The Time for Repentance Is Here—Lectionary Reflection for Easter 3B (Acts 3)
Acts 3:12-19 (20-21) New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “Fellow Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 But you rejected the holy and righteous one and asked to have a murderer given to you, 15 and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
17 “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, 21 who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.
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Note: During
the season of Easter the First Reading from the Revised Common Lectionary is
drawn not from the Hebrew Bible, but from the Book of Acts.
A
sermon needs a context, especially when something unusual leads to the sermon. The
sermon we have before us is only an excerpt. The reading provided by the
Revised Common Lectionary, at least in the New Revised Standard Version Updated
Edition (that’s a mouthful), ends in the middle of a sentence. Thus, I’ve
completed the sentence by adding in verses twenty and twenty-one. I’ll address
the reason why the reading ended where did later in the reflection. But the
context first.
After
the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit fell and Peter got to preach, the
followers of Jesus continued to spend time in the Temple as well as breaking
bread together in their homes, even as the community continued to grow (Acts 2:43-47). One day, when Peter and John went to the Temple to pray, they
encountered a man who had been lame since birth. This man was laid at the
entrance of the Temple so he could beg for support. It was a good plan since
one would expect people going into the Temple to pray might feel as if helping
out the man with alms would benefit their prayers. At least, it couldn’t hurt! When
the man saw Peter and John he asked for alms. However, the two disciples didn’t
have any money to give him, so they offered something else, something even
better. There was a song I learned in youth group that covers this moment. It
went like this:
That walking and leaping and praising God, apparently caused
something of a stir, because Peter saw fit to do a bit of preaching. The sermon
is a bit judgmental at points, but it does do what an Easter sermon should do.
It proclaims the resurrection. In fact, there’s a bit of resurrection in all
that walking and leaping and praising God! It also invites repentance on the
part of the people, whose leaders participated in Jesus’ execution.
The reading
begins in verse 12, which is the beginning of the sermon. However, we might
want to step back to verse 11, which reports that “While he clung to Peter and
John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s
Portico, utterly astonished” (Acts 3:11). So here we have Peter and John,
standing in an area known as Solomon’s Portico. The man formerly crippled is now
able to walk and leap, clinging to them, while a crowd gathers. As they do so,
Peter takes the opportunity to preach his sermon. Of course, Luke only gives us
a synopsis of the sermon, not the full sermon. The lectionary only gives us an
excerpt of Luke’s synopsis. In some ways, Peter’s sermon is a rebuke to the
people for rejecting Jesus, their messiah. It’s a bit harsh and even a bit
problematic. Peter begins by asking the people why they’re staring at them as
if they did this on their own power. It’s not Peter and John who heal the man,
it’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of their ancestors. God had
healed this man to glorify Jesus, “whom you handed over and rejected in the
presence of Pilate.” This is where things get tricky. It appears that Peter is
blaming the people, by people, we mean Jewish people, whom he accuses of
conspiring with Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Now, was it this
group of people who had gathered to listen to Peter who handed Jesus over? Or
was it a small group of religious leaders who conspired with the Roman
government to take care of a problem for both “church and state”? This is where
we must always be careful with how we read passages that appear to blame the
Jewish people as a whole of killing Jesus.
Passages
such as this have been used in the past as fuel for anti-Jewish and
anti-Semitic acts of exclusion and violence. Even today, some people and groups
accuse Jews of being Christ-killers. While it’s likely that Luke was a Gentile
and wrote to a Gentile audience, Peter, John, Jesus, and John the Baptist, were
all Jews. Most likely the religious leadership that conspired with Pilate
received their authority not from the people but from Rome. It’s this small
group who participated in Jesus’ execution. Rome didn’t execute people for religious
differences. Rome was concerned only about challenges to its authority. So, let
us be careful how we read this passage since as told by Luke, this is an in-house
debate among Jews as to the death and resurrection of Jesus.
We should note here that Peter, according
to Luke, accuses his audience of acting in ignorance, as did their leaders. However,
what happened to Jesus fulfilled the witness of ancient prophets who suggested
that the Messiah would suffer. Peter doesn’t give chapter and verse, but Luke
assumes his audience knows what he is talking about. The point here is that Jesus’
death was expected from the beginning. It was part of God’s plan of redemption.
That idea is foreign to us, especially those of us who find Penal Substitution.
But, as Alyce McKenzie notes, Luke’s insistence that this was part of the plan
is intended to “counter the Jewish objection to Jesus as the Messiah that he
died a felon’s death and was therefore under the curse of the law (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13)” [Connections, p. 220]. Thus Jesus is understood here to be the
Suffering Servant of Isaiah 52-53.
In Peter’s message, as told by Luke,
despite the efforts of “church and state” or “temple and empire,” God turned
the tables on their conspiracy and raised Jesus from the dead. So, the message
to them is that they should repent and choose a different path. Then their sins will be forgiven and wiped
away!
This is where the lectionary reading
ends, but there is more to the sermon. In verses 20 and 21, gives us the eschatological
dimensions of this act of repentance. The expectation is that their repentance,
their change of allegiance, will lead to the “times of refreshing,” which will
be inaugurated when God sends the Messiah, who is Jesus. However, Jesus must “remain
in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago
through his holy prophets.” It is this apocalyptic dimension that drives the
passage and thus shouldn’t be neglected.
As we read this passage, we need to
ask what it might say to us. How might we be complicit in the death of Jesus in
the way we live in the present? How might we hear Peter’s call for repentance
so that our sins might be forgiven and wiped away? What might this say to us
about God’s nature? That Peter imagines the coming universal restoration
suggests something more than a quick revival leading to increased numbers of
church members was underway. He envisions something dramatic lying out in front
of them, which Jesus’s death and resurrection inaugurated. In a sense, the
healing of this man that captivated the crowd is a sign that the “times of
refreshing” had been inaugurated. This universal restoration he speaks of is an
apocalyptic message that contrasts the old age with the new. Repentance leads
to the wiping away of sin so that the new age can take hold of a person’s life.
The universal restoration is nothing less than a restoration of Eden, a fresh
start for creation. That is, the coming of God’s realm in its fullness. While
we may have been complicit in the acts of destruction that mark the old age,
now is the time to make a change and embrace God’s realm so we might experience
the messianic age that is embodied by Jesus that leads to this universal
restoration.
So,
with this in mind, we can hear the message embedded in the healing of this man
born lame, who has a new lease on life. As such, the healing of the man who
brought Peter and John to the attention of the people is a sign that life
reigns victorious in Christ the agent of healing. In this regard, Willie James
Jennings writes:
The man healed is now a sign of the man resurrected from the dead, the author of life itself. Now the actions of the One confront the wayward propensities of the many. If peoples are often seduced by the power of violence and take up the weapons of death, here is Jesus the Messiah who has overcome the effects of violence and the pull of death. If peoples are prone to choose against their own well-being and life, here is the Messiah who heals, restores, and gives life. We need not be mystified by the crowd or frustrated by their failures to act for the common good; Jesus has acted for them and offers his body as a way out and a way to be together [Jennings, Acts, Belief, p. 43].
Peter and John stand before their neighbors, who like them
have come to worship the God of Israel. The apostles proclaim the message that Jesus
the Messiah, the one who had been rejected, has been accepted by God. Therefore,
he brings life, even amid death. The question then for us is whether we will
choose allegiance to God, who is merciful, and turn away from the path of
destruction. Will you join the movement for the common good of all that
ultimately leads to the time of refreshing and universal restoration?
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