Acts 4:9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed,
I find it astonishing that some people can only see the bad that happens in a situation and can’t see anything good. You know them, the glass empty kind of people. Chicken Little sorts, whose perspective on life prevents them from recognizing what is really happening because of their personal bias. For them, all is lost. Hope has run out. Abandon ship!
This way of seeing the world has been around since the beginning. Some people just can’t see reality.
Take the religious rulers of Jesus’ day. When Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, all they could see was the breaking of a man-made law. They missed the blessing of the miraculous restoration of the individual and the hope it brought to the people. What a shame they missed the important part.
And in the early days of the Church, these same religious leaders missed the blessings that were happening and only focused on their potential loss of status and control. People were still being healed by God’s power, and they were worrying about who should get credit.
Our text is part of Peter’s answer. This is the same Peter who cowered in the Garden of Gethsemane and denied his knowledge of Jesus. But now after receiving the Holy Spirit, he boldly proclaims the Truth, Jesus alive again.
The religious leaders want to know by what authority Peter has done this miracle. They felt that they were the ones who should be healing. They see authority being exercised by someone else and they are the ones who are supposed to be exercising authority. Rouge authority could get them in trouble with Rome.
But notice that Peter reframes the discussion. For Peter, it is really about the act of kindness. The leaders don’t seem to notice that a forty year old man was healed. There is no rejoicing at the deliverance that has happened. All they can do is question by what authority it was done.
Hey guys, rejoice over the lame man now walking! It was a good thing, acknowledge it! See God at work and join in with Him. God has returned to His people.
Peter calls out their Chicken Little perspective before He answers their question. Then Peter squarely and boldly tells them it is “Jesus Christ of Nazareth” who is still at work. They worked their schemes and had Him killed, but they failed. Jesus was raised from the dead. Their attempts to stay central to God’s work here on Earth has ended. Jesus is now central.
They had missed all the miracles Jesus had done, all the kind acts, and the demonstrations of God’s power working through Him. All they could see was a threat to their power and position.
What is interesting is that many among these same leaders had become followers of Jesus. They had believed and were now trying to figure out how to live for God in this new way. Some might even have been part of this very discussion. Their hearts must have been overjoyed when Peter proclaimed Jesus.
But Jesus often works over time to change hearts. We have to learn how to live for Him. He points out habits and asks us to change. We submit to that change and learn an alternative way of living. These leaders would have had to wrestle personally with the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and what it would mean for their lives and position.
Everyone who encounters Jesus must make these kinds of decisions. We must choose Jesus’ way or our way. And those decisions, those changes in the way we think about reality, can be difficult and painful. They turn our world right-side up.
The Arnold Journey 