CONTINUING WITNESS (15)
Scripture: Acts 5:27-32
This content is part of a series.
Continuing Witness (15)
Lectionary, Year C, Easter 2
Christopher B. Harbin
Acts 5:27-32
I don't care much for high-pressure evangelism. It's part of why I did not do very well selling insurance a few years ago. I rebel against twisting someone's arm, manipulating them, or in some other way forcing them to my way of thinking, such that I call the shots for their lives. Oh, I learned how to do it many years ago. I learned some of the ins and outs of tricking people into making a decision they needed to make without pressure. I also learned that manipulation neither change attitudes nor transforms lives. Is there not some other, better way to offer our witness to the world?
Peter and John had been witnessing about Jesus. They had gone to the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem and encountered a man who had been lame longer than Jesus had lived. That Jesus had not healed this man is testimony that Jesus had not healed everyone in the land. Jesus had not encountered everyone. His ministry and travels had taken him far and wide, but not everyone had taken or had opportunity to encounter him personally. Jerusalem had a population near 200,000 and that swelled to a million between Passover and Pentecost. It was also not the central place of Jesus' life and ministry.
This lame man had asked these disciples for money, something they did not have, prompting them to say they had something else they could share with him. They healed him under Jesus' name and authority. They had seen Jesus do this numerous times. This is the first time Luke records them doing anything of this sort on this side of the resurrection. That in itself is a major statement. It means that what Jesus had begun to do and teach did not end with his resurrection. His ministry and impact continued in the lives of those who had followed him. Peter and John allowed God to heal this man through them, thus bearing witness to the continuity of all Jesus had said and done.
A tumult ensued. Folks saw ...
Lectionary, Year C, Easter 2
Christopher B. Harbin
Acts 5:27-32
I don't care much for high-pressure evangelism. It's part of why I did not do very well selling insurance a few years ago. I rebel against twisting someone's arm, manipulating them, or in some other way forcing them to my way of thinking, such that I call the shots for their lives. Oh, I learned how to do it many years ago. I learned some of the ins and outs of tricking people into making a decision they needed to make without pressure. I also learned that manipulation neither change attitudes nor transforms lives. Is there not some other, better way to offer our witness to the world?
Peter and John had been witnessing about Jesus. They had gone to the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem and encountered a man who had been lame longer than Jesus had lived. That Jesus had not healed this man is testimony that Jesus had not healed everyone in the land. Jesus had not encountered everyone. His ministry and travels had taken him far and wide, but not everyone had taken or had opportunity to encounter him personally. Jerusalem had a population near 200,000 and that swelled to a million between Passover and Pentecost. It was also not the central place of Jesus' life and ministry.
This lame man had asked these disciples for money, something they did not have, prompting them to say they had something else they could share with him. They healed him under Jesus' name and authority. They had seen Jesus do this numerous times. This is the first time Luke records them doing anything of this sort on this side of the resurrection. That in itself is a major statement. It means that what Jesus had begun to do and teach did not end with his resurrection. His ministry and impact continued in the lives of those who had followed him. Peter and John allowed God to heal this man through them, thus bearing witness to the continuity of all Jesus had said and done.
A tumult ensued. Folks saw ...
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