“While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them’ ” (Acts 10:19-20).

This was a turning point in the history of the Church for those three men were Gentiles sent by a Roman centurion to bring Peter to Cornelius’ home. At that time Jews would not go to the home of a Gentile lest they inadvertently violate a law such as touching something ritually unclean.

If you had asked Peter, before his vision, if he was free he would have said “Yes.” After all, he was staying at the home of Simon the tanner. That was an unclean profession since tanners touched the bodies of dead animals. But Peter still wasn’t completely free of prejudice. He hadn’t yet understood that the God of the Old Testament reached out to Gentiles as well as Jews.

In this chapter of the book of Acts, we see the Church beginning to fulfill God’s plan for the world. When Jesus was born He came to be the Messiah, not just for the Jewish nation, but a light to the Gentiles as well. In this passage in which God sent Peter to the house of Cornelius God showed him that Jesus had opened the door of salvation to everyone regardless of their national or ethnic background.