Acts 10:45 (NRSV) The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
With God, expect the unexpected. In the gospel lesson, John recalls how the people were divided about who Jesus was. But the religious authorities were not divided; they knew Jesus was a false prophet simply because he was from Galilee. In one of my favorite stories in all of scripture, Peter goes to the home of a centurion, Cornelius, a Gentile—a definite no-no for a Jew to start with. Cornelius had assembled his relatives and close friends, and, lo and behold, after Peter speaks to them about Jesus, the Holy Spirit falls upon them. What is going on here? No prophet can come out of Galilee, much less the Messiah, and no Gentile was supposed to receive the Holy Spirit. It seems God is not following the script.
I have tried to get God to follow my own script, but it never seems to work out very well. Such chutzpah on my part. God is the producer, the director, and the scriptwriter. My job is to be open and obedient. Once we circumscribe God to fit our script, we miss the main plot of the play.
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