Peter the Bold?
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In the early days of the church, to an outsider, Christianity seemed like just another subset of Judaism. Even to insiders it seemed like that. So when the high priest, his family, the scribes, and the elders called Peter and his friends in to meet, the dynamic was sort of like that of an intervention. Peter was treated like a teenager who had been hanging out with the wrong crowd doing the wrong things. In an honor/shame culture, this would have been quite the big deal.
The reason they were called in was because God had used Peter to heal a disabled man. The religious leaders were as comfortable with Peter performing miracles as they were with Jesus performing them. That particular problem had been dealt with. They seemed to be afraid that they were now playing whack-a-mole with unauthorized miracle workers.
By what power or by what name did you do this?” they asked him. To me, this question brings to mind accusations that Jesus used the prince of demons to drive out demons. But Peter is not having it and goes all populist appealing to common knowledge and reason. Listen to what he says.
The reason they were called in was because God had used Peter to heal a disabled man. The religious leaders were as comfortable with Peter performing miracles as they were with Jesus performing them. They were under the impression that that particular problem had been dealt with. They seemed to be afraid that they were now playing whack-a-mole with unauthorized miracle workers.
Anglican Church in North America Daily Office Lectionary Evening Prayer
“Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
By what power or by what name did you do this?” they asked him. To me, this question brings to mind accusations that Jesus used the prince of demons to drive out demons. But Peter is not having it and goes all populist appealing to common knowledge and reason. Listen to what he says.
Peter is described as being filled with the Holy Spirit as or just before he speaks. While every Christian rightly holds this description, there are moments when the Holy Spirit is especially tangible, moments like those Jesus promised ,where we, his disciples, would be put before tribunals. Where we’re told not to worry because he will give us the words to say. Peter has some powerful words from Jesus, so powerful that the onlookers described him and John as bold.
“Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Because of a certain refined detachment they expected to hear from others of the Jewish elite classes, they seemed a bit taken aback. But they looked at the healed man, and what were they going to say? Like parents of teenagers using their last inch of authority, they told them to stoppit, to stop mentioning Jesus in their teaching and speaking, or else. Peter and John appeal to a higher authority, to God and just to the plain facts; they weren’t going to stop telling what happened. And the people were praising God because of the healing. This had gotten out of hand. The sham religious authorities were on the wrong side of history, in a way that had been confirmed by a miracle.
But this wasn’t the extent of the praise offered to God in this moment. The fledgling church also worshipped God because of the chief priest’s reaction and they called out that they were seeing the Scriptures fulfilled. was unfolding before them:
“ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
This was hardly appropriate
Peter is described as being filled with the Holy Spirit as or just before he speaks. While every Christian rightly holds this description, there are moments when the Holy Spirit is especially tangible, moments like those Jesus promised ,where we, his disciples, would be put before tribunals. Where we’re told not to worry because he will give us the words to say. Peter has some powerful words from Jesus, so powerful that the onlookers described him and John as bold.
Because of a certain refined detachment they expected to hear from others of the Jewish elite classes, they seemed a bit taken aback. But they looked at the healed man, and what were they going to say? Like parents of teenagers using their last inch of authority, they told them to stoppit, to stop mentioning Jesus in their teaching and speaking, or else. Peter and John appeal to a higher authority, to God and just to the plain facts; they weren’t going to stop telling what happened. And the people were praising God because of the healing. This had gotten out of hand. The sham religious authorities were on the wrong side of history, in a way that had been confirmed by a miracle.
and the peoples plot in vain?
But this wasn’t the extent of the praise offered to God in this moment. The fledgling church also worshipped God because of the chief priest’s reaction and they called out that they were seeing the Scriptures fulfilled. was unfolding before them:
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
“ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
Herod in all of his attempts to legitimize himself as a rightful Jewish king, probably didn’t think that his Gentile heritage would be the fulfillment of . If Herod ever read , he probably thought of himself as the Lord’s Anointed. But I think that if there is a main point to take home from this passage tonight, it comes from this unexpected understanding of Scripture. It’s this. In the face of the most powerful people these Jewish believers knew, in the face of the most authoritative religious offices that could be held, in the face of power dynamics and free speech being stifled, God was there with Peter and John and that new Christian church. No appeal to torn priest’s clothing or king’s crowns, to the elite or even the majority was enough to silence the import of Christ’s death and resurrection. A bomb had gone off. The power structures of society were turned on their head. All the things keeping people in order, making sure the prince of this world, the enemy of our souls got offered his pinch of incense, those things, that way of thinking about value and fear and authority was on full display as the illegitimate sham it was and still is when Jesus died and rose again from death. God’s kingdom had come and his will must be done on earth as it is in heaven. God was present with this early church. He shook the ground with his presence. And he stirred up their hearts to be bold and to pray for boldness. But this wasn’t just about sheer power. It wasn’t just winning for the sake of winning. This was not about thwarting authority for the sake of thwarting authority. The Holy Spirit stirred up boldness in the hearts of those first Christians. And it stemmed from the truth being so completely different from what people thought it was. The Holy Spirit showed them a real glimpse of how wonderful the truth was, the fact of Jesus the crucified and risen Son of God; and the immensity of the truth, it’s clash with the former order of things exploded into boldness in the hearts of the apostles. It compelled boldness. Even in Peter, the one who denied Christ three times on the eve of his execution. That man, facing the smallest suggestion that he knew Jesus, cowered. But in the new reality of a resurrected Son of God, Peter the coward became Peter the bold.
