Cornelius - The Search 5 - Many Voices

Cornelius was a soldier in a harsh world, a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea.  A devout man, he made enemies.  He had a waking dream, and encountered the apostle Peter.  Cornelius - The Search, written by Hugh Finlay, and produced by Colm Flanagan.

Produced by Commission Christian Radio

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Commission Christian Radio Productions presents Cornelius The Search, written for radio in six episodes by Hugh Finley. Episode 5, Many Voices.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Peter and Barnabas, with their friends Titus and Samuel, were on their way from the port of Joppa to Caesarea, under the guidance of Cornelius' friends Varus and Decimus. Eventually, in the late afternoon, they came over a rise and saw before them the magnificent aqueduct of Caesarea Maratima and the sea beyond. They paused to take in the view.

SPEAKER_05 1:09

There it is, Peter. There is Caesarea. Isn't it a magnificent piece of engineering?

SPEAKER_08 1:16

It is impressive, I can't you, but let's not get carried away with the buildings. One day they will fall. I am concerned with the indestructible.

SPEAKER_05 1:26

Does that sound bonbus to you, Varis? Well, I know what you mean, Peter. It's sad that most of your nation despises us in spite of the benefits we have brought. I have heard us described as a fodder for hell's fire. None of us can accept that notion.

SPEAKER_08 1:44

What of the customs and traditions of the Jews?

SPEAKER_05 1:47

How do you handle that? We also have customs, but we're relaxed about it. Those of us who have become believers have come to believe by reasoning it out. So please be patient with us.

SPEAKER_08 2:00

We are here at the command of the Lord Varus. Let's wait and see what he will do.

SPEAKER_05 2:05

There, in that olive grove.

SPEAKER_08 2:07

That is Cornelius' house. It is good for us to be here. Barnabas and the others will help.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

I see some activity up ahead. That's Cornelius and his wife Camilla. They must have seen us as we crested the hill. I see us gathered some friends and neighbours together. A reception committee.

SPEAKER_08 2:25

A bit different from the last time we met a Roman centurion. Let's go and meet them.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Cornelius and his friends were excited as they saw the proof of their faith in the vision coming towards them. Varus and Decimus had found them and brought them to Caesarea as the angel had instructed.

SPEAKER_07 2:47

Welcome to our home, Peter. We've been looking forward to meeting you. I am Cornelius at your service. This is my wife, Camilla, and these are my household and some of their friends.

SPEAKER_08 2:58

Cornelius, it's good to meet you. You are the servant of the Most High God. I kneel to you in worship. No, no, get up, man. You must not do that. I am not a god or divine in any way. I am a man as you are. You must worship only the Holy One.

SPEAKER_07 3:16

Forgive me. There is so much we don't understand. When the Lord God appeared to me and told me of you, I thought you were of his nature. Say no more.

SPEAKER_08 3:27

These messengers of yours have told me something of your vision. Tell me what happened.

SPEAKER_07 3:32

I was praying in my study when a man appeared. One second I was alone, and next, there he was. He was a very big man, but with the kindest eyes and a gentle way of speaking. I see. Please go on. I confess I got such a fright that I drew my sword. Now that I think of it, it was a very stupid thing to do. But it was not a situation I've ever experienced before, even in war. I didn't know what to say. Were you given any message? I was told that I was to send to Jopper for you and to ask you to come to us. How did you know where I was? Oh the man told me. He said you were in the house of Simon the Tanner, near the sea. You all heard that.

SPEAKER_08 4:17

May God be praised. Let us go inside, and I will tell you all.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

The whole party went indoors, and after the obligatory footwashing, they found a room full of people, some of whom were servants, and some officials and soldiers. Peter addressed them on the Jewish laws and how it was forbidden for them to mix with Gentiles. But he explained his own vision and what it meant to him in relation to them.

SPEAKER_08 4:48

This is good news for both us and for you as Gentiles. Jesus the Messiah has made peace between us by his blood.

SPEAKER_07 4:57

You mean that we are included in the people of God? But we don't know much about this Messiah, Jesus.

SPEAKER_08 5:04

Let me tell you about him. Jesus was is the Messiah. He came to reconcile us to the one true God. My companions and I are witnesses to his murder in Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Murder? But how could that be?

SPEAKER_08 5:18

He was showing up the so-called holy people to be hypocrites who had no love for the people.

SPEAKER_04 5:24

They only wanted to cling on to their privileged positions. Jesus posed a threat, so they did away with him. They crucified him. How could that be?

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Crucifixion is a Roman execution.

SPEAKER_08 5:36

Yes. It's usually only reserved for the most serious crimes. But thanks to the efforts of the priests and their supporters, they used it against Jesus, didn't they, Barnabas?

SPEAKER_04 5:46

At first we thought that everything had collapsed and that Jesus wasn't who he said he was. He was hanging up there for six hours before he died. When they came to take him down, they ran him through with a spear just to make sure. Oh he was dead all right. So they took him down and buried him in a tomb nearby.

