Acts 4:8-22
Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.' 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
21After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
When one believes in Jesus, there is often controversy and opposition...Peter and John faced this first hand after Jesus had just passed away, with the most powerful group in Israel...The early Christians, early believers, and early churches were persecuted...Jesus had resurrected and lived and taught His disciples another forty days...The disciple and followers of Jesus were persecuted for many years, not just the first year after Jesus' resurrection...
Peter had just healed a crippled man...The crippled man was a beggar...The man had been crippled from birth...The crippled man, could now walk, jump, and do things a strong legged man could do...This healing brought some controversy among the religious leaders...It brought to much attention to Peter and John and they had to explain the commotion to the Sanhedrin...The common Israelite thanked God for what had happened (the healing by Peter of the crippled one)...
The Sanhedrin comprised of the rulers, the elders, and the teachers of the law...The Sanhedrin were normally above average in wealth and were a diverse Jewish group...The Sadducees were part of the Sanhedrin and worked with the priests and did not believe in life after death... The Pharisees, another group within the Sanhedrin, believed in the after life...These two groups were often in opposition about this and other parts of their religion that they did not see eye to eye on...
The two groups did agree on one thing...That Jesus was not the One...He was not the Messiah, that was to come...Peter, who is filled with the Holy Spirit at this time, tells the Sanhedrin that salvation is found in Only Jesus Christ...He is the One...He was the One who was and is to come...Peter and John spoke well on these points...The Sanhedrin watched with great interest, as these two fishermen spoke...They were astonished with their speaking ability and courage...This ability to speak well and have the Holy Spirit with them is a fulfillment of Jesus telling them this in Luke 12:11-12...They also took note that these men had been with Jesus....Peter and John were eyewitnesses of Jesus and had been with Him for three years...
Today, we still have factions and denominations of believers who believe in a basic Christianity, but disagree on some or many of the fringe points of Christianity...There is still opposition to Jesus and talking about Him and His teachings...It seems that we can talk about God the Father, easier than talking about His Son, Jesus...Throughout the world the opposition of Jesus being our Messiah, is still questioned and not believed by many...This is the case, even though most believe that Jesus was on earth two thousand years ago and His living and dying is a historical fact...The fact (and the most important historical fact, Corinthians 15) they cannot accept is the fact of the resurrection... Jesus, to many, is a just a prophet and not our Messiah...
The Sanhedrin did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God...They were taught that God is the One and Only...There is no other God... They could not get their belief or faith to believe that God sent a man, His Son to bring us salvation...Jesus going around forgiving people and healing on the Sabbath was blasphemy...Peter and John, were eyewitnesses to Jesus, everyday for three years, although were unschooled and ordinary men knew Him personally...The Sanhedrin wanted this Jesus movement stopped and told the two men to no longer speak to anyone about Jesus...Peter and John said "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God...For we cannot help speaking about what we have heard and seen."...St. Peter and St. John were eyewitnesses of Jesus...They knew Him...He could heal anyone with faith...He could bring people back from death, like Lazarus and others (Jesus resurrected people in all four gospels)...He could change water into wine...He could walk on water...He could calm storms...He taught things that had never been spoken before...He forgave people's sins, without asking the people they sinned against...He central message was about God, the kingdom of heaven...Peter and John were with Him for forty days after His resurrection from His own death...They saw Him ascend to heaven...They could not stop speaking (and later would write about) about all these things they had touched, seen, and heard...
St. Peter tells us He is the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16)...St. John teaches us that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)...St. John writes that the Word became flesh and made its dwelling among us...We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)...
We can believe like St. Peter and St. John or we can believe like the Sanhedrin, Sadducees, and Pharisees...It is our choice...It takes a leap of faith...It takes persistence...It is the most important choice we will ever make...This is so simple to write about, yet so hard to do each day and put God into our daily lives, and our daily living...St. Peter and St. John knew this...They were ordinary men...