Testimony

The message I shared with the folks at Allen’s Chapel and Mooreville United Methodist Churches

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, ² much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. ³ So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴ But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

⁵ The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, ⁶ with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷ When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” ⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹ if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. ¹¹

This Jesus is : ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’

¹² There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

¹³ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. ¹⁴ When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

Acts 4:1-14

The alternative readings for the Lectionary this fall come from the Acts of the Apostles.  Last week, I filled in for Jamie Buckley at Brewer and Shannon and the reading that I spoke on was from the third chapter of Acts, where the man lame from birth was healed.

Note that I did not say “where Peter healed the man lame from birth.”  That was the point that Peter himself hastened to make when the people gathered in wonder that this man was now not just walking but leaping about.  It was at this point that Peter began his journey as an “apostle,” which literally means “messenger”.

The priests, the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees were “much annoyed” that Jesus was teaching that in Jesus was the resurrection of the dead.  For the Sadducess didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead.  Dead was dead.  So that annoyed them to begin with, but they were also annoyed that Peter and John were proclaiming that this power of resurrection came from Jesus and also were usurping their role of teaching the people.

The NRSV translates the Greek word “diaponoumenoi” as “annoyed”. The King James translates the word as “grieved.” The New International Version and New American Standard Bible translate it as “greatly disturbed.”  Others translate the word as “vexed” or having the meaning of being “worn out and unable to put up with this anymore”.  The Common English Bible – not necessarily my favorite since I’m pretty conservative when it comes to Bibles – translates it as “incensed.”  Actually, I think that may come closest to the reaction of the authorities.

The captain of the temple guard was the highest-ranking priest after the high priest. He assisted the high priest in the performance of his ceremonial duties and was the chief of police in the temple area, with the power to arrest.

So, the Sadducees and priests didn’t like the fact that these two commoners from out in the sticks were usurping their role as the religious leaders of the Hebrew people, quoting Psalm 118:22 in reference to Jesus as, “The stone that the builders rejected [that] has become the chief cornerstone.”

Understand the perspective of the authorities.  Already three thousand people had been converted when Peter spoke at Pentecost.  Now, following the healing of the man lame from birth, Chapter 4, verse 4 tells us that another five thousand have become believers.

People in positions of authority don’t like being questioned.  Back in July, Pete Ricketts, the Republican Senator from Nebraska, called on Capitol Police to restrain TMZ’s Charlie Cotton from pressing him about the status of Mitch McConnell’s health.  Ricketts did later apologize to Cotton.

Just like Senator Ricketts, the authorities had Peter and John arrested (Acts 4:3).

After Peter’s testimony about Jesus the next day, the authorities reacted as authorities often do when someone is saying things they don’t like.  They tried to shut them up.

Let’s look at verses 15 through 22 –

¹⁵ So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. ¹⁶ They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. ¹⁷ But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” ¹⁸ So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; ²⁰ for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” ²¹ After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. ²² For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.

William Willimon speaks to the problem facing the authorities in his commentary on Acts published by Westminster John Knox Press where he writes:

“The stone the builders of the nation rejected as an unworthy foundation for national aspirations has become the cornerstone of hope in the future (4:11). Now the authorities have a real problem on their hands. They are backed into a corner by two uneducated men. A miraculous work of healing has occurred. If they clamp down upon these two troublesome commoners, there could be trouble among the people. After all, the establishment must appear to exist for the benefit of the people.”

Now, I don’t want to get political on World Communion Sunday, but I will tell you that in addition to Political Science, I majored in Journalism at Ole Miss, was editor of the student newspaper and subsequently wrote a statewide political column before I went to work for Senator Thad Cochran on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Since then, I’ve represented newspapers including local newspapers, television stations as well as nationally known news companies in connection with issues involving the First Amendment.

So, no matter whether I agree with President Trump or not (I do on some things, not on others), I think it’s dangerous when he bans certain news outlets from the White House because he disagrees with their coverage.  He should take a page from Senator Ricketts, who understands that part of the job of the press is to ask the uncomfortable questions.

Peter and John were asking uncomfortable questions of the authorities when they were told not to teach in the name of Jesus.  The apostles responded that they could not stop speaking about what they had seen and heard.

Peter and John were “speaking truth to power” but they had been called before those in power for what Noam Chomsky referred to as “speaking truth to the powerless.”

Chomsky is dismissive of "speaking truth to power". He asserts: "power knows the truth already and is busy concealing it". It is the oppressed who need to hear the truth, not the oppressors.

The priests and Sadducees told Peter and John once again to keep quiet, but they couldn’t keep them under arrest since they’d done nothing wrong and because the people were stirred up because of the man lame for 40 years was now walking.

Quoting Willimon again –

So the authorities take what is always the first step by any authoritarian leadership — they order Peter and John to keep quiet. Suppression of the press, control of the media, banning of books—the rulers always hope that there is some way to keep this sort of thing quiet, some way to control the people’s access to information. Unfortunately for the rulers, trying to keep spirit-filled apostles quiet is like trying to hold back a breaking wave.

One of my clients is the Town Creek Master Water Management District for Lee, Pontotoc, Prentiss and Union Counties.  One of the things I’ve learned in working with that client is the power of water.

When enough rain falls, dams can be breached, and when that happens, the resulting wave or wall of water can sweep away houses, businesses, cars and people for miles and miles downstream.

So, Peter and John returned to the incipient community that would soon be known as Christians.  What happened next is the subject of Chapter 4, verses 23 through 31:

²³ After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, ²⁵ it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:

‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?
²⁶ The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

²⁷ For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ²⁸ to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. ²⁹ And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰ while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” ³¹ When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Quoting Psalm 2, Peter, John and the others were determined but, as with the healing of the man lame from birth, they did not rely on their own power alone but called upon God in prayer.

The result of this echoes down to us today.  The work of the Holy Spirit was such that in less than a century half an empire had heard of Jesus Christ and in less than four hundred years the empire itself would be Christian.

This is the continuing miracle of the gift of the Holy Spirit as we recite today the mystery of faith, echoing Peter, John and those first apostles – testifying that –

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

As so today we partake of the consecrated gifts of the body and blood of Christ that we may be for the world today and tomorrow the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

In the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.