Arrested for preaching the resurrection
Acts 4:1-4
4 While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, 2 much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.
The Holy Spirit used Peter and John to bring healing to a lame man, they had said to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk.” The power that raised Jesus Christ to life again, healed the man. When the crowd gathered to witness this event, Peter and John began preaching about the truth and power of the resurrection. The crowd was thrilled by what they saw, thrilled by what they heard, but the Sadducees, were not happy (“much annoyed”, vs. 2). As we saw on Monday (Jan. 30), the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and so they took great exception to what Peter and John were saying, to the point that they had Peter and John arrested and held in prison overnight. Meanwhile about 5,000 people joined the church.
The resurrection offends people, and they will try to stop it being preached. It offends people who want to say the world is logical and rational, because resurrection is not logical. It seems irrational to believe that God raises people to life again. The resurrection is miraculous, outside our ability to control, beyond human explanation. The resurrection says that there is a God at work who can do the unimaginable, and that scares and offends people. Believing in the resurrection means that the miraculous is possible, and that is dislocating, causing us to live in a world of wonder where we can never be certain of what will happen, because God might step in and do what we never imagined possible.
People who believe that God raises the dead are not afraid of human powers and human threats, they serve one who is greater, and they live loyal to that greater one, Jesus Christ. People who believe in the resurrection have a loyalty and certainty beyond any human government or authority. They are loyal to God above all.
PRAYER:
We rejoice, God of the resurrection, that in raising Jesus Christ to life you have defeated all that might frighten or scare us. Cause us to live in the certainty and hope of the resurrection, that we might be loyal to you above all else. In Jesus’ name. Amen.