Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
What would bring disgrace into your life? We read every day about people who get caught in compromising situations, steal money, get so drunk they can’t stand up, post opinions online that devalue their brand, have their pornography history exposed, and any myriad of other stupid things that people do. And currently they get canceled, unless of course they espouse the political opinions of those currently in charge. Their current lives are abruptly changed by peer pressure.
What I find really baffling is that they will continue to insist that their choices were the correct choices, even in the face of facts. Pride prevents their redemption. They would rather die than admit they were wrong. What folly!
The apostles have been arrested for preaching in Jesus’ Name by the religious leaders of their day. These leaders has some leeway in Jerusalem to carry out certain punishments. Rome gave them enough rope to hang themselves. And they used their power to try to shut down the Gospel message of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The apostles are not persuaded to stop preaching the Good News of Jesus. They have been put in prison. That would disgrace most of us today. Most of us wouldn’t wear arrest and an overnight prison visit as a badge of honor. We would hide our head in shame. We would work to bury the online postings of the facts. We might even change our names.
But the LORD delivered them out of the jail by sending His messengers, angels, to bring them out during the night. And they show up the next morning to continue to preach. Now that takes some guts. Thrown in prison for preaching, rescued before dawn by angels, and then at the first light of day they are preaching again in the same place. That is holy boldness.
The leaders find out that they are preaching again and they bring them in to be questioned and intimidated into stopping their preaching. And what do they do? They preach to this very scholarly group and share the facts of Jesus’ resurrection. They tell them that they are responsible for Jesus’ death. Not the best thing to do if you want to get of trouble.
They want to kill the disciples. Killing your opposition still happens around the world today. And this is exactly what they want to do.
But a wise member brings up the history of people claiming God’s calling, gathering a following and then having their movement fall apart. He urges them not to be too hasty in their decision about what to do with the disciples.
So instead of death, they get flogged. Flogging usually involves being tied to a post and then tipped, often to the point of blood. It was usually done publicly so as to serve as a warning to others. Kind of like ‘canceling’ does in our current context. It increased the likelihood of compliance with the powerful’s wishes.
But after their flogging the disciples were released. And what did they do after release? They rejoiced! They saw their flogging as a badge of honor. They had been worthy of receiving the same treatment that Jesus had received. They counted themselves in good company.
Notice that they label the flogging a “disgrace” and not some other moniker. They downplayed the severity of the punishment and emphasized the size of honor to the LORD. What they experiences was nothing compared to what Christ endured, and Jesus had told them they would receive this type of punishment because of their connection to Him. So they rejoice.
Are we willing to suffer disgrace of this kind in order for the Gospel to be proclaimed? Or would we take the easy way out and capitulate, surrendering to the pressure of the crowd?
I pray we stand strong when the evil day comes.
The Arnold Journey 