sermon excerpts: "Contempt of Court"

Here was a case where the disciples were in direct conflict with the Jewish authorities, after having been put in prison for preaching Christ’s message and speaking in his name about new life, love in service and action, about the goodness and mercy of God, were found the next day doing exactly what they were forbidden to do. They escaped from their jail cells without any trouble and immediately resumed the thing they were arrested for in the first place.

So the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish council like the Supreme Court, was hearing arguments about what to do next. Peter, in marked contrast to the way he denied knowing Jesus on Good Friday, is proud to state that they must do God’s will and that the laws of humanity hold no sway over the greater rules of heavenly justice and proclamation.

There is the heart of the matter: how can we known what is God’s will and what is our will trying to convince ourselves that it is also what God wants. What happens in the church when we can’t agree on what is the truth? This seems to be the issue at hand for the High priest and others of the Sanhedrin, meeting about Peter and his disruptive band of preachers.

It’s a shame that the reading ends where it does this morning because later in the chapter, a Pharisee named Gamaliel has a compelling insight. He noted that throughout the years, other popular and charismatic leaders have raised up forces and caused an uproar, but things settled down soon afterwards. He states the simple fact that if this movement was of God, it would endure. If not, it would perish and die out on its own. His exact words in verses 38-39 are: “38Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

It pays to wait a little while and see if the picture become clearer. The longer term perspective of patience runs counter to our society. We want answers now; we’re used to things happening at the click of a button.

Even in the environmental outlook of global warming (which I still think is a misleading term) or climate change, we have only a couple hundred years of data to make our analysis. Given that the world is billions of years old, we’re making judgments based on a less than a thousandth of a percent of the full picture. ...

Which is not to say that climate change can be ignored. We need to find ways to make our environmental footprint softer, reusing and recycling more, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and conserving and preserving our clean water. But the longer-term picture is that we don’t know what happened in past, before the ice ages, before the continents drifted apart.

I have enough faith in God’s creation to know that life will continue in some way shape or form. What the environmental movement is trying to preserve, what is really at stake, is our present North American consumer lifestyle. We want to have our air conditioning, personal cars, and all the conveniences of technology; while still protecting the environment. Whether that is possible remains to be seen.

Back to the scriptures, we find that for all of our so-called progress, we, as people, aren’t really so different from our ancestors of centuries ago. As is the case in Acts, people are arguing; they are in court, stating their cases, pleading for their causes. They may be on different sides, but they are seeking the same thing: the truth. Although each person has their own idea of what the truth is.

The Jewish Sanhedrin saw a threat to the authorities and rebelliousness. The disciples simply wanted to share news about forgiveness of sins, news that needed to be spread. The world is a broken and disheartening place. People are hurt and cause hurt; guilt, anger and despair eat away at the spirit. We are good at beating ourselves up and shutting down emotionally.

God does not want that; Jesus came to remove such burden from our spirits. In Christ we are born into a life of forgiveness, of value and worth, celebrating life and love. That is the truth the disciples need to share and it is by God’s authority that they do so. We are called to live such a truth and know that we are forgiven, that life can be good and that all of us are loved.

No court or political body can put a gag order on such a command. Forgiven and free, we cannot be constrained by the laws of the world that promote short-term gain, power over others or silencing of truth. Let us offer our message of hope and goodness and know that it comes from God and it is good.