Three acts into the 28 scenes of the Acts of The Apostles, Peter and John land in jail just like Jesus. They were arrested, jailed overnight, and dragged before the same court that crucified Jesus.  I don’t know about you, but I grew up hearing that preachers should avoid politics, stay away from trouble and stay out of jail! We did not talk about John Lewis’s “Good Trouble”. Our United Methodist baptism vows call us to “profess faith in Christ”; “resist evil, injustice and oppression”; and “surround each other with a community of love and forgiveness”.  Acts 3 weaves these three truths together, but often we look at personal faith, Christian community, and social justice as separate strands instead of an integrated tapestry of faith. Today, perhaps fool-heartedly, I am going to try to preach about the interplay of three parts of a good church, that we usually separate: social justice, personal faith, and a forgiving community.   

Acts 4 begins by stating “the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees’ ‘ confronted John and Peter.  It is not the Pharisees, who are spiritually close enough to argue with Jesus (Matt 13:31), but the Sadducees, a more hellenized and politically well-healed group, who arrest Peter and John.  Luke names the leaders: “Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others from that family”. These powerful national families bought their spots as high priests. Luke names powerbrokers, not the Jewish people as the source of injustice. Jesus, Peter and John are all Jewish. When we succumb to racism or anti-semitsm we are blinded to the actual systems and forces creating and sustaining evil, injustice and oppression. 

Luke continues, “The next day the leaders, elders, and legal experts asked the disciples “By what power or in what name did you do this?” Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter answered, “Leaders of the people and elders, are we being examined today because something good was done for a sick person? If so, then you need to know that this man stands healthy before you because of the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead…Salvation can be found in no one else”  Can you feel the fire as Peter names “names”: “Jesus- whom you crucified”. In Matthew 23, Jesus zings the power structures “you are guilty for all the righteous blood that has been poured out on the earth, from Abel to Zechhariah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.” (Matt 23) It sounds like they were angry. At times the Church needs to be angry, a bit militant, ready to “shout out without holding back” and resound ugly truths. (Isaiah 58)  We need to say their names: Abel, Zechhariah son of Barachiah, George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, John the Baptist, and Jesus the Christ. (Matt 23)    

“The council was caught by surprise by the confidence with which Peter and John spoke, thinking Peter and John were uneducated and inexperienced.” Do you feel the arrogance of the church leaders overlooking these blue collar tradespeople? However, in the end the council had no rebuttal so they ordered Peter, John, and the once blind man to stop telling their stories. Peter and John answer, “It’s up to you to determine whether it’s right before God to obey you rather than God.” (that’s a burn) As for us, we can’t stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” The scene ends with the council threatening Peter and John, but releasing due to public support. Power to and from the people. 

In a Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr Martin Luther King remembers: “There was a time when the church was very powerful–in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man.”   

After Luke’s press conference, you can feel Peter and John the tide turning.  I imagine Tom Petty playing as Peter and John walk away from the court house: “Well you can prop me up against the gates of hell, but I won’t back down!” There is a problem: we are not created or called to be superheroes. Our souls need care. Don’t you imagine after they spent the night in jail and defied the same national leaders who crucified Jesus that Peter and John were weary, afraid and traumatized?  Luke, the physician, offers a master class in spiritual care for those who have as the hymn says “come over a way that with tears has been watered.” (Lift Every Voice and Sing) “After their release, Peter and John returned to the brothers and sisters and reported everything the chief priests and elders had said. They (the church) listened.”  How does it feel to unload “everything” with people who love you? Where do we lay down our burdens and share our stories? Where are we making safe spaces to practice prayerful listening?  “Where two or more gather, Christ is present”…. sometimes in our Listening?” (Matt 18) “Carry each other burdens and fulfill the great commandment” (Galatians 6)  “They listened” may be the best verse in Acts. Listening is often the beginning of justice.  

And after they listened they unified their voices in a shared prayer.  I think sometimes, we think we need to pray for a miraculous intervention, a way out, or an answer, but the church in Acts 4 did not ask for a miracle, only courage and healing.         

Hear their prayer, “Master, you are the one who created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.” In our heaviest moments, it helps to remember God and what God can do. Looking to the heavens, hearing the birds sing on a walk, remembering beloved scriptures or songs, all tap into the living waters that sustain our souls. (John 7) They quote Scripture “The kings of the earth… take their  stand against the Lord and the Lord’s anointed”  reminding the church that God rarely stands on the side of the powerful.  Then the community remembers Jesus “Herod and Pontius Pilate, with Gentiles and Israelites gathered against your holy servant Jesus…”  The people frame Peter and John’s arrest with Crhist who stands with us even at the cross. After framing the moment through a lens of Christ and Scripture they make a request: “Now, Lord, take note of their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with complete confidence.” They do not pray for the Lord to keep them out of jail, trouble or the legislature. They do not pray “Lord protect our reputation” or “Jesus, help us get along”. No, they pray for confidence to keep on saying and doing the right things. “Now, Lord, enable your servants to speak your word with complete confidence… After they prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking God’s word with confidence.”  

Why do we pray with others? We pray together because someone may know a helpful scripture, someone might hold a perspective, or someone might offer an affirmation, but more than anything shared prayer reminds us we are not alone, others are helping us carry our burden.  During Lent, we will be starting some new small groups to help look at our experiences through a lens of scripture and share our journeys.  We need a community- we need spiritual friends. 

After telling us of Peter, John and the church’s courageous faith and deep conviction to keep on bearing witness of what they have seen and heard, Luke takes a little breath, sets down the stylist and thinks about that little congregation. I imagine Luke thinking “let me tell you what kind of community inspires such leaders: “The community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them would say, “This is mine!” about any of their possessions, but held everything in common. The apostles continued to bear powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and an abundance of grace was at work among them all. There were no needy persons among them. Those who owned properties or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds from the sales, and place them in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Then it was distributed to anyone who was in need.”  There was no obvious rule, no requirement, just people moved to generosity. They just surround each other with love. 

That is a miraculous manifestation of Love, equity, and justice.  However, skeptics might note those early Believers did not end injustice, oppression and evil. Peter will be arrested again and this time beaten. They did not end all hunger.  But, they built a safe space, a little colony of heaven, a habitat of grace that made a difference. We might think, oh I would jump into a community like that, but know that the next chapter is about some religious phonies within the community.  I wonder if such communities arise not from people looking to find a blessing but from people learning to give freely. Our longing for a church without hypocrisy, means we will never truly belong to a church, we will always be a bit to the side; looking, judging really!   Peter is not perfect. Peter denied Jesus, was slow to welcome gentiles, and according to Paul acted like a hypocrite! (Matt 26, Acts 10, Gal 2) We are such critics aren’t we? So often we remember Peter’s failures and forget that 45 days out from Jesus’ murder Peter faces down the same council that crucified Jesus. Where can we celebrate our victories?  Oh friends in Christ, our world desperately needs safe places for people to discover who God made each of us to be, places where we help carry each other’s burdens, places we frame our lives through the spirit and Scripture, and places where we give each other confidence to say and do the right things.  Oh, come let us listen, let us share, let us affirm, let us forgive, let us unite our voices in prayer, and let us give ourselves to creating God’s kin-dom right here, right now! (Amen)