NO SILENCE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.

“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Acts 4:13-22

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

“You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” Mark 13:9-11

These words of Jesus had to still be fresh on the minds of His two apostles as they stood before the Jewish religious leaders who were taking them to task for healing a once lame man and then preaching and teaching the Gospel in the name of Jesus inside the temple courts. Their Master fully knew what was going to happen after He was taken up into the heavens to sit at His Father’s right hand and so He sought to provide His followers guidance as to what they should do when being challenged for doing work in His name, a name that we were reminded is above all other names in yesterday’s message.

And so Peter and John did as Jesus told them to do and allowed the Holy Spirit to give them the words to say.

What was the result?

Well, as we see in today’s passage, the Jewish religious leaders were left a bit flummoxed as to how they should handle the situation. They could have left well enough alone and not seized Jesus’ two apostles but they were unable to help themselves and thought they could use the same page out of the persecution playbook that they had used on Jesus.  

Although Peter and John were uneducated and unspectacular in general, they spoke with a confidence and courage that showed their words were coming from a much higher source than themselves. Their bold and assured presence in the face of the court’s adversity left the Sanhedrin members astonished and more than a little confused as to what they should do next.

And so we find them dismiss Peter and John temporarily so they could huddle up and confer with other. The scriptures show us their obvious state of distress:

“What are we going to do with these men? Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

Not even the members of the Sanhedrin could deny that Peter and John’s healing of the lame man was a noble act and notable sign that they possessed powers eerily similar to the Man they followed, the Man the Sanhedrin thought was gone for good. They didn’t want to punish the men for what had been done out of fear for how the thousands of people who had witnessed the act would respond. The Jewish religious leaders realized they could end up with a full-fledged riot on their hands if they didn’t exercise caution.

And so they decided to take a course of action that to them seemed more reasonable and safe. We read where they called Peter and John back in and “commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.”

Obviously, this was a non starter for Jesus two apostles because Jesus had given them this order which was in direct opposition to what the Sanhedrin was telling them to do:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

You can see where the Sanhedrin was putting the two apostles in a place where they had to choose between Jesus or them, and in a case like that, they really had only one right choice, one that they made.

For we see Peter and John challenging the order of the Jewish religious leaders by posing a question to them, a strategy Jesus would have been proud of since He used it Himself many times over during His three years of ministry. The apostles asked the Sanhedrin members:

“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him?”

I love the power within this question because it put the Jewish religious authorities back in a place of discomfort. Every man who sat on the Sanhedrin council was there because of their devout belief in God, a status recognized among the people. And so Peter and John challenged the Jewish leaders to see whether their command was born out of God’s will or their own desires. There was no question where the two apostles’ loyalty resided because they made it clear that what they were doing was fully endorsed by God and to go quiet all of a sudden, unable to invoke the name of Jesus, would be akin to being disobedient to what God had called them to do.

And so Peter and John ask the members of the Sanhedrin to be the judges themselves. They had formed this special religious court and so the apostles asked them to render a decision as to what was more proper, to obey them and disobey God or to do what God required above what any mere person or group of persons commanded.

There was only one right answer and the Sanhedrin knew it. In Peter and John’s position as apostles of Jesus, they couldn’t possible keep from speaking about Jesus and sharing what they had seen and heard while with Him. There could be no silence when it came to proclaiming the name of Jesus and it would be the same for the Jewish religious leaders if the Roman leaders demanded they not speak about God publicly.   

So the Sanhedrin couldn’t do anything. The words to speak, given to the apostles by the Holy Spirit, disempowered the court which decided to let Peter and John go after a few more idle threats. No punishment was doled out because the people had given God the glory for the miraculous healing that Jesus’ apostles had performed. They were allowed to go free, at least for the moment.

Friends, this matter of trying to silence Christians who openly profess and preach in the name of Jesus is nothing has continued since the earliest days as Jesus’ hand selected followers began their apostolic ministry. The devil is always working through the hearts of wicked, sinful people to try and muzzle those who are striving to be obedient to Jesus’ commands and it happens all over the world, even in places where religious freedom is supposed to be a hallmark of democracy like in the United States. This was most evident in liberal, anti-Christian leaders trying to shut down places of worship using the COVID pandemic as a convenient cover for their evil work. Such leadership behavior obviously fails to consider how the Lord can do all things, to include protecting a gathering of His people from being infected by sickness.

So what are we to do in a cultural environment that seeks to more and more try and cancel the right of people to speak boldly and freely in the name of Jesus?

We take our cue from Peter and John, allowing the Holy Spirit to drive the words we speak, and let the world know that when it comes to Jesus, there will be no silence. Not now, not ever.   

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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