Power

Easter 4B, 4/26/15
Acts 4:1-12

We ask for your guidance, God, as we hear your word and seek to proclaim it. Thank you for the example of the disciples. Help us to carry on their ministry. We pray in the name of Jesus, our teacher and healer and savior. Amen.

One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, the chief priests and scribes and elders came and asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this power?”

In response, Jesus posed an impossible question to them, and they could not give him an answer.

And so Jesus replied, “If you can’t answer that question, then I also won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

So from then on, the scribes and chief priests looked for ways to trap him in what he was teaching to the people.

(Luke 20:1-8, 19-20 – paraphrased)

Eventually, the leaders did trap Jesus. They arrested him and executed him, all in the name of the ruling authorities.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Jesus’ followers kept on spreading his message.

The disciples performed miraculous healings, one of which is described in Acts, chapter 3, just before our first reading today.

And when the people wanted to know how in the world the disciples were able to do such powerful things, they started teaching about Jesus. “It’s not our power,” the disciples said, “but the power comes from Jesus.”

You remember, that guy who was challenged using almost the same words as were used today to challenge the disciples.

The one who the ruling powers executed as a criminal.

He didn’t stay dead.

He lives, and the power that he demonstrated while he was doing ministry, he has now given that power to us, say John and Peter – we now have the power to perform miraculous acts of healing. 

Unlike Jesus, the disciples didn’t respond with riddles when people asked them, “by what power are you doing these things?”

         The disciples came right out with the answer.

         It’s all because of Jesus.

We have power because we’ve been with Jesus.

You can see why this would get them in trouble, can’t you?

Peter and John are pulling off miraculous healings and mass conversions, and they’re giving all the credit to a criminal who was executed by the state.

Even when confronted by leaders with religious and secular power, they still invoke the name of Jesus as the source of these miracles.

The authorities didn’t like Jesus. He threatened their power and their way of life. He was an enigma to them, and because they couldn’t understand him, and they couldn’t control him, they felt compelled to do away with him. The authorities challenged Jesus to his face, and when that didn’t shut him up, they conspired against him behind closed doors.

Eventually that conspiracy ended with Jesus’ arrest and trial and execution.

But if the point of executing Jesus was to stop what he was doing and frighten his followers into compliance with the rulers, then the point failed miserably.

The rulers would have expected Jesus’ followers to be easy to control.

Take out the leader, and the movement will be crushed.

They didn’t expect a bunch of poor, uneducated fisherman to be able to do anything impressive, once the guy who had rallied them together wasn’t on the scene any more.

         Little did they know.

The disciples spoke with authority.

They performed miraculous healings.

They continued to wow the people, perhaps not right after Jesus’ execution, but a few weeks later, after his resurrection and ascension, the disciples took seriously the example that Jesus had given them.

They followed in his footsteps, even when it meant that they also got into trouble with the authorities, just like Jesus did.

Unexpectedly, the disciples preached with boldness.

Peter and John spoke confidently, even though they were uneducated, and no one really expected them to speak at all.

They somehow spoke so convincingly that they were able to convert 5000 people with a single sermon!

That must have been quite the sermon.  

You know what this reminds me of? When we are listening to someone talk, and we’re surprised by how clear they are at communicating their point.

We call them articulate.

“My, you are such an articulate young woman.”

         What a backhanded compliment.

The clear implication is that you did not expect this person to be able to put their thoughts into clear and concise sentences.

In my experience, the word “articulate” is almost always used to describe young people or people of color.

Barack Obama is so articulate.

Well, of course he is! He’s a politician! Being articulate is a necessary prerequisite for his job!

We make fun of politicians who aren’t articulate – we expect public figures to be able to communicate clearly without making fools of themselves.

You never hear anyone refer to President Reagan or Mitt Romney or even Hilary Clinton as articulate. They are expected to be, as politicians of a certain age with a certain racial heritage.

It’s only a noticeable characteristic because Barack Obama is black, and so lots of people don't expect him to be able to articulate himself.

