiences of shame and resentment as normal states of life; for this reason, they seem valid, but they are not so. 

The appropriate response to life’s burdens is to do as Cornelius did. He listened to Peter’s preaching that anyone who respects God appropriately and acts responsibly toward others is acceptable to God.  Doing less than these requirements is unacceptable; doing more than these requirements is unnecessary. New approaches to religion are little more than recycling old habits of sin and estrangement. It is not God’s desire for us to suffer under the burdens of shame and resentment. Rather, God’s desire is for all people to be reconciled to God and neighbor; no indirect path leads to reconciliation, as this is accomplished only by responding faithfully to the preaching of the Apostles.