[Fri, 24 May] Acts 3:11-4:22 (878 words; 1/5)

Jesus had warned his disciples that "they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name." (Lk 21:12). Here in our reading today we see the first fulfilment of these words, and, of course, there is plenty more to come. But Jesus also went on to say, "I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict", and this also we see in our reading (Lk 21:15).

This is the second sermon of Acts, both given by Peter, and both following an extraordinary sign which filled people with "wonder and amazement" (Acts 3:10). Peter uses the sign not merely as an opportunity to gather an awestruck crowd, but as the proof of what he is about to say. The speech will contrast who Jesus really is and who they thought he was, what they did to him, and what God has done for him. This contrast is intended to be damming, but only so that Peter may offer the hope that Jesus has brought. Peter even concedes that they "acted in ignorance" (3:17 cf. Lk 23:34). But how can they know all this to be true, that God has honoured Jesus in this way, and they were indeed fatally mistaken to reject and kill him? The answer is simply that it is by Jesus' power that this man, over forty years old and lame from birth, can now walk. The sign is like that done by Jesus when he heals the paralytic: his healing of the man proves the claim that he has authority to forgive sin. 

Peter describes Jesus in a number of ways from the scriptures. He is, first of all, the servant of God (v. 13 and 26), the anointed figure from Isa 42:14 (and also 49:1–6; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12). They rejected him, but God has glorified him. He is the Holy and Righteous One (v. 14) — who they swapped for a murderer! — and the Author of Life — who they killed! (v. 15). But God raised him from the dead, and the apostles stand as witnesses. Jesus is also the Messiah, the one who was predicted in the prophets to suffer (e.g. Isa 53:3-12), and the one appointed to bless them (vv. 18-21). And, Jesus is also the prophet who Moses spoke about in Deut 18:15 (v. 22 cf. 7:37). Lastly, Jesus is the one whom all the prophets have spoken of from Samuel onwards (v. 24). Also worth noting is that when Peter speaks of God in v. 13, he uses the classic formula used at the burning bush in Exod 3:6: “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and of Jacob.” He identifies God by drawing his audience back to a foundational text of revelation. He does this again in v. 25 when he brings his audience back to the foundational promise made to Abraham in Gen 12:3, that in his descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. In all of these ways, Peter shows that all their history as Israelites has come down to this moment and this man Jesus, who has made this beggar walk. It is no wonder, having heaped all these titles and promises on Jesus, that Peter will tell the Sanhedrin in 4:12 that there is “salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

The apostles have been arrested because they were teaching the people that in Jesus there was the resurrection of the dead (4:2). The offended group includes the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection. At the inquiry the next day, they ask in v. 7 a similar question that which was put to Jesus: “By what power or by what name did you do this?” (see Lk 20:2). Peter — as promised by Jesus — is filled with the Holy Spirit as he begins his response. Again, he declares that they crucified Jesus, but God raised him from the dead, and it is precisely this name which has restored this man to health. Peter even backs up this divine reversal by quoting the same verse (Ps 118:22) that Jesus used in Lk 20:17. As Peter affirmed in the first sermon (2:23), though they are most certainly accountable for their actions, this scripture implies that these things were foreordained and planned by God. It had been God’s way of providing salvation all along. 

One final theme of this episode to note is the apostles' normality or ordinaryness. In speaking to the crowds the day before, Peter denied that this miracle could be attributed to their own power or piety (3:12). They were not so holy or dedicated or scrupluous that God listened especially to their prayers. Rather, it was the power of the risen Jesus. Then, the rulers observed that Peter and John were "uneducated and ordinary men". They were not trained rhetoricians, that is, men who had been taught to argue, persuade and debate, nor were they schooled in the law. All they could note was that they had been with Jesus, which had seemingly made all the difference.