The same thing happens with young people.

Take Malala Yousafzai, the teenage advocate for girls’ education, who survived being shot in the head by a Taliban assassin, and who is the youngest person ever to receive a Nobel prize.

Somehow, people are surprised to find out that she is articulate.

Well, of course she is!

That’s what makes her an effective activist and spokesperson for education advocacy.

Just because she’s young doesn’t mean she can’t express herself.

That’s what’s going on with the disciples here.

They are fisherman with no education.

They have no money and no power.

They hang out with prostitutes and other social outcasts.

For that matter, Jesus fit most of these descriptions too. He didn’t have any social standing either – his ministry was actually funded by women, so how could he really be taken seriously in a patriarchal culture?

But wow – they are so articulate!

Jesus, Peter, John – they speak with boldness and confidence!

These are not the kind of guys we would normally expect to be able to speak effectively in front of others, much less perform miraculous healings.

They can’t be doing this just because they’re that good – so where do they get their power? It must come from somewhere outside of them.

Contrary to the examples I just gave from our society, the disciples really didn’t have it in them to be articulate. They did need help.

And that help came just as Jesus promised:

“When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:11-12)

What could give Peter and John such courage, even the in face of hostility from the authorities, after imprisonment, and eventually facing the threat of death?

It’s Jesus.

The boldness comes from being with Jesus.

The faith comes from spending time in the presence of God.

The words come from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

This is how it worked for the disciples.

How about for you?

The promise that Jesus gives to be with his followers, for the Holy Spirit to provide inspiration, for power and courage – that promise isn’t just for the original 12 disciples.

That promise is for all of Jesus’ followers, including us.

Those of us Christians who call ourselves Lutherans believe in this thing called the priesthood of all believers.

This means that it’s not just the pastors who can interpret Scripture and teach and preach and lead worship – everyone can do that.

We all have the ability to spread the good news of Jesus, even when we don’t know where the words will come from, even when we think we’re ill-equipped.

We can be Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, we can volunteer to serve Communion or lead outreach ministries, we can sing with the choir or serve on a mission, and Jesus will be with us and the Holy Spirit will give us what we need.

That’s the beautiful thing about our church – we don’t expect that only the experts will carry on the ministry. Our ministry is dependent on the need for everyone to pitch in.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t just speak to the pastors, but to every one of us.

And everyone’s ideas, everyone’s time, and everyone’s ministry is necessary to the continued witness of this church.

Just like it was for the disciples of Jesus and the early church.

Are there risks to running a community this way? Sure.

Is there the possibility that your feelings could get hurt, that you could be misunderstood, or even betrayed?

Oh yeah. That kind of stuff happened all the time with Jesus and the disciples.

Ministry is messy, whether you’re talking about the institutional church in the year 2015, or the first followers of Jesus in the year 30.

Will you get pushed out of your comfort zone?

Definitely.

Jesus was known to hang out with outcasts, people who were disabled, who were poor, who probably hadn’t bathed in a while, and people with questionable morals. If you’re going to follow Jesus, you’ll have to hang out with these people too.

It’s not all fun and games – sometimes following Jesus can be a little awkward or even smelly.

Is there a risk of being thrown in jail like Peter and John?

         That’s less likely in this day and age, but it’s not an impossibility.

Taking a stand for an unpopular viewpoint can end up with negative consequences, but it’s less likely to end with imprisonment or martyrdom in the USA in the 21^st century than it was in the time of Peter and John.

         Still, it’s a risk we might want to consider.

Is following Jesus easy?

No.

But we do it anyway – Peter and John did it anyway – people who have been our role models throughout history did it anyway.

People outside the church might ask, like the authorities did of Jesus and his disciples – where do you get the power to do these things?

And the answer is simple.

We’ve been with Jesus.

We know how important Jesus is, and the Holy Spirit gives us the power and abilities that we need.

And so we can follow in the example of Peter and John, stepping out of our comfort zone to bring God’s word to the people, believing in Jesus’ promise that the right words will be given to us when we need them.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.