Of all the problems facing the early church, one in particular proved the most perplexing. It wasn’t the lack of church buildings. It wasn’t the persecution from religious or political leaders. It wasn’t the fact that they had no phones or video games or cotton candy. No, the most difficult problem was what to do with Jews and Gentiles.

You may remember from the story about Jesus and the woman with a dogged faith that Jews and Gentiles were opposites. The Jews were God’s holy nation, going all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Jews had been God’s special people for thousands of years.

And who were the Gentiles? Well, everybody else. The Gentiles were not Jews. They had not been slaves in Egypt. They did not have the Ten Commandments. They had never had David as their king. They were as far off from God as the Jews were supposed to be close to God.

But when Jesus came, he made clear that the kingdom he was bringing would include Jews and Gentiles. Anyone could be a child of Abraham if he had the faith of Abraham. It took awhile for the early church to figure out that Jesus had changed everything for Jews and for Gentiles.

That’s why the story of Peter and Cornelius is so important.

Cornelius was a Roman soldier from Caesarea and a Gentile. He was also a religious man. He believed in God. He gave money to the poor. He prayed all the time. But he was not saved and did not know Jesus. Not yet.

One day, in the middle of the afternoon, an angel came to Cornelius and said, “I’ve heard your prayers. Send some of your men to Joppa and bring back Peter. He will teach you what you need to know.”

The next day, as the men were on their way to Joppa, Peter had a vision of his own. He was on the roof praying, when he saw a giant sheet coming down from the sky. In the sheet were all kinds of animals that Jews weren’t supposed to eat. But a voice from heaven told Peter—three times in fact—that the animals were no longer considered unclean and that Peter could eat them.

As Peter was still thinking about what he had just seen, the men from Caesarea knocked on the door. They told Peter all about Cornelius, so Peter left Joppa and went with them.

Four days later, they were all together in Caesarea. Cornelius and Peter explained their visions to each other. Now things started to make sense. God wanted Gentiles like Cornelius to hear the good news about Jesus from Jews like Peter, and God wanted Jews like Peter to realize that Gentiles like Cornelius were not unclean.

Peter preached the gospel to Cornelius and to everyone in Caesarea who could hear him. The Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles. They repented of their sins, believed in Jesus, and were baptized.