1 Timothy 2:5–6
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
For God did not send His only begotten Son into the world to condemn the world but that through him the world could be saved. All praise and glory belongs to our Triune Godhead who so loved the world they created that they gave us Jesus, all God and all man, that through Him alone we could be saved. Carla
Acts 4:8-12
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
In Acts, this term filled, seems to denote a special empowering by the Holy Spirit that is in addition to His work of enabling believers to trust God and to live faithfully (Acts 2:4; 4:31; 9:17; 13:9).
This empowering of the Spirit reflects Jesus’ promise of power (1:8) that will allow the apostles to speak in a way that amazes their audience and confirms the truth of their message (verse 13). It also denotes the miracle-working power seen in the ministry of the apostles.
Peter addresses the rulers as those who have been given authority over the Jewish people. The Greek word used here, anakrinō, for examined can denote an official judicial proceeding. Peter points out that trials are convened for crimes, not for acts of mercy and love. He implies that the religious leaders are corrupt. Peter uses the opportunity of the proceedings to publicly proclaim the gospel. Referring to a person’s name was shorthand for their character and reputation. Peter turns the trial back on his judges, accusing them of the real crime. (Luke 22:52, 23). God, the ultimate authority, raised the one whom the council rejected—Jesus. The religious leaders have dramatically misunderstood both the true identity and mission of Jesus and their true standing before God.
Peter quotes from Psalm 118:22 concerning the stone. This metaphor is picked up again by Peter (1 Peter 2:4) and Paul (Romans 9:32–33; Ephesians 2:20). Jesus cites this psalm in Matthew 21:42.
From the perspective of the Jewish leaders Peter addresses, Jesus’ crucifixion is like a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 1:23), because anyone who hung on a tree (or a cross, in their view) was viewed as cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:22–23). Just as the builders did not perceive the stone’s value in Psalm 118:22, so Israel’s religious leaders did not recognize their Messiah.
There is salvation in no one else. Salvation refers to deliverance from God’s wrath and to enjoyment of His favor. This is only given through faith in Jesus, who grants new life to all who follow him and embrace the message of His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 3:19–21). Faithlife Study Bible
This is the second description in the Book of Acts of someone being filled with the Holy