SPEAKER_08 6:04

Was that the end of it? Oh no. It was just the beginning. The rulers put a guard of temple officers on the tomb and sealed the stone. They knew all right.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

You what? What do you mean?

SPEAKER_08 6:16

They knew that he had said he would rise from the dead, and so they tried to make sure he stayed where he was.

SPEAKER_07 6:23

You mean come back to life after he'd been crucified? Oh look, no one survives that. I mean, are you serious? It's impossible.

SPEAKER_08 6:30

I am utterly serious. On the second morning after his death some of our women went to the tomb and it was empty. They came and told me, and I and another friend went there. The grave clothes were lying as if the body had simply vanished from inside them, and the facecloth was folded up beside them.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

That is amazing.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

But where did he go? He came to where we were and appeared to us. One minute he wasn't there, the next minute he was. One of our number even put a finger into the holes in his body. He even ate with us. Ghosts don't eat, do they?

SPEAKER_07 7:05

Oh he is alive for sure. Then he is the Lord God. He must be. But why did he die? I mean gods don't die, they're immortal.

SPEAKER_08 7:14

He died for you and me and everyone else. It needed a sacrifice of unprecedented merit to meet the penalty sin had built up. The only way it could be done was for the Lord God to pay it on our behalf. So he became a man for that purpose. You are saved from eternal death because of him.

SPEAKER_07 7:39

He has paid for us all.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

What did it all mean?

SPEAKER_08 8:59

Barnabas, I ask you, was I dreaming?

SPEAKER_04 9:02

I saw and heard the same thing as you did, Peter. The power was there. They were speaking in tongues, in languages from all across the world.

SPEAKER_07 9:10

What's the matter, Peter? Have we done something wrong?

SPEAKER_08 9:13

No, my friend, far from it. We have seen for ourselves that the Holy One is present here.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Cornelius, the same thing has happened here. The Holy Spirit has come upon your household and blessed you with the gift of tongues. Those words were all languages from across the world. You were all saying the same thing. You were all giving praise to God.

SPEAKER_07 9:35

I felt a surge of power. I feel as if I've been in paradise. Sirs, what is this all about?

SPEAKER_08 9:41

Gather your people together and we will examine what I think is the answer to all this. Let us meet in the courtyard. I will want to use the fountain.

SPEAKER_07 9:49

The fountain? What what for?

SPEAKER_08 9:51

I'll explain later. Let us go now.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

None of them were aware that the whole event had been overheard by Domus Maximus, who had slipped into the courtyard. He had seen the gathering, and his curiosity got the better of him. He hid in the bushes close by.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

If this isn't a treason, then I don't know what is. Although this can be found in movement at the outset and deal with it.

SPEAKER_06 10:19

Centurion Cornelius. What are you doing here? You didn't give me any warning that you were coming. Obviously, or you wouldn't have been cavorting around with these rebellious Jews. I've already informed the governor of my suspicions about your loyalty. This simply confirms them. Explain yourself if you can. I can't explain anything to you. It would be a waste of time. You would never understand. I heard people speaking in foreign languages. This sounds like a conspiracy against a state. You see evil everywhere, and in everyone, because that is the state of your own heart.

SPEAKER_07 10:54

There is no disloyalty here. Only a desire for truth. Now let me inform you that as a trespasser, you can get out.

SPEAKER_06 11:03

Now I know what I saw. You will hear more of this, centurion, for I will do my duty. Prepare yourself. That's what you are.

SPEAKER_07 11:15

But this is your battle, Lord God. I ask you to protect my people and myself from him.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Was it possible that Domus could disrupt God's work? Cornelius went back to Peter and the others.

SPEAKER_08 11:31

Barnabas, what am I to do? We have all heard the power of the Holy Spirit break over these folk in the tongues he gave them.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

As far as I am concerned, we should baptize them into the kingdom. But we need to be careful. This will not go down well with the brothers in Jerusalem. They haven't seen what we have.

SPEAKER_08 11:51

We cannot go against the Lord God. We must act now. Cornelius, have you heard of baptism?

SPEAKER_07 11:59

We've heard of the Baptist John, who was killed by Herod, but that's all.

SPEAKER_08 12:04

He preached that we should be baptized, washed, to cleanse us of our sins, but I'm talking of the new baptism. We have no knowledge of this.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Are we to be washed? I am not so sure that I understand this. Does it mean we have to take a bath or something?

SPEAKER_08 12:21

No, my lady. Let me explain. When you have been touched by the Holy Spirit, it is necessary to make a total commitment to the Lord God. You are plunged beneath the waters and lifted up to a new life. It is an initiation which begins your walk with Jesus Christ. It is a symbolic death to the old self and resurrection to the new.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

I am willing.

SPEAKER_07 12:47

I and my entire household, sir. Let us be baptized at once.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

So it was done, and Cornelius' household became followers of the way. But the waves created at Caesarea were to create controversy in Jerusalem and to have repercussions across the world.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

The series was written by Hugh Finlay and produced at Commission Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Colin Flanagan. Episode six of the series is entitled A Vision for the Future.