God's Moral Order: Acts 3:12-19 - Third Sunday of Easter

¹²[Peter] addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. ¹⁴But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, ¹⁵and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.   ¹⁷“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. ¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” (NRSV)

Cherry blossom time by Xerones on flickr.  CC BY-NC 2.0 

Every year, the local YMCA branch conducts a survey asking members which stations they want to see played on the three TVs in the fitness center.

I don’t watch their televisions, but I knew what stations I didn’t want: 24-hour cable news.  I go the gym to relieve stress—so I don’t need Fox News or CNN replenishing it.

Furthermore, I learned that a fistfight broke out between two men about something that was being reported on cable news. 

That was the reason for a new policy that only local news programming would be played. 

It makes you wonder—why is this happening?  Why are we so divided?  Why are we tearing ourselves apart over politics?

To me, this says something powerful about the human condition—which we witnessed frequently throughout Jesus’ ministry, and into the beginnings of the early church.

In our first reading for today from the book of Acts, Peter and John have caused a significant public disturbance after they heal a paralyzed beggar they encountered at the Jerusalem temple gates. 

You’d think that people wouldn’t be angry over something like this, but when Peter and John proclaim that it was the crucified Jesus who healed the man, they quickly find themselves in hot water with the religious powers-that-be.

These were men who claimed as their divine right, the authority to speak and act on God’s behalf.  They taught the people what was right and wrong; good and evil.  They hated Jesus because he claimed God’s authority over and against them.  They hated Jesus because he defied the moral order they presided over and that the people lived under.  Think of a moral order this way—when the common people shouted “crucify him” when Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, they were following their leaders.  They believed that what they were doing was right.

You also live your life in a moral order.  A moral order defines your ideal of the way things ought to be.  It defines your sense of right and wrong.  It has leaders you follow and authorities you trust.  Obedience to that moral order keeps you safe and secure.  It prevents chaos in your world.  It serves your interests and meets your needs.  It even gives you power and belonging. 

But it also creates distinct boundaries between who’s in and who’s out; who’s righteous and who’s unrighteous; who’s godly and who’s ungodly… When something or someone violates your moral order, it is your natural instinct to fight back and protect it.  The dissension and the division we see in political discourse and even in the church happens because of the clashing of differing moral orders. 

Ultimately, the showdown between Peter and John and the powers-that-be is a clash between God’s moral order and the world.  But notice how Peter and John respond: they refuse to make this an “us versus them” battle between good and evil (which was happening to them).  They don’t go on the attack against those who were opposed to them.  Instead, Peter and John appeal to the common identity: their belonging to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They remind the people of the prophets’ teaching that God’s Messiah would suffer. 

Peter and John assert that the acted in ignorance when they rejected Jesus, but that God is acting in love by healing the crippled man in the name of Jesus, so that they may see his power and grace and have salvation in him. 

When there is a moral order that keeps you (and others) in ignorance to who Jesus is and the life he comes to bring, Jesus breaks it—just like his tomb was broken open.  Repentance means renouncing the ignorance by which you opposed Jesus and made enemies out of neighbors God intends for you to love—and embracing a new identity and new moral order built around the ways of Jesus.

The “us versus them” mentality of our politicians and cable TV pundits is all about dehumanizing and demonizing “those people” for who they are, what they do, or how they believe.  For them, the best defense is a good offense when it comes to asserting their moral order.

But Jesus is the source of truth: the One who forgives his persecutors; who gives his life away to those who hate him; and yet delights to reconcile all sinners to God and each other.  You don’t defend God’s truth by dehumanizing and demonizing other people; you don’t defend God’s truth by attack and conquest…  True righteousness is all about suffering and giving yourself away for others.  True righteousness is about affirming our mutual and shared belonging to God and each other.

And the reason why this is so important is that a new era is dawning upon our Church.  The ways of doing church and living the Christian life are changing drastically from what they were just a generation ago.  At the same time, there are those who believe that the way forward is for the Church to choose a side in the culture war and fight to the death.  That road leads only to death.

On the other hand, Jesus is giving us new songs to sing; new ways to serve. Those who’d long been counted as outsiders can finally come home to God’s house.  Certain old and familiar things will be passing away.  Ideas, beliefs, and practices that you’ve always held as sacred may no longer be.  Jesus will take what you once called wisdom and righteousness and expose it as ignorance—and reveal the ultimate truths about who he is, and the new creation he brings.  God’s moral order is about mercy, forgiveness, and belonging.  You’re not fighting for the way things ought to be, but the way things will be as the risen Christ makes all things new. We are the Church so that Christ can reveal his love and grace to a suffering world—and so that all may have life in his name.