Acts 4:5-12
“Powers That Be”
April 25, 2021
The day started like all the others. He knew exactly what time in the afternoon the most people would be there so his friends could time it just right.
They would carry him and drop him off outside one of the doors to the temple known as the Beautiful Gate.
There the lame man would beg for money from any and everyone going into the temple for the 3:00 p.m. prayers.
Peter and John came along and instead of money, they offered him the chance to walk again in the name of Jesus.
It worked. He leapt up and amazed all those folks who day in and day out had seen him begging. Now he was jumping for joy and praising God.
This act of healing becomes the stuff of misunderstanding first when all those witnesses who used to throw coins in the lame beggar’s hat think that Peter was the whole reason the man can now walk. They assume that Peter and John are powerful shamans or healers.
Peter quickly schools them by letting them know it wasn’t any power that he and John had. Rather, it was the power of God, in Jesus’ name, that healed the man.
Peter then went on to proclaim the great good news of the resurrection, recounting how God was at work – the same God of their shared ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He recounts the rejection and death Jesus faced but also that God raised Jesus back from the dead. It is faith in the God of Jesus that restored this man’s health. This sermon of Peter’s goes on for hours and gets him and John and the healed man arrested.
This is where we enter today’s story.
Peter and John are standing before the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jewish people who even under Roman rule had the right to arrest people but could not hand down a death sentence. The only exception was if a Gentile trespassed in the inner part of the temple.
These were powerful men who obviously felt threatened and their very first question wasn’t what did all of this mean or how did you heal that guy. No, they wanted to know, “By what power do you do this?” They want to know who authorized you to make this guy walk again.
They don’t get excited that a lame man is no longer lame.
The religious authorities are threatened.
They want to protect their version of religion.
They knew that this Christian movement was beginning to take off and the power of the Holy Spirit was spreading to the people who wanted in on such great news may mean they lose some of their power.
But this is not an anti-religion story.
Christians were still spending a lot of time in the temple and remember Peter and John were themselves heading to the temple to pray when they helped this man.
Peter’s speech is amazingly brave.
He is speaking to the wealthiest, most intellectual and powerful people around.
He is a modest fisherman from Galilee standing before the same court that condemned Jesus to death. He was literally risking his life because he knew that he was speaking truth to power.
The power of the religious authorities was life-taking power.
The power of God in Jesus’ name is life-giving power.
Over much of history, there have been many times when political leaders or religious authorities asserted that because of their power they were the only ones who could determine what was best for their citizens or their members.
Thank goodness, the Holy Spirit has moved to break down those institutional walls over time and that believers listened and acted. Think about Jim Crow laws that excluded Black people from full participation in American life.
Religious leaders, Black and White, would not give up the struggle that said that each and every person in this country deserves the same rights and dignity. This struggle continues today.
It is our belief in a life-giving God, as shown by Jesus, that empowers us to raise up and affirm the humanity of every single person.
Peter is part of the religion and yet the Holy Spirit is pushing him to respond. He knows he is not alone and whatever power he has is God’s.
The way he answers those in the court is to not accept the premise of the question they are asking him. It isn’t about he and John.
Peter never says I or we. He instead proclaims that it is God through Jesus Christ who has brought about this healing.
What will we do with our belief in the healing power of the Holy Spirit that is ours – each of us?
Will we use it for good?
One of the great outcomes of church is that we are able to use the power we share to bring healing and hope to a hurting world.
We can do that with our voices pointing out injustice when we witness it.
When we learn of those struggling to feed or shelter or clothe themselves or their family, will we allow God’s all-inclusive message of care to guide us in figuring out what is the life-giving action we can take?
Each of you, each of us, has the power to offer the loving and compassionate response to pain and suffering.
Let us not take for granted the ways we can use that power.
The writer Alice Walker reminds us that “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
We have a power that comes from God. Let us use it for good.
May we raise this prayer, written by a colleague in Alabama, to God who is the source of our power:
Peter wasn’t perfect, that’s for sure.
But we can take heart from his boldness and enthusiasm.
God, give us a bit of his courage, his fervor, his willingness to take risks so that we can confidently tell about Jesus,
who died and then was raised again to prove –
no matter the naysayers’ protests –
that all humans are made in your image,
abuses of power must end,
we should take responsibility for one another,
and love is stronger than any other force.
Come, Holy Spirit, to offer us this strength. Amen. (https://revgalblogpals.org/2021/04/23/friday-prayer-dont-fear-the-naysayers/)