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{12:1} About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. {2} He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. {3} After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) {4} When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. Once again we have Peter being arrested and thrown in prison. Before it was the Jewish Council persecuting him. Here we have King Herod, the ruling Roman authority and eager to be popular with the Jewish Council, arresting Peter. This was the third King Herod whose full title was Herod Agrippa I. He was not a nice king. What we have here are the two main governing authorities in Jerusalem feeling threatened by this growing Jesus movement. We also see similarities between Peter’s arrest and Jesus’. Both happened during the Passover. Herod planned on bringing Peter to the people as Pilate did with Jesus. {5} While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him. {6} The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. {7} Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And the chains fell off his wrists. {8} The angel said to him, "Fasten your belt and put on your sandals." He did so. Then he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." {9} Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel's help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. The setting for what happened next is a lot like an escape artist. Mention is made of Peter bound with two chains with soldiers and guards nearby. Chances are very good that Peter is about to suffer the following day the same fate as James. This situation is hopeless and in need of heaven’s help. That help came in the form of an angel who fills the prison cell with light. Apparently this is not enough to wake Peter up so the angel taps him on his side. {10} After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. {11} Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." The angel leads Peter who is dazed and not fully awake out of the prison to freedom. Even the huge iron gate to Jerusalem opened miraculously. Peter realizes that God has saved him again. {12} As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. Mary, the mother of John Mark, was apparently an independent woman who was sufficiently wealthy to employ a maidservant. Jesus’ followers were gathered there to pray for Peter’s release. {13} When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. {14} On recognizing Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. {15} They said to her, "You are out of your mind!" But she insisted that it was so. They said, "It is his angel." This is a bit funny. We have Rhoda, the first recorded voice of a woman in Acts, answering the gate where Peter knocked. But instead of opening the gate, she ran back to the disciples with the good news. Just like the disciples treated Mary Magdalene when they came with the news about Jesus’ resurrection, so these disciples say to Rhoda, "You are out of your mind!" {16} Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. {17} He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, "Tell this to James and to the believers." Then he left and went to another place. Fortunately, Peter was persistent and knocked on the gate after Rhoda left him. The reaction of amazement is typically the result of a mistake. Shock is probably another word that could describe the scene. WHAT GOD MIGHT BE SAYING TO US THROUGH THIS SCRIPTURE When Michelangelo was a little boy, one of his friends gave him a small Greek sculpture of a human form, half chiseled from the marble. For the rest of his life, Michelangelo kept that little statue by his bed. It was the last thing he saw before he went to sleep, the first thing he saw when he awoke. For him it became a symbol of humankind’s anguished effort to be liberated from the prison of his own ignorance. Michelangelo devoted his whole life to freeing figures from stone. Sometimes it would take him months, even years. Always he began with a vision of the man or the woman locked up in the stone. He said, 'It is my job, my task, to set that man, that woman, free.' Every one of us is imprisoned by our own thoughts, feelings, and attitudes. Sometimes we put ourselves in the cell. Sometimes outside events seem to conspire to lock us away. We all are like figures partially carved in a block of stone. God is the master sculptor who desires to chip away at the parts that don’t belong, but we find it hard to cooperate with the shaping process. Do you really want to be free? Do you truly desire to let God continue his act of creation with your life? The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that what happened to Peter can happen to us. God comes to us to shine his light in the darkened cells of our prison walls. Let’s take a closer look. After the light the angel taps Peter on the side. I can’t help but think what would have happened next if Peter had slept through the tap. He slept through the brilliant light. What would have happened if the tap did not rouse him? Maybe that’s when the angel uses the proverbial 2x4. What does it take for God to get our attention? Are we so in tune that we become alert at the first shaft of light? Would we wake up if God tapped our shoulder? For many of us we don’t fully pay attention to God until the doctor tells us we have cancer or when a loved one suddenly dies. Why does it sometimes take so long for us to listen to God? The second action of the angel is to say to Peter, "Get up quickly." I don’t know about you but I’m not a morning person. I don’t naturally bound out of bed very fast. As someone once said, "There ought to be a better way of starting the day than having to get up." The point here is that once we are giving our attention to God, we need to act quickly. If you are convinced that God is urging you to read more of your Bible, don’t wait. Act on this urge! If you sense that you need to pray more and in new ways, don’t wait. Do it now! What is that old saying, "Strike while the iron is hot." Cold iron cannot be shaped without a whole lot of heavy hitting. Hot iron can be molded into a tool or piece of art. The angel then told Peter to fasten his belt and put on his sandals. Older translations read, "Gird up your loins." It’s hard to move quickly if your clothes are loose and ill fitting. When you are preparing for action you tighten your belt and your shoes. Something exciting was about to happen and Peter needed to be ready. Are you prepared for the exciting thing God desires to do in your life? Is it a change of job, a move to a new place, a new relationship, a new prayer life, a new mission? Truly for Christians the most exciting thing is to not know where God is leading us, but in faith to watch God act in our lives! To experience this excitement we must be awake. We must fasten our belt and put on our sandals. We may not know where we are going, but with God leading the way everything will be okay. The angel then told Peter, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." I am leading you to freedom but it will be cold and dark. Others will try to put you back in this prison if they recognize you. Just follow me. There are traps along this journey of life, aren’t there? Detours and unexpected delays. I doubt that any couple saying their vows to each other envisioned a future divorce, but divorce happens, doesn’t it? I doubt that any family plans to experience financial difficulties, but setbacks happen, don’t they? I doubt that we plan on losing our jobs, but job losses happen, don’t they? God speaks to each one of us saying, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." Protect yourself. Stay close. All will be well. Do you know the prison walls that surround you? Are they of your own making? Are they beyond your control? Breaking free may not happen in an instant. It may take time depending on what kind of chains are gripping our lives. Theologian Matthew Fox tells the story of a Catholic Sister in Chicago who worked with women in prison. She told the women she had funds which could either get them a good lawyer to review their cases and possibly get them out sooner; or she could bring in a welder to teach them welding so they could have a skill when they left; or she could get a dancer and a painter to come teach them to dance and paint. What do think they chose? Ninety-five percent chose the dancer or painter. Why? Because they said it would be the first time in their lives they would have a chance to express themselves. The oppressed and imprisoned and dispossessed need more than money or food or physical freedom. They also need creativity, self-expression, and a sense of spirituality. This is the promise of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You and I can be released from our prisons of self-hate, depression, and anger. We can awaken from our resignation to our prison chains and say, "I’m tired of this! I want to be free!" Christ comes to us just as we are…accepts us just as we are. But he doesn’t like it that we continue to live in chains. His light fills our darkness. He taps us on the shoulder to get our attention. The promise of the gospel is that we can get up and follow Him out to freedom and wholeness and life. |
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07.18.04 - BYOB: Peter (Acts 12:1-17)
