Eastertide
April 20, 2015
Scripture Reading: Acts 4:5-12
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. –Acts 4:5-10
This scripture is hard to read and harder still to address for, I believe, we can put ourselves in the shoes of the religious leaders of the day rather than the ones declaring the message of Christ crucified. There are states that are passing laws, my own considered it, to actually guarantee the rights of people of faith, mainly Christians who are seeking such laws, to discriminate against those who are not Christians or at least not of their particular brand of Christianity. When I first heard about these laws I flashed back to documentaries I have seen of Nazi Germany with signs in the windows that said ‘Juden nicht erlaubt‘ (Jews not allowed) or ‘Juden sind nicht erwünscht‘ (Jews not welcomed). I do value highly the fact that I live in a country that’s First Constitutional Amendment includes language that prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, or impeding the free exercise of religion. It seems to me that that is exactly what these laws are attempting to do.
From a strictly faith-based perspective, I cannot believe that an omnificent, omnipresent, and omnipotent God would ever need any kind of civil authority’s protection. I believe that is what Isaiah was saying to Judah when it tried to enter into a pact with Egypt to protect Judah from the invaders that eventually overthrew it. Isaiah was counseling that Judah needed to get its own house in order. These are words we in the United States need to hear. We invest our time an energy in trying to save a Christian from the persecution of having to sell cakes and flowers to someone whose lifestyle we do not approve, while 45,000,000 Americans live in families with incomes below the poverty line, our children are failing at an alarming rate in schools, our prisons are overflowing with people who need mental health and addiction treatment, and our shorelines are moving closer and closer overland, while the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. We need to ask ourselves who is the persecuted and who is the persecutor. It might be a good time to read Matthew 25 again.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for our failure to follow your call courageously. Forgive us for not loving all your children condemning some to shame and others to hunger. Show us your way, your truth, and your life. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.