‘Preparing for Government’ by Owen Lynch, 10 March 2024

What if you expected a power struggle in your life? Owen Lynch looks at Jesus’ followers soon after his resurrection and ascension to heaven, and the giving of his Holy Spirit, which came with power. Peter and the other disciples expected a new Kingdom to come which would challenge the ruling authorities, political and religious. These authorities would not react well. But what did each party want and believe, and how would they handle their conflicts?

Transcript

So far in this story we have seen how the disciples were planning for a revolution with the expectation that Jesus would reappear to seize power from the Romans and Herod and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel, under his Lordship!

It would be like a descendent of Louis the sixteenth, the last King of France, reclaiming the throne and bringing the Fifth Republic to an end.

Since the resurrection, Jesus had made a habit of appearing and reappearing in the most bizarre circumstances and the disciples claimed that some angels had told them that Jesus would reappear the same way he disappeared into the sky.

This expectation of Jesus’ reappearance to seize political power is the theme that runs right through Acts and is a theme that runs right through the seven letters that were dictated directly by the apostle Paul.

So the stories we read about in Acts, Galatians, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Philippians and 1 Thessalonians were shaped by this firm expectation that Jesus was going to reappear and reclaim the royal throne of David from the Romans.

This is really important to understand!! If we don’t appreciate this, we will struggle to understand the story of Jesus, Peter and Paul.

So let’s turn to Acts 3 with that in mind.

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you— even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’

24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

So remember - Peter and John are preparing for the reappearance of Jesus and for the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel.

As a parallel, think about Keir Starmer who polls predict will be elected as our next Prime Minister sometime this year. Keir and his party, whilst not assuming they will win, are nevertheless preparing to take power. There is much work to be done to prepare to take the reins of power.

That is going on now and I think we can see that that was going on in the chapters of Acts.

Just like Labour will have a manifesto for government, the disciples also had a manifesto. It included levelling up the nation. The greed of the rich and the poverty of the poor was appalling and was not in keeping with the ethos of Moses who had established the nation and Abraham from whom every Jew traced their origin.

Everything we read about this movement in Acts demonstrated the vision and the ethos of the ancient nation of Israel and the disciples were preparing everyone for a return to those times with Jesus as the anointed King.

The lame beggar demonstrated how broken Israel was under the Romans, perhaps like food banks and homelessness demonstrate how broken our British society currently is.

Peter and John don’t just speak about how Jesus will change society, they actually demonstrate it. They say that in the Kingdom led by King Jesus, the poor and needy will not be overlooked.

Although, the beggar is miraculously able to walk again, the bigger benefit to him is that he will be able to earn a living to look after himself and his family. His well-being is transformed by the power and the values of the Kingdom of Jesus.

Peter asked the astonished crowd, “Why are you so surprised? This is what Jesus has been doing for the last three years. A government led by King Jesus will put the last first, a government led by King Jesus will level up society.”

He then challenges the crowd to reflect on how they had been deceived by the corrupt Roman and religious authorities to allow Jesus to be murdered on the cross.

Peter reminds the crowd how only two months earlier, they had called for Jesus’ death, and now they were coming to terms with how they had been deceived.

Again, it reminds us how easy it is for millions of people to be deceived by political leaders who brazenly lie with no concern for the well being of society. Aren’t you sick of political leaders who do that?

Perhaps Peter was seeing buyers remorse. Perhaps, the people he was looking at realised that they had made a mistake choosing Caesar instead of Jesus?

Have you ever voted for something and had buyers remorse, realising that politicians had deceived you into voting for something that was not good for your well-being?

Peter senses buyers remorse amongst the crowd and invites them to reconsider their decision to choose Caesar instead of Jesus, v19

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord

Remember, Peter is the presumptive Prime Minister, getting ready to seize power with the reappearance of King Jesus.

But he is a one nation Prime Minister. He is not seeking to divide the Jews, he is trying to bring them together.

Have you noticed how on the day after an election, the winning Prime Minister will try to put aside political differences exposed by the election campaign and commit to governing for all people, not just those who voted for her or him?

