In those days, many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high honor. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”
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Just prior to Sundays Epistle reading we are told in the book of Acts of the strange case of Ananias and Sapphira. There, you may recall that this couple, members of the early church, sold a property and laid the proceeds of sale at the feet of the apostles. This was common in the early days. What was not common however, is that this couple held back some of the proceeds and in so doing, they not only lied to men but had lied to God. As a result both were struck dead, so a great fear came upon the whole church and upon all those hearing these things.
Now there were many signs and wonders being regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. This of course should come as no surprise as the apostles, now filled with the Holy Spirit, were able to discern the heart of those around them. With the death of Ananias and Sapphira, people began to realise that rebellion of the heart was as sinful as manifesting a rejection of Christ himself. Religion, and following Christ was not something to be trifled with. So the people began to be in awe and yet, although they held the disciples in high esteem, they dared not openly join them for great fear of what might happen to them if they were found wanting.
It is not that the way with most of us today. We can admire the piety of a few great people and we wish we could emulate them but we are scared to take that leap for fear of the consequences of failure. Fear is that one emotion that robs us of all we have going forward. We become almost transfixed by all sorts of fears. How we wish we could overcome our fears and be like those people who now stand as giants of faith and emulate them – so we admire from a distance. But, we have now seen what this Christian faith can do – this faith in Christ. We have seen that if we believe we can be saved so we begin to tentatively believe in Christ. True, our belief may not be of the strength of those that we admire but our belief is beginning to bud and to grow.
So, we begin to bring our sick and lay them on beds and mats in the streets so that at least the shadow of the great Peter might fall on some of them as he passed by and thus they be healed. Consider this: the shadow of Peter would be enough to heal our loved ones. Would this not demonstrate to us that God was with these apostles in a very powerful way? Most certainly, we would not dare to question their authority or trifle with them for fear of the consequences.
But there were other people, members of the ruling party who actively opposed Christ – the Sadducees – who were quite indignant and angry and jealous as to the adulation that these mighty men of God were receiving. No doubt adulation that they thought they were rightfully entitled to. The Sadducees controlled the Sanhedrin, the ruling court in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. This court had the right to arrest people and exercise jurisdiction even unto death, and even if the charges were trumped up. The reality is that we would have remembered the blind young man at the time of Christ who had been cast out of the synagogue because he had been healed by Christ and given praise to him. That would have put us on our guard and would have made us wary of committing publicly to being a follower of Christ.
Indeed, the apostles were in fact arrested at the direction of the Sadducees and put into jail. The jails in those times were not like ours. Basically you are thrown in and forgotten about and if you could not be released you would more than likely die there. However an angel the Lord opened the doors and bought them out. Instead of directing them to flee for their own lives the Angel of the Lord said to them: go and stand in the temple courts and tell all the people about this new life.
The temple courts were the area surrounding the great temple in Jerusalem. These courts would have been a hive of activity. People would be coming and going from all parts of the known world. They would have been coming to Jerusalem to offer atonement for their sins through various offerings and to participate in the periodic festivals. There would have been a myriad of animals for sacrifice. Money changers changing money from around the known world into temple money so the temple tax could be paid. Animals protesting in terror. The noise of slaughter, the smell of burning animal flesh and people milling to and fro attending ritual bathing or morning or evening services. It would have been chaotic with the temple police on notice to control problems – and it is to that environment that the angel of the Lord commands them to expose themselves. Any other person would have been too scared to go. The old Peter may well have lost courage and ran away but the new Peter goes willingly to fiercely proclaim the gospel.
In this way the message is that God is with the apostles and so anyone who opposes the apostles is, in effect, opposing God. We will always have human envy and jealousy. It was the jealousy of the Jews of the Christians’ popularity and of the new faith that caused difficulty and tumult. The upshot of all this was that whilst the apostles were teaching, the authorities took notice and in response convened the Council and they sent for the apostles who should have been in jail just to verify for themselves what on earth was going on. On attending the jail the officers found that the prison house was secured with the guard standing outside the doors but there were no prisoners within. The guards were scared and perplexed because they may well have been blamed for the prisoners escape but when it was pointed out to them that the men who had been imprisoned were standing at the temple and teaching the people, they were once again re-arrested and put in prison.
You see, God asks us not to avoid difficulties and even to risk our life sometimes. Yet, the decision is up to us whether we take on the difficulties or slip away from them. The choice is ours. We can, like the apostles heed the call to teach and heal – even if it may involve personal danger and sacrifice or we can look out for number one. Consider carefully the consequences of your decision. They may shut you out of paradise or you just may be included as a result of your decision and actions. The choice is yours.
