Eastertide
April 16, 2018
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
The underplay in this scripture is palpable. We feel the distrust, fear perhaps coming from the leaders and the sheer gut emotion of Peter seeps through his every word. Was his life in danger? Possibly. Why would religious leaders imprison someone for healing a person? Since they knew Peter and they knew who he followed, they no doubt knew the answer to their questions already. Politics weaves its power-driven ways through all aspects of human endeavor.
If we were called by religious leaders today to account for a service we rendered, what would be our defining response? Perhaps we should first ask the question, have we done anything good recently for which religious leaders might want to take an accounting? Is living our faith a safe and non-threatening venture? Or when we see a need do we address it without regard to the consequences? Some months ago, I watched a rerun of a movie probably from the sixties about the civil rights movement (Sorry I cannot remember the title). One scene still sticks with me. A white woman had seen the discrimination in her community and helped behind the scenes when she could while trying to avoid getting involved in the public issues. At an encounter where a long angry line of black citizens faced a long angry line of white officials and citizens, She finally saw she could no longer avoid the situation. She walked through the vacant space between the two groups and joined the line with the people of color.
I am not a fan of either violence or angry confrontation, but they happen when good people do nothing*. We must remove our blinders to the impacts of white privilege and discrimination. We must be healers/repairers of the breach** working to prevent situations from getting worse as we strive for wholeness in our broken world.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in. (Isaiah 58:10-12)
Prayer: I have heard the call, O Lord, empower me to become a repairer of the breach, a restorer of the streets where all people live. Amen.
*Source: Edmund Burke
** See information about the work of Repairers of the Breach at https://www.breachrepairers.org/