START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
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OBSERVE:
This lectionary passage from Acts seems a little early in the Easter season. It includes excerpts from the account of the day of Pentecost, which is actually 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus.
However, it will soon become apparent why this passage is chosen for this Sunday — Acts 2 includes the first post-resurrection sermon in the early church, delivered by the Apostle Peter.
What has happened between the resurrection of Jesus and this event 50 days later? Jesus has appeared to his disciples on multiple occasions, according to the four Gospels. He has met them in Galilee as well as near Jerusalem in Judea. And he has returned to the Father in the ascension.
After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the disciples gathered together in Jerusalem, presumably in the same upper room where Jesus had celebrated the Passover meal with them prior to his arrest.
The phenomena of the coming of the Holy Spirit are recorded here — the gathering of the disciples in one place, the violent wind, the tongues of fire, and the power to speak in tongues as empowered by the Spirit. But the focus of this week’s passage is Peter’s sermon.
Peter neatly sums up the life and ministry of Jesus, his death on the cross, and his resurrection. He assumes that all of this is common knowledge, but also provides interpretation of the events:
Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
We note that Peter is speaking as a Jew to fellow Jews, about a Jew from Nazareth. What makes Jesus unique is that his miracles, wonders and signs were proof of his accreditation from God. Peter is defying the claims of Jesus’ accusers that Jesus was a fraud.
What is fascinating about this passage is Peter’s theological interpretation of the events. They were no accident. Jesus was handed over by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge. The early church was convinced that God had anticipated the sin of humanity with his own divine plan for redemption from even before the dawn of human history. Peter writes in his own epistle, years after the events of Pentecost, that those who call on God are redeemed:
with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ; who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of times for your sake (1 Peter 1:19-20).
Peter provides evidence that God has foreknown his plan for salvation by quoting an ancient text from the Hebrew Bible, Psalm 16:8-11.
But before he quotes Psalm 16, he finishes his descriptions of the death and resurrection of Jesus. He accuses those who are hearing his words that day of complicity in the death of Jesus, who join with wicked men who put Jesus to death by nailing him to the cross! While God’s plan for salvation was deliberate and foreknown, those who complied in the death of Jesus did so of their own free will.
Nevertheless, because Jesus is Lord and God, his death wasn’t final:
God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
The language Peter uses suggests that Jesus’ death wasn’t a descent into nothingness. Death itself is described here as something that goes on tormenting him, and holds him almost the way a predator might grasp its prey. The word translated agony is the Greek word odin. It is a word usually associated with the pains of a woman in labor. Its most common usage in the New Testament describes the birth pangs of the coming eschatological age of the Kingdom of God (cf. Mark 13:8; Matthew 24:8; Romans 8:22). The death of Jesus becomes a kind of birth into resurrection and life!
Death could not keep its hold on him because it was impossible!
As mentioned earlier, Peter finds proof of God’s plan in Psalm 16. He is connecting his Jewish audience to their own Scriptures. Though he quotes David as the writer of the Psalm, the first-person narrator of the Psalm is the Messiah:
David said about him:
‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
Clearly, for Peter the holy one who descends to the realm of the dead yet doesn’t decay is Jesus.
Peter further proves his point that this Psalm is not about David by reminding them that David not only died and was buried, they could visit his tomb in Jerusalem where his body was still interred! Nevertheless, Peter attests to the prophetic powers of David:
Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.
Peter is asserting that the dynastic prophecies of the house of David —that he would always have a descendant on the throne — were perfectly fulfilled in Jesus (cf 2 Samuel 20:16). He apparently takes it for granted that his audience is aware of Jesus’ credentials as a descendant of David.
Therefore, Peter asserts, the words of the Psalm are obviously about Jesus:
Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.
But there is one more, irrefutable evidence of the Messianic nature of Jesus:
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it [emphasis mine].
Peter himself had encountered the risen Jesus in Galilee and in Judea. And he wasn’t alone. As the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians:
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
APPLY:
There are two levels on which this first apostolic sermon applies to us.
First of all, we can see ourselves addressed by Peter’s words as we identify with those who hear him that day on Pentecost. Peter is speaking directly to them — and to us:
This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
No, we weren’t literally there, participating in the crucifixion of Jesus. But it can be argued, neither were the thousands who heard Peter speak. However, what Peter is saying of them is also true of us — we are complicit in the suffering of Jesus because of our sins.
And, we may add, by faith we can also identify with what Peter says a little later in his message:
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
By faith, we have also experienced the risen Christ, have we not? Therefore, this sermon speaks to us just as it did to the multitude gathered there that day.
There is a second application also — Peter’s sermon may give us some guidance as we seek to evangelize others today. Peter begins by summing up who Jesus is and what Jesus has done — he is accredited by God because of his mighty works; he has been betrayed and crucified; and he has been raised to life. This is the summary of Jesus’ life and ministry that is at the heart of the Gospel that we find suggested in other passages — for example, John 3:16, or 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.
When preaching or evangelizing, we do well to offer a concise summary of the Gospel message. We can elaborate and explain later, at great length if necessary.
Peter then offers evidence to this particular audience that he knows they will accept — the Scriptures. He quotes from Psalm 16 to offer proof of the resurrection, as prophesied by David.
Now, for those who may come from a “religious” background, this may be effective. We will find later that Paul is a far more effective evangelist to the Greeks and the Gentiles because he finds other points of contact.
This is not to minimize the value of Scripture at all. It is the revealed Word of God. However, before a secularist non-Christian will hear it, other sources of evidence must be used to convince them — nature, human experience, etc. After they become convinced, then they will listen to what the Scriptures attest.
But there is one source of evidence that is difficult to disprove — personal experience. Peter claims:
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
The Christian who can claim that they have experienced the living Christ in their own lives, and whose life is consistent with their testimony, is difficult to refute.
There is a famous quote that has been attributed to William J. Toms (1791 – 1883) an Australian farmer and Methodist leader:
Be careful how you live; you will be the only Bible some people ever read.
RESPOND:
When I read the events recorded in the Scripture, I try to identify with what is being written as closely as I can; and I use my imagination to try and place myself in the narrative sections.
Peter actually encourages me to do so in this passage. He tells me I am complicit in the death of Jesus; and I am a witness, by faith, of the risen Jesus! This makes my faith come alive!
I am reminded of the great hymn that poses the question — Were You There?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?
Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?
The answer is that by the participation and identification of faith, yes we were!
Lord, thank you that the story of salvation is still just as new to me today as it was to the first disciples; and thank you for the privilege of sharing that story with others. Amen.
PHOTOS: "St Peter Preaching in the Presence of St Mark" by Fra Angelico is in the public domain.
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 