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
After this exchange with the religious leaders, the church prayed for boldness all the more. They did not presume that they had just received boldness and could use it at will. They knew it was a gift from the Holy Spirit. And they knew they would need it. The nations still raged, the peoples still plotted in vain, the kings of the earth and the rulers were still gathered together against the Lord and his Anointed. Whatever boldness they had, they were going to continue to need a continual, fresh supply. And when they prayed, that’s when the ground shook, they were all tangibly present to, filled with, the Holy Spirit, and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
So what about us? Is this just a nice story? Is it something to distill into a couple of sentences and put on a motivational poster with the word, “Boldness” emblazoned across it? Or is it something more. Is this story in Acts part of our story? Are their challenges our challenges? Is their Holy Spirit, our Holy Spirit? What if Peter had just kept to his fishing? This passage asks us if we’re going to keep our head down so we don’t lose our place in the world’s line, or if we’re going to speak up. Are we going to let the truth that that teacher in Jerusalem who got nailed to a cross two thousand years ago was turning power as we know it upside down and proved it when he rose from the dead, are we going to let that truth turn us upside down and reorient us to God’s kingdom, where God shows his rule and reign not through armies and weapons and intimidation, but through healing a man who has been disabled for 40 years? Are we going to be bold for the sake of that kingdom’s expansion, or are we going to keep our place in the world’s line? Let’s remember in this era defined by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that his story, that the early church’s story, is our story. That like those early Christians, we have been grafted into this story of redemption. Let us pray for boldness from the Holy Spirit to follow Christ in God’s kingdom come, that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
Herod in all of his attempts to legitimize himself as a rightful Jewish king, probably didn’t think that his Gentile heritage would be the fulfillment of . If Herod ever read , he probably thought of himself as the Lord’s Anointed. But I think that if there is a main point to take home from this passage tonight, it comes from this unexpected understanding of Scripture. It’s this. In the face of the most powerful people these Jewish believers knew, in the face of the most authoritative religious offices that could be held, in the face of power dynamics and free speech being stifled, God was there with Peter and John and that new Christian church. No appeal to torn priest’s clothing or king’s crowns, to the elite or even the majority was enough to silence the import of Christ’s death and resurrection. A bomb had gone off. The power structures of society were turned on their head. All the things keeping people in order, making sure the prince of this world, the enemy of our souls got offered his pinch of incense, those things, that way of thinking about value and fear and authority was on full display as the illegitimate sham it was and still is when Jesus died and rose again from death. God’s kingdom had come and his will must be done on earth as it is in heaven. God was present with this early church. He shook the ground with his presence. And he stirred up their hearts to be bold and to pray for boldness. But this wasn’t just about sheer power. It wasn’t just winning for the sake of winning. This was not about thwarting authority for the sake of thwarting authority. The Holy Spirit stirred up boldness in the hearts of those first Christians. And it stemmed from the truth being so completely different from what people thought it was. The Holy Spirit showed them a real glimpse of how wonderful the truth was, the fact of Jesus the crucified and risen Son of God; and the immensity of the truth, it’s clash with the former order of things exploded into boldness in the hearts of the apostles. It compelled boldness. Even in Peter, the one who denied Christ three times on the eve of his execution. That man, facing the smallest suggestion that he knew Jesus, cowered. But in the new reality of a resurrected Son of God, Peter the coward became Peter the bold.
After this exchange with the religious leaders, the church prayed for boldness all the more. They did not presume that they had just received boldness and could use it at will. They knew it was a gift from the Holy Spirit. And they knew they would need it. The nations still raged, the peoples still plotted in vain, the kings of the earth and the rulers were still gathered together against the Lord and his Anointed. Whatever boldness they had, they were going to continue to need a continual, fresh supply. And when they prayed, that’s when the ground shook, they were all tangibly present to, filled with, the Holy Spirit, and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
So what about us? Is this just a nice story? Is it something to distill into a couple of sentences and put on a motivational poster with the word, “Boldness” emblazoned across it? Or is it something more. Is this story in Acts part of our story? Are their challenges our challenges? Is their Holy Spirit, our Holy Spirit? What if Peter had just kept to his fishing? This passage asks us if we’re going to keep our head down so we don’t lose our place in the world’s line, or if we’re going to speak up. Are we going to let the truth that that teacher in Jerusalem who got nailed to a cross two thousand years ago was turning power as we know it upside down and proved it when he rose from the dead, are we going to let that truth turn us upside down and reorient us to God’s kingdom, where God shows his rule and reign not through armies and weapons and intimidation, but through healing a man who has been disabled for 40 years? Are we going to be bold for the sake of that kingdom’s expansion, or are we going to keep our place in the world’s line? Let’s remember in this era defined by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that his story, that the early church’s story, is our story. That like those early Christians, we have been grafted into this story of redemption. Let us pray for boldness from the Holy Spirit to follow Christ in God’s kingdom come, that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.