A Disruptive Surprise
Acts 12:11-19
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’
12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. 14 On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’ But she insisted that it was so. They said, ‘It is his angel.’ 16 Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. 17 He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, ‘Tell this to James and to the believers.’ Then he left and went to another place.
18 When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 19 When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.
Up until what happens to the guards this is a very funny story. A story in which God shows just how completely God can disrupt what human beings think is normal and expected, and how human beings have difficulty believing that God is at work in the world disrupting things.
Peter realizing that he has been released form prison thinks, “It is not smart for me to be out here, I need find somewhere safe to go.” So he heads to the home of one of the leaders of the church – Mary. Notice, a woman who is a church leader. Inside Mary’s house an all-night prayer meeting is going on asking God to get Peter out of prison. And Peter is outside knocking on the door.
Rhoda, one of house staff (Mary had financial resources to have a maid), went to answer the door and heard a voice asking to be let in, she recognized it as Peter’s voice. So overjoyed that she forgot to let Peter in, she returned to the prayer meeting and told the rest that Peter had been released from prison and was outside in the street. The rest of the church who had been praying for Peter’s release don’t believe Rhoda when she says Peter had been released and was knocking on the door. They didn’t believe that what they had been praying for had taken place. They prayed yes, but they did not believe God would act. God’s actions disrupted even the expectation of the pray-ers (even the spiritually minded are caught off guard by God).
Peter’s escape also disrupted Herod who had been made to look foolish, since Peter had escaped from Herod’s prison. When Herod was disrupted and made to look foolish bad things happened, and the guards were executed. When evil is disrupted by God evil takes up violence as a response.
But Peter is out of Herod’s clutches, gone to a safe house the church had.
PRAYER:
God, you disrupt the plans of human beings, and we thank you for this, although at times we wish you were not so disruptive. Keep us open to your unexpected hand doing surprising things in our world. Teach us the joy of welcoming your disruptive action. In Jesus’ name. Amen.