"Please come at once!" the messengers urged Peter. The beloved Tabitha had died (Acts 9:36-43). Why send for Peter when someone has died? What did they expect him to do? Did they want him to be there to mourn with the community, or lead a memorial service? Or did they hope he would raise her from the dead? Peter expelled the crying mourners from the room. He knelt, prayed, and then commanded Tabitha to get up. As with Aeneas (Acts 9:32-36) we see Peter use the command, "Get up." We don't know what Peter prayed while kneeling. Perhaps he was seeking the Lord's direction on whether to raise the woman back to life or let her go. And hearing that direction, he simply commands her. The faith to command, as we mentioned last week, comes from knowing the Lord's will. The purpose of healing Aeneas and raising Tabitha was two-fold: it was for the benefit of the person and it was for the benefit of the many people who heard about it and believed. Many more people came to believe in Jesus because of Aeneas and Tabitha. For reflection: People are still being healed and raised from the dead today. They may live next door to us or they may live half-way round the world and we find their stories on YouTube. The question, though, is still the same as it was in the time of Jesus - will we believe? Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I pray with the father in Mark 9:24 - "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
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Having escaped from Damascus with his life, Saul heads to Jerusalem where he is not welcomed. The disciples in Jerusalem are still afraid of the notorious man and doubt his conversion. Poor Saul is not accepted until Barnabas comes from Damascus to vouch for him. So then Saul begins to preach in Jerusalem, and before long the Jews there are trying to kill him just as the Jews in Damascus were. So the other disciples send him home to Tarsus (Acts 9:23-30). The disciples in these early days had the wisdom to know when it was time to flee and when it was time to stand. Although Stephen had stood his ground and been stoned, it was not time for the other disciples to do so. For reflection: Do I have the discernment to know when it is time to speak and when to keep silent? When to stay and when to go? When to stand my ground and when to leave the field and live to witness another day? Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I place my life and my times in your hands. Lead me where I should go and keep me from where I should not be. Grant me the wisdom and discernment to hear your voice and to follow it. Stephen, Peter and the other disciples were following Jesus' instructions in going out to preach and heal. But it was not only after Jesus' death and resurrection, and the empowerment of Pentecost, that the disciples began to go out to fulfill the gospel command. They got some practice while Jesus was alive. In Luke 10 Jesus sent out 72 of his followers to preach and to heal. (Perhaps Stephen had been one of the 72.) He sent them out two by two as his advance men to prepare the people where he would be going. You could say they went into the towns to stir up interest and get the people excited about Jesus' arrival. Jesus authorized them to do this. The disciples were operating under his authority. And in his name great things happened: not only were people healed but even the demons submitted to the name of Jesus. What is the difference between the 72 who were sent out while Jesus was alive and the many disciples who went out after his death and resurrection? Jesus had told them to wait until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). They received the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and were authorized and empowered to pass that on to all who would come to believe. They are not acting solely under the deputed authority of Jesus, who was acting on the authority of his Father (John 5:19-23). The entire Trinity is now backing them up. For reflection: If the Trinity has my back, what can I do to preach, to heal, to defeat demons, to bring the kingdom of God on earth? Let us pray. Father, thank you for creating me in your image and likeness. Thank you for adopting me into your family through baptism. Thank you for saving me through Jesus' death on the cross and authorizing me to do your work with the power of the Holy Spirit. May I always be a good ambassador for you. It strikes me as odd that the first martyr for preaching about Jesus was not one of the 12 apostles. Instead it was Stephen who is not even mentioned in Acts until 6:5. He is one of the men chosen to handle the daily distribution of food for widows, orphans and any others who had been cut off from their families. Stephen is full of faith, God's grace, the Holy Spirit and power. He did "great wonders and miraculous signs among the people" (6:8), and the Spirit gave him the words he needed when he spoke and debated with Jews and their leaders. In this short story (Acts 6:8 - 8:1) we see the fulfillment of promises made by Jesus. Jesus said, "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say" (Luke 12:11). And at his ascension, Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Stephen experienced the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit enabling him to preach, debate and witness in addition to working wonders and miraculous signs. Also, the stoning of Stephen led to the followers of Jesus being scattered from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria. The promises had not been made just to the 12, but to all those who would come after them. Stephen's tongue had been stilled, but 100 more tongues set afire. For reflection: The promises have been made to me as much as to the original 12 apostles. How have I experienced them in my life? Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, fill me as you filled Stephen. One of the strangest stories in the New Testament is that of Ananias and Sapphira. We've already been told by Luke, the author of Acts, that the new group of believers was holding things in common (Acts 2:44-45). He mentions this again in 4:32-37 before he tells the story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira decide to sell a piece of land and give some of the money to the community (5:1-11). Where they went wrong was that they told Peter they were giving all the money to the group. They lied. Peter, with knowledge from the Holy Spirit, knew immediately that Ananias was lying. Peter questions him and tells Ananias that by lying to Peter he has lied to the whole community and to the Holy Spirit. Ananias fell dead at his feet. Three hours later, Sapphira comes to Peter, not knowing what has happened to her husband. Peter questions her also. She too lies. She too falls dead at Peter's feet. This is an extreme consequence, don't you think? We might say, "Well, it was just a little lie." But the truth is it was an unnecessary lie that would have harmed the community greatly. Prior to this, the community was of "one heart and one mind". The couple didn't just lie, they were trying to look better in everyone's eyes than they really were. So they weren't just dishonest about the money, they were dishonest about their very selves. And in lying to Peter they lied to the entire community and to the Holy Spirit. It's hard enough for a married couple, just two people, to be honest with each other and hold everything in common. This group was trying to do it as a large community (thousands were beginning to believe in Jesus). It did not always go smoothly. Satan continues to tempt us today as he did the early community. Beware the father of lies. For reflection: Am I being honest with myself about the reasons for my actions? Who else is being hurt by what I am doing? Let us pray. Jesus, you are the truth that sets us free. You are the giver of life. Holy Spirit, you are the giver of discernment. We need you to help us see ourselves as we truly are. Since we've been looking at the healing of the beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, let's spend a few moments with phrases from Peter's speeches following this act of healing kindness (Acts 3:12-4:20). Surprise . . . author of life . . . name of Jesus . . . made strong . . . faith . . . healing . . . as you can see . . . acted in ignorance . . . foretold through the prophets . . . repent . . . times of refreshing may come . . . appointed for you . . . a prophet from among your own people . . . heirs . . . act of kindness . . . Jesus Christ . . . salvation is found in no one else . . no other name . . . what we have seen and heard. For reflection: Read the passage again. What words or phrases stand out? Was I able to perform any acts of kindness this week? Was I able to speak to anyone about Jesus this week? Let us pray. Author of Life, Healer of the Beggar, there are areas where I need healing. Bring times of refreshing to me, please, and help me to share healing and refreshing with others. The beggar who was healed by Peter and John at the temple gate (Acts 3:1-10) was not healed because he had faith in Jesus. He was healed "as an act of kindness" (4:9) because Peter and John had faith. His healing presented the opportunity for Peter to preach to the crowd that gathered. The crowd came to believe in Jesus, and now "the number of men (who believed) grew to about five thousand" (4:4). Because they were in the temple area when Peter was preaching, the priests and the Sadducees also heard what was being said. The Sadducees didn't like it that Peter was talking about the resurrection of the dead, which the Sadducees did not believe in. And they were growing jealous that so many people were beginning to follow this new teaching about Jesus. The outcomes of the healing of the crippled beggar were that he, who was over 40 years old (4:22), was given a whole new life; Peter had the opportunity to preach in the temple area; many people came to believe; the religious leaders grew uneasy. One act of kindness had several ramifications. For reflection: Is there an act of kindness that I can do for someone today? Am I brave enough to tell someone about Jesus and speak a word of healing to them? What possible consequences keep me from acting? Let us pray. Holy Spirit, we need your Holy Boldness today. What are we to make of the image of fire in Luke's account of the coming of the Holy Spirit? Wind and fire appear together frequently in the Jewish tradition to signify an appearance of God. In Exodus 19:14-19 Moses and the people experience thunder and lightening, a thick cloud, a trumpet blast, billowing smoke and fire. The whole mountain trembled. Of course, we have the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day to lead the Hebrew people in the desert. In Psalm 50:3, God "comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages." Speaking of the last judgment, Isaiah (66:15) proclaims, "See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." (See also Isaiah 4:4, 2 Samuel 22:16 and Jeremiah 30:23.) In these images the fire is the purifying fire of judgment. But that does not appear to be the case for Luke in the Pentecost account. It is not a time of judgment on the disciples. Luke speaks of "tongues of fire" in Acts 2:3 and "other tongues" in 2:4. These other tongues are enabled by the Holy Spirit. There is Jewish tradition for God speaking visibly, speaking from fire also. Recall Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3). We also have Deuteronomy 4:36, "From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire". (See also Habakkuk 2:1.) People could "see" God's voice. In Acts chapter 2 then, Luke really means some visible appearance of the voice of God manifesting to others through the disciples speaking in other tongues. For reflection: Have I seen the voice of God? Have I experienced the fire of Holy Spirit? Let us pray. "Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before. . . . Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power in in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!" (Psalm 68:28-35). Authority without power is weak. Power without authority is just show. But when you put the two together, explosive things happen. Jesus gave the disciples authority to preach and baptize at the Ascension, just before he returned to his Father, when he said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:18-20). They were authorized to do those things. Luke tells us Jesus also said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Jesus gave them power when he sent the Holy Spirit. They now had authority and power. The word used for power in Acts 1:8 is the root of the word "dynamite" in English. The disciples began to preach with authority and to back it up with demonstrations of power, what you might call the gospel combination. Jesus had given them the authority and the power to do what he had called them to do - go out into the whole world to spread the good news, to do the things that they had watched Jesus do for several years. For reflection: What has God called me to do? Do I believe he has given me the gifts to do what he has called me to do? Let us pray. Jesus, giver of all good gifts, you sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples on Pentecost to enable them to be you on the earth, to continue to carry out your mission, to bring all peoples unto you. Thank you for giving me all I need to do what you have called me to do. Help me to use that dynamite power every day for you. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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