Acts 2:14a, 36-41 (NRSV)
14 But Peter , standing with the eleven, raised his voice and
addressed them,
36 Therefore let the
entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and
Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard
this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter
and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your
sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39
For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far
away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40 And he
testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves
from this corrupt generation.” 41 So those who welcomed his message
were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
Year A
Third Sunday after Easter
April 30, 2017
Cross~Wind UMC
Title: Inviting People Home
Introducing the passage
Acts
2:14a, 36-41 present the conclusion of the first sermon by Peter on Pentecost. The
passage contains the end of Peter’s speech to the pilgrims gathered in
Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Pentecost as well as the crowd’s reaction to
it. Peter speaks as the leader of the church in Jerusalem. The first mission of
the church is to proclaim or preach in a way the people present could
understand. The resurrection of Jesus and his exaltation to the Father results
in the fulfillment of the prophecy from Joel concerning the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. The new age of the work and power of the Spirit has begun. The
Crucified One is the one who God raised. Jesus of Nazareth, whose life resulted
in crucifixion by Jewish and Romans leaders, is the same person the Father,
through the life-giving power of the Spirit, raised from the dead. We will read
of the response to the message. They could have debate with Peter about whether
the Crucified One could be Lord and Messiah. Instead, they wonder what the
apostles think they should do. Peter had to have his ears open to the longing
of their hearts. He also had to point them to their spiritual home. Peter had
seen the risen Lord and received the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Peter invites them
to repent, receive baptism in the name of Jesus, receive forgiveness of sin,
and receive the gift of the Spirit. Peter, seeing the pain, wants to rescue
them from the corruption of this generation. Luke informs us of the number of
persons who responded to his first sermon.
Introduction
Ulee’s
Gold is a 1997 movie, one easily overlooked. Peter Fonda
Since Ulee
is a beekeeper, we find out something about bees and beekeepers. Ulee’s gold
is, after all, the honey from the bees. The relationship between bee and
beekeeper is simple: You take care of them, and they will take care of you. In
one scene (1:06:48 to 1:07:52 ),
Penny , his granddaughter, has drawn a
picture of Ulee going to the swamp to get the bees. With Ulee listening in, she
tells her mother, who has had problems with addiction to drugs,
“See, sometimes the bees get confused,
and run away — that’s them there on the tree. But they don’t really want to be
gone, and they’re happy when someone helps them back into their home. But you
got to keep calm and don’t panic when they sting, ’cause they don’t mean
nothing by it.”
I have a question for you. Have some
people in your family lost their way? Have some people in your neighborhood or
at work lost their way? They might even lash out at you. Maybe the corruption
of this generation has grabbed them. I confess I have not always responded well
in that situation. I keep trying to respond as a disciple, by which I mean,
with forgiveness and love.
Application
The church
in America struggles.
The American landscape has changed.
Many people have lost their way. Some people have developed intellectual
struggles. They find they can no longer believe what the church believes, and
often have no place to go within the church to raise their questions. Some
people develop spiritual problems with the church, for it seems as if many
churches have lost their way. They care more about buildings and the way they
have always done things, rather than reaching people with the good news. Some
have moral questions, but are not sure they can raise them within the church.
Some people notice that the church has too often supported injustice. Of
course, still others see the imperfection of the church and its members. That
ought to sadden us. If we have failed to reflect the love of Christ to others,
it ought to call us within the church to repentance. Yet, in another sense, people
within the church are imperfect, and in fact, the church is for imperfect
people. If you are perfect, you have no need of what the church offers. If you
need grace, we want you to find it here.
Here is the
point: Being a follower of Jesus is both a group
trip and an individual experience.
The writer
of Hebrews told the Christians of his day to not neglect to meet together, but
to assemble as believers to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25). He was
right. Church is not like school where you attend for a while until you receive
your degree and then you graduate. The church has no alumni association.
The huge
redwood trees of California amaze people who see them. They are the largest
living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300
feet high and over 2,500 years old. One would think that trees so large must
have a tremendous root system that reaches down hundreds of feet into the
earth. But not so! The redwoods have a very shallow root system. If one were to
get down on one’s knees and examine the redwoods’ root system, one would find
that all the roots intertwine. They join their roots to each other. When the
storms come, the winds blow, and the lightning flashes, the redwoods still
stand. They are not alone, for all the trees support and protect each other.
