Boldness to believe, boldness to be the change in the world that is needed, back in biblical times and now in modern times.
Time is the dynamic we all fail to truly understand and conquer. Time in the briefness of our lives and in our common human life experience of birth—growth—decline—and death… tis the truth whether we see it, believe it, or deny it.
So far the Acts of the Apostles is a beautiful flashback summary of the gospels looking back to how God had glorified Christ for all time and passed along our hope for eternal salvation. But it is more especially if one sees the transition from God—to Jesus—to the Apostles—to the five thousand early believes in Jerusalem—to you and me.
The boldness of Peter and John is evident in this part of the Scriptures:
Now Peter and John were going up into the temple at the ninth hour of prayer. And a certain man, who had been lame from his mother’s womb, was being carried by, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful, that he might ask alms of those going into the temple.
But Peter, gazing upon him with John, said: “Look at us.”
And he looked at them earnestly, hoping to receive something from them.
But Peter said: “Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, that I give thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk.”
To whom have we ever said “I believe and I need your help? “Money and power I have none; but what I have, that I give thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, let’s resurrect ourselves for the rest of our lives.”
And taking him by his right hand, he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles became strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and went with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.
And they were filled with wonder and amazement… greatly wondering…
Peter: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by any power or holiness of our own we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus, whom you indeed delivered up and dis owned before the face of Pilate, when he had decided that he should be released. But you disowned the Holy and Just One, and asked that a murderer should be granted to you; but the author of life you killed, whom God has raised up from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And it is his name, by means of faith in his name, that has made strong this man whom you behold and recognize; moreover it is the faith that comes through Jesus that has given him the perfect health you all see.”
I pray for the perfect health, free of sugar addiction and binge eating, but I also must be bold in my abstinence to change me and my habits and thereby, from the inside-out, change, for the glory of God, into the spiritual entity God so desires me to be.
Don’t we all need ‘times of refreshment’ spiritually, mentally, and emotionally?
As much as our heated body is frequently refreshed with cool water or the splash of a waterfall, so too must our spirit be refreshed. We are spiritual beings living a human life.
Is it déjà vu all over again?
Miracles; challenging the establishment, the law; being arrested… and crucified too?
Now while they were speaking to the people, the priests and the officer of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in the case of Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they set hands upon them and placed them in custody till the next day; for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be five thousand.
Rulers, Elders, Scribes: “By what authority or in what name have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them:
“Rulers of the people and elders, if we are on trial today about a good work done to a cripple, as to how this man has been cured, be it known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, even in this name does he stand here before you, sound. This is ‘The stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the corner stone,’ Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
The corner stone of faith in Jesus Christ had been set.
Now seeing the boldness of Peter, and John, and finding that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they began to marvel, and to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
“What shall we do with these men? For that indeed an evident miracle has been done by them manifest to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But lest it spread further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more about this name to any man.”
And summoning them, they charged them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Peter and John answered and said to them:
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, decide for yourselves. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
But they, after threatening them, let them go, not finding any way of punishing them, because of the people for all were glorifying what had come to pass. For the man upon whom this miraculous cure had been done was more than forty years old.
Nor after their dismissal, they can to their companions… lifted up their voice with one accord to God and said:
“Lord, it is thou who didst make heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who didst say by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, thy servant, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plan vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ.’ For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do what thy hand and thy counsel decreed to be done. And now Lord, take note of their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest forth thy hand to cures and signs and wonders to be wrought by the name of thy holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place where they had assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke of God with boldness.
Amen! Alleluia!
Boldness to believe and act accordingly like the Apostles… begins inside me…
Day 110: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Boldness to Believe and Act Accordingly like the Apostles…
Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Acts of The Apostles Chapters 3-4.
Bible Notes:
Saint Luke, the author of the third Gospel, wrote also this history of the primitive Church. Opening with the story of the Ascension and Pentecost, this book records the important events of the early Church: the mass conversions after Pentecost; the persecution by Herod; the conversion of Saint Paul; his three missionary journeys; his arrest and final trip to Rome
Acts Chapter 3: Peter cures a lame beggar; The cure causes great amazement; Another discourse by Peter; Peter urges repentance.
Now Peter and John were going up into the temple at the ninth hour of prayer. And a certain man, who had been lame from his mother’s womb, was being carried by, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful, that he might ask alms of those going into the temple.
But Peter, gazing upon him with John, said: “Look at us.”
And he looked at them earnestly, hoping to receive something from them.
But Peter said: “Silver and gold I have none; but what I have, that I give thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk.”
And taking him by his right hand, he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles became strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and went with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.
And they were filled with wonder and amazement… greatly wondering…
Peter: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by any power or holiness of our own we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus, whom you indeed delivered up and dis owned before the face of Pilate, when he had decided that he should be released. But you disowned the Holy and Just One, and asked that a murderer should be granted to you; but the author of life you killed, whom God has raised up from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And it is his name, by means of faith in his name, that has made strong this man whom you behold and recognize; moreover it is the faith that comes through Jesus that has given him the perfect health you all see.”
Peter: “and now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But in this way God fulfilled what he had announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, namely, that his Christ should suffer. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out in order that, when times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord, he may send him who has been preached to you, Jesus Christ. For heaven indeed must receive him until the times of the restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God shall raise up to you a prophet from among your brethren, as he raised up me: to him you shall hearken in all things that he shall speak to you. And it shall be that every soul that will not hearken to the prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel onwards, have also announced these days. You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in thy offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ To you first God, raising up his Son, has sent him to bless you, that everyone may turn from his wickedness.”
Acts Chapter 4: Peter and John arrested; They are questioned about their preaching; Peter’s answer; Peter and John ordered to be silent; They refuse to comply; Thanksgiving for their dismissal; Manner of life of Christians.
Now while they were speaking to the people, the priests and the officer of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in the case of Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they set hands upon them and placed them in custody till the next day; for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be five thousand.
Rulers, Elders, Scribes, Annas the high priest, Caiphas, John, and Alexander and as many as belonged to the high-priest family:
“By what authority or in what name have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them:
“Rulers of the people and elders, if we are on trial today about a good work done to a cripple, as to how this man has been cured, be it known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, even in this name does he stand here before you, sound. This is ‘The stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the corner stone,’ Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Now seeing the boldness of Peter, and John, and finding that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they began to marvel, and to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
“What shall we do with these men? For that indeed an evident miracle has been done by them manifest to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But lest it spread further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more about this name to any man.”
And summoning them, they charged them not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Peter and John answered and said to them:
“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, decide for yourselves. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
But they, after threatening them, let them go, not finding any way of punishing them, because of the people for all were glorifying what had come to pass. For the man upon whom this miraculous cure had been done was more than forty years old.
Nor after their dismissal, they can to their companions… lifted up their voice with one accord to God and said:
“Lord, it is thou who didst make heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who didst say by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, thy servant, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plan vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ.’ For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do what thy hand and thy counsel decreed to be done. And now Lord, take note of their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest forth thy hand to cures and signs and wonders to be wrought by the name of thy holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place where they had assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke of God with boldness.
Now the multitude of the believers were of one heart and one soul, and not one of them said that anything he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord: and great grace was in them all. Nor was there anyone among them in want. For those who owned lands or houses would sell them and bring the price of what they sold and lay it at the feet of the apostles, and distribution was made to each, according as any one had need. Now Joseph, who by the apostles… sold the field that he had, and brought the price and laid it at the feet of the apostles.
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