Resurrection On Your Turf: Acts 5:27-32 - Second Sunday of Easter

²⁷When they had brought [the apostles,] they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, ²⁸saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” ²⁹But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. ³⁰The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³²And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (NRSV)

Many residents of a local community are outraged over a plan to convert a vacant church into a halfway house for non-violent criminal offenders.

They fear for the safety of their children and the impact on their property values.  They argue that it’s illegal under local zoning ordinances.  They say other locations in town are more appropriate.

They don’t have a problem with halfway houses; just not in their neighborhood.

So who’s right?  Whose rights should win out here?  What would Jesus say?  Here you have a typical controversy of community life. 

But in today’s first reading from Acts, the controversy is of a different sort—and the stakes are much higher…

The apostles have just been arrested, for the second time, by the religious police.  Their crime was proclaiming that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and performing miraculous signs and wonders among the people.  God was bringing literally thousands of people to faith by their testimony.  Naturally, this posed a grave threat to the religious establishment…

Now, the apostles are once again standing before the Sanhedrin—which was a council governing over all the religious affairs of the Jewish people in and around Jerusalem.  This was the same council that handed Jesus over to Pontius Pilate to be crucified.  They had already commanded the apostles to stop teaching about Jesus.  But Peter and the apostles testify that they answer to an even higher authority, and that they will not be silent. 

Trouble is, the men of the Sanhedrin claim authority as their divine right—not only by virtue of their position, but by their thorough knowledge of God’s Law and their absolute adherence to it.  They were guardians over the holiness of Jerusalem and gatekeepers to the divine estate.  As such, they acted with the utmost conviction that they were doing God’s work.  Acts chapter 5 will end with the apostles being flogged—likely the “forty lashes minus one” Paul later speaks of.  Yet, the apostles rejoice to be “considered worthy to suffer dishonor for [Jesus’ sake],” and continue their public proclamation.

I love the wording here—because they weren’t being beaten to a pulp because of what they were saying or doing.  Their proclamation as well as their punishment was because of what God was doing, which began with God raising Jesus from the dead.  God was (and still is) dismantling the present order of things, whereby death and the devil exercise dominion.  God is building the Church which will, in turn, render the Sanhedrin and the religious establishment obsolete. 

It is important to note that the kingdom of death and evil is not destroyed, nor is the kingdom of God built through violence, militancy, or bloodshed—but by the faith-filled testimony of apostles like you and me, as empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Problem is, death and evil won’t go down without a fight…  The front lines of resistance exist inside of every human heart, including yours and mine…

One of the chief hallmarks of a sinner is in claiming a divine endorsement over one’s entire way of life.  You’re living each day, firmly believing that your convictions, pursuits, and lifestyle choices all bear divine stamp of approval.  One then turns to religion as a way of helping you to secure and retain what you believe to be your divine right.

Naturally, you will fearsomely resist anything you see trespassing against your divine rights and freedoms.  You can’t be wrong if you feel so in the right.  Before you know it, you’re attacking what could very well be Jesus building God’s kingdom right on your home turf.

But what happens when either disaster strikes or you just plain mess everything up, and you no longer feel that security and divine favor?

We must remember that the apostles were crushed and shattered, in all aspects of their being, by the crucifixion of Jesus.  They were crushed and shattered by their failings. Jesus’ death destroyed their faith, and made it seem as though they’d been living a lie.  Yet no matter what happens, God has the last word.  Jesus shows up and gives resurrection to their faith.  He gives them the Holy Spirit, and sends them into the world to testify to the new reality being born.  “Forty lashes minus one” only adds to their joy in sharing in the living, giving, dying, and rising of Christ.  You can’t fake this!

This is exactly what God intends for each of us.  So when we shout out in celebration “Jesus is risen!”, we’re not merely affirming a one-time event.  On the contrary, we’re celebrating what God is doing in the world—and the resurrection that is happening to us.  God is taking our pains, losses, and fears—together with our sins and failures—and forming us into the disciples of a brand new reality.

We are people of the resurrection.  Our divine rights are not to power, privilege, or personal achievement.  Our divine right is to die with Christ to rise with Christ.  Our freedom is to give ourselves away knowing that we can never be emptied of God’s abundant graces.  Our security comes by the promise that the forces of death and evil that wreak so much havoc are already on the fast track to their own extinction.  Our privilege is the peace of trusting God.  Our joy is in bearing witness to the reality of resurrection.

The grave couldn’t keep a lid on Jesus—and neither the world nor the hardness or timidity of our own hearts can bottle up the coming Kingdom of God.