Well this is what Peter is doing here. He is reaching out to those people who opposed Jesus and called for his death, and inviting them to vote for the resurrected Jesus.

He does this by suggesting that Moses - the founding father of the nation of Israel spoke about Jesus, and how all the prophets beginning with Samuel have foretold these days.

Peter reminds all the Jews listening to him that they are all the heirs of the covenant Yahweh made with Abraham, that they are all citizens of the nation established by Moses and that they are all part of the Kingdom of Israel that Jesus will restore.

Peter is not trying to split the Jews [he is not trying to start a new religion called Christianity], he is not trying to divide a wedge between them, like some contemporary politicians are trying to do with us.

He says they are all descended from Abraham, they are all part of the nation of Israel founded by Moses and their purpose together as a nation is to be a blessing to all peoples on earth.

Wow!! What a political speech, what a political leader!! He connects every person to their heritage and tradition and he casts a vision by reminding them of their purpose together as a nation.

Only great leaders are able to unite a nation around common vision and values. Only great leaders can connect the life stories of millions of individuals and families to the story of a nation. Perhaps here in the UK, Queen Elizabeth was able to do that at times in her life. Perhaps Winston Churchill was able to do it during the early 1940s.

Certainly, Peter was able to connect the life stories of thousands of Jews to the story of their nation - Abraham, Moses and now Jesus. Literally thousands of Jews had buyers remorse and changed their minds about Jesus and bought into this idea that Jesus would reappear to restore the Kingdom of Israel.

Now of course, Peter and his team had some kickback from critics and opposition parties.

In Acts 4:1-4

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

The best way to give your political opponents momentum is to oppress them and imprison them! What a mistake they made!! Far from stifling the momentum that Peter and his team were gaining, it accelerated.

The next day all the incumbent religious/political leaders gathered to question Peter and John. They were outraged and astonished by the healing of the lame beggar. They sensed the early tremors of a imminent political earthquake, and could sense the excitement amongst the general population.

You see the healing of the lame beggar turns the tables up side down. It inverts the power structures that these men rely on to stay in power.

If Peter has the power to heal a lame beggar and they don’t, they are at a significant political disadvantage.

If Peter can invert the power structures that preserve inequality, then these powerful people are at risk of losing their power.

This is a tragic moment in the story, because these powerful people could have experienced buyers remorse themselves if they had allowed themselves to. But they were clearly too invested in preserving the status quo that Jesus was simply a criminal who had been executed on the cross.

They could have joined this growing political movement, but instead they used the only power they had at their disposal, 4:21

21 After further threats [of violence, imprisonment and torture] they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened.

The threat of physical violence towards political leaders exists within our society, as shown by the horrific murders of Jo Cox and David Ames; and by the disgraceful threats received by our politicians everyday.

But the threat of violence never achieves it’s goal of silencing activists. If anything it inspires boldness and courage. And that is what happened to Peter and his team. Acts 4:31

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

They doubled down on their vision of the restored Kingdom of Israel under Jesus’ leadership. A society that inverted the power structures, where no one was poor and needy and where there was justice for all people. They didn’t just campaign for this, they lived like it too!

This movement of Jews didn’t just talk the talk, they walked the walk. Acts 4:32

32 All the [multitude who believed] were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

Wow - this sounds pretty radical, and a bit weird perhaps even cult like? But we must remember that this was ancient Jewish culture - one very different from our own.

It was an agricultural society based around bartering crops and animals. Ancient Jewish traditions allowed for all people to benefit from the land, even the poorest were given the right to harvest crops from land that wasn’t their own. Ancient Jewish traditions allowed for everyone to have justice, even the poorest and most marginalised had legal rights.

So life in Israel at this time was clearly not as Moses and the founding fathers had intended. Is it possible that Peter and his team were simply calling Jews to live once again as a society where all people could live from the land, where all people could expect to be treated with justice and mercy, not just the rich?

But this movement for equality, inclusion and justice was gaining momentum. Thousands of Jews were getting involved and it was a huge threat to the established power base of Priests, Lawyers and Politicians. They weren’t going to allow this revolution to gain momentum, a confrontation was brewing and it was going to get out of hand!