Each tree is important to all the other trees in the grove.[1]
The same needs to be true of us. Our spiritual roots interlock with others who
share the journey.
At the same
time, however, we need to take individual
responsibility for the health of our faith.
We do that through such private
activities as prayer and Bible reading and giving to the work of the church and
the like, but we also do it by making sure we connect regularly with a body of
believers.
While the
church has a prime responsibility to help us in our life of faith, we as
individual Christians always have a prime responsibility to our church to help
it be a place where the things Peter outlined — the preaching of repentance,
baptism, seeking the Holy Spirit — happen. The church, with our help, should
also ensure that the practices of the early converts — worship, fellowship,
caring for one another, common goals in mission and ministry, an active prayer
life among the membership, a thorough Christian education for children and
newcomers to the faith and so on — are carried out.
Conclusion
In one of
the memorable quotes from Ulee’s Gold,
Ulee says, “There's all kinds of weakness in the world, not all of it is evil.
I forget that from time to time.” The corruption of this generation can get
inside of people. We may spot weakness of faith, hope and love in a fellow
church member; we may spot such weakness in a family member, neighbor,
coworker, or friend. Weakness is not time to play “gotcha.” Weakness is time
for grace. Weakness is a time to listen for something like, “Friend, I have
lost my way. What must I do?” Oh, they may not use those words, but with their
lives and other words, they just might be saying it. We need to listen. Seeing weakness
is a time to invite people to find their way home.
Most churches, of course, are like
multiple extended families. Us Christians are in this together. Cross~Wind
people are in this together. Each of us is part of the mission to make
disciples of Jesus Christ to transform the world. We are part of the vision to
help people believe, grow, and go.
Going Deeper
Acts 2:14-36 has the theme of the
message of Peter on Pentecost. We learn here that early Christians lived quiet
lives of faith in Jerusalem. We also learn that Joel 2:32 and Psalm 110 were
early biblical texts that helped the early community understand who Jesus was.
The Christology is very elementary in that we detect little trace of Pauline
ideas that must have been current in the environment in which Luke wrote. The
speech consists of two distinct sections. The first is a citation from the
prophet Joel that Peter interprets in light of the falling of the Holy Spirit
on the followers of Jesus (2:17-21). The second half of the speech begins with
a rather sophisticated exegesis of Psalm 16 that demonstrates that David
prophesied that Jesus, God’s Messiah, would be raised from the dead (2:22-32)
and is followed by the scriptural argument that Jesus reigns with God in heaven
(2:33-35). The point of the biblical argument, of course, is that the Crucified
One, the one dishonored and shamed by human beings, is Messiah and Lord,
something that would have shocked the hearers that day. The people who heard asked
Peter how they should respond. Peter summarizes the basic act of faith in
urging them to repent and receive baptism in the name of Jesus so that they may
receive forgiveness of sin and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He could point
to the prophecy of Joel again. The result was growth to the tune of three
thousand persons who welcomed his message and received baptism.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41 present the
conclusion of the first sermon by Peter on Pentecost. The passage contains the
end of Peter’s speech to the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish
feast of Pentecost as well as the crowd’s reaction to it. Peter speaks as the
leader of the church in Jerusalem. The first mission of the church is to
proclaim or preach in a way the people present could understand. The
resurrection of Jesus and his exaltation to the Father results in the
fulfillment of the prophecy from Joel concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The new age of the work and power of the Spirit has begun. The Crucified One is
the one who God raised. Jesus of Nazareth, whose life resulted in crucifixion
by Jewish and Romans leaders, is the same person the Father, through the
life-giving power of the Spirit, raised from the dead. We will read of the
response to the message. They could have debate with Peter about whether the
Crucified One could be Lord and Messiah. Instead, they wonder what the apostles
think they should do. Peter had to have his ears open to the longing of their
hearts. He also had to point them to their spiritual home. Peter had seen the
risen Lord and received the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Peter invites them to
repent, receive baptism in the name of Jesus, receive forgiveness of sin, and
receive the gift of the Spirit. Peter, seeing the pain, wants to rescue them
from the corruption of this generation. Luke informs us of the number of
persons who responded to his first sermon.
14
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,
[Peter is speaking as a leader of
the church in Jerusalem. The first mission of the newly formed church is
proclamation. They proclaimed in a
language that everyone could understand.
We cannot be content with the traditional language of the church, but
rather we must be willing to use the language of the day. The Holy Spirit makes the church a possibility.
The church is not to hide behind a special lexicon of its own language, but is
to use the common dialects of the day. To the undeclared or unbelieving, the
church must clearly articulate the message, not obtuse or archaizing babblings
that scoffers can dismiss as the drunken ramblings ("new wine") of
the strange. God's saving action through
Christ on behalf of the world is a proclamation that Christians must spread, to
all people, in all languages, even to the ends of the earth. Pentecost is what makes the church, if not an
accomplished reality, at least an ongoing possibility, a viable new enterprise
in the spiritual shopping center. The Holy Spirit is what pushes the church out
from behind those closed Upper Room doors and into the marketplace, the public
square and corporate boardroom. It is a time of a new, never before seen event.
It is time to mark the birthday of a new creation by God, a creation that
itself invokes the beginning of the end times. The miracle of the Holy Spirit's
arrival does not have its basis in linguistic abilities. The church has the
mark of its birth of God's power and authority on earth through the new
creation of the church.]
36
Therefore [Peter’s conclusion to this Pentecost speech is the first
verse of the passage.] let the entire
house of Israel [The phrase draws, in characteristic Lukan style, from the
Greek version of the Old Testament (LXX Psalms 97:3; 113:20; 117:2, 134:19).
While the Jews in Peter’s audience at this point in the narrative of Acts are
considered by the author to constitute “Israel,” it becomes apparent as the
plot unfolds that the designation “Israel” (and the corresponding term “people
of God”) is going to be passed on to the community that proclaims Jesus as the
Messiah. Thus, Jewish people who reject Jesus are in danger of forfeiting their
rightful claim to be called the people of God (see, e.g., Acts 28:29); we get
the first glimpses of this in the statements in the present passage by Peter to
the Jews who have heard him speak.] know
with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you
crucified.” [The evidence for such exaltation is the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, which in turn is a final proof, after Joel, that the messianic age has
arrived; for the gift of the Spirit is the work of the glorified Jesus and
shows him to be Lord and Christ. Pannenberg stresses here that it matters that
the Crucified is the one God raised from the dead. His point is that the
resurrection is not an isolated event, but has a direct relation to the earthly
course of the life of Jesus.[2]
Thus, the main point of Peter’s scriptural arguments is to demonstrate who the
crucified truly is in the eyes of God. The verse concludes the argument from
scripture that the resurrection constituted Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Both of
these terms would have been surprising to ancient Jews. First, the expectation
that God would send a messiah was widely held, and despite the fact that there
were divergent views about the identity, role and function of this figure,
nobody would have imagined that some Jews would proclaim a crucified prophet
Messiah after the fact. Second, the Bible reserves the term “Lord” (in Greek)
for the one God who ruled over Israel; one did not apply it to people. It is no
wonder, then, that early Christian exegetes of the Scriptures of Israel had
their work cut out for them!]
[Acts 2:37-40 has the theme of the response to
the message given by Peter on Pentecost.]
37
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart [Despite the
audacity of Peter’s claims about the person of Jesus, the crowd takes his words
quite seriously, and in fact is shocked and deeply troubled. They press Peter and the other apostles with
their question] .and said to Peter and to
the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” [The same question that
the crowd asks John the Baptist in Luke 3:10 after he has excoriated them.] 38 Peter said [Peter’s brief answer contains a number of
themes that are important in Luke-Acts.] to them, [First imperative]“Repent, [each of the great apostolic
discourses concludes with a call to repentance to obtain forgiveness of
sin. The formula may not be the
baptismal formula but may indicate its significance, that the baptized profess
their faith in Christ. Peter’s first charge is that his listeners “repent.” The
verb in Greek implies a change of mind or reorientation of one’s thinking that
in Acts is often associated with conversion (e.g., 3:19; 5:31; 13:24; 17:30).] and [Second imperative] be baptized every one of you [Baptism
had become the standard ritual of initiation into the Christian community by
the time Acts was written. Pannenberg will discuss the close connection between
conversion and baptism. Baptism replaces the word of Jesus himself that
summoned people into a relation of discipleship. Conversion and the act of faith
are still under the control of the believer, while baptism is an act of
submission. In that sense, saving faith in the full sense is submission to
baptism.[3]] in the
name of Jesus Christ [a validating feature of many deeds carried out by the
apostles (e.g., 4:10; 5:28; 9:16; 16:18).] so
that your sins may be forgiven; [Forgiveness has strong links with the
ministries of John the Baptist (Luke 3:3) and of Jesus himself (Luke 5:20-24;
7:47-49; 11:4; 17:3-4; 23:34; 24:47) and is one of the hallmarks of the Christian
community (Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 22:16; 26:18). Pannenberg notes that
primitive Christianity quickly came to relate baptism to the forgiveness of
sins, doing so by linking the baptized Christian to Jesus Christ.[4]]
and [third imperative] you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. [We should also note that the distinction John the Baptist made
between baptism and the coming of the Spirit does not describe Christian
baptism, where baptism is also closely associated with the baptism of the
Spirit. The fruit of repentance and baptism will be the reception of the Holy
Spirit, just as Peter and the others had just experienced (2:1-4).[5]]
39 For the promise [As
Luke Timothy Johnson argues,[6]
this word “promise” seems to refer in Luke-Acts to the promise of blessings
made by God to Abraham (see, e.g., Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-6; 22:15-18; and Luke
24:49; Acts 1:4; 3:24-36; 13:32; 26:6). Here, however, the promise is not
offspring, land, political dominion or the like, but rather the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit (the blessing has thus been literally “spiritualized”).] is for you, [for the Jewish people] for your children, and for all who are far
away [for Gentiles], everyone whom
the Lord our God calls to him.” [An echo of the Greek version of Joel 2:28-32,
which immediately follows the passage from Joel that Peter had cited in his
speech (2:21). In this Greek version of Joel 3:5b (which is different from the
Hebrew versions that are translated in our English Bibles), “those whom the
Lord summons” are a remnant of the Jews who “will be preached the good news.”
This verse makes it even clearer why the author of Acts thought the Joel 3:1-5
passage was foreshadowing the events that had transpired on Pentecost. Whomever
the Lord calls belongs to the promise. Pannenberg will stress that the link
between baptism and reception of the Spirit was part of primitive Christianity,
and he points to both Paul and to this passage.[7]]
40 And he testified with many
other arguments and exhorted them, [Peter continued to instruct and exhort
the crowd for some time] saying, “Save
yourselves [the Greek imperative is more properly translated “Be saved,”
which resonates with the reference to those who “shall be saved” in the Joel
citation earlier in the speech in 2:21.] from
this corrupt generation.” [The emphasis here is on God’s act of rescuing
the believer from the “corrupt generation.”]
[In this
episode, the author of Acts attempts to demonstrate that the Old Testament
promises of the restoration of the people of God are being realized in the
messianic community that looks to the resurrected Jesus as its Lord. Joel 2
predicted the reception of the Holy Spirit by the believers: 28-32 and
represents the blessing promised long before Abraham.]
[Verses 41-47 demonstrate that this
was no flash-in-the-pan, momentary outburst. This experience produced a
warming, sustaining flame that served as a glowing center for a growing
community of faith. The Holy Spirit may have descended in the shape of wind and
fire, but the Holy Spirit immediately takes on a new form - that of the
Christ-body community. We need to
compare these verses with 4:32-35 and 5:12-16.
These verses are editorial summaries of the first Christian community.]
41 So those
who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand
persons were added. [Here is the first example of Luke noting the numerical
growth of the early church. He does this repeatedly and deliberately. These
quantitative references to the growth of the fledgling Christian community are
common in the first part of Acts (2:47; 4;4; 5:14; 6:1; 6:7).]
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