Monday, September 2, 2024

Today's Scripture
Acts 12:1–17

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. 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.” 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. When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. 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. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. 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. (NRSV)

Reflection

James is Zebedee’s boy. Everyone knows the story of how Jesus called James, along with John, his brother, and their fellow fisherman Simon. Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, tells the story in chapter five, verses 10–11 of his gospel, how Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people,” and how they left everything and followed him.

In Acts 12, James truly leaves everything — even his very life — to follow Jesus.

When I read Acts’ narrative of the early church, specifically its persecution, I am struck by the express evil intent of that state that acted against it. Herod “laid violent hands” upon these Christians, as if to make an example of this small band of Jews joyfully proclaiming allegiance to a thorn-crowned Lord: I rule here. No one else.

We might expect the murder of James and the attendant arrest of Peter to repel the church and force it into hiding. Alternatively, this story might be a revolutionary tale. Given Herod’s timing (the Passover festival celebrating the Israelites’ deliverance from bondage to another king — Pharaoh), why wouldn’t Peter’s arrest prompt his compatriots to take up arms and storm the gates of the prison demanding liberation?

Like they could. Imagine God entrusting deliverance to Peter and these early Christians! Peter? He thinks he’s dreaming through the first half of the rescue effort. His friends? When they see their friend unshackled at their front door, they leave him out there for several minutes so they can accuse Rhoda of being daffy. No, salvation cannot be entrusted to these Christians; God saves. That is, after all, the name of the Lord they worship and proclaim: Jesus, “The Lord saves.”

Tales of martyrdom have never inspired in me a conviction to throw myself upon the gears of the state for God’s sake. That’s partly because I’m a citizen of a state formed and upheld out of deference to my faith and my church. When the powers of what used to be called “Christendom” bear down on someone, it is rarely, to my view, someone who looks like me and worships who and how I worship.

You read me?

And yet we would be wise to protect the distinction between the church and the state, from the church side. When push comes to shove, states don’t betray a bias for the people the church is biased towards, namely the poor, the weak, and the marginalized.

And so we persist with our hands clasped in prayer, not stretched out for violence, praying that the presence of our risen Lord would strengthen our worship and ministry in his name, that all might be saved from powers that persecute.

Prayer
God of compassion, in mercy befriend us and all people, we pray. Relieve us of the naïve notion that living our lives as best we know how according to your Word will necessarily keep us from danger or spare us from the dislodging experiences of life. Help us to know that faithfulness is not a maneuver by which we avoid suffering, but a means by which we may be sustained in the midst of it. Amen.

(Prayer by John Boyle, from Talking to God: Prayers of John H. Boyle)

Reflection written by Rocky Supinger, Associate Pastor for Youth Ministry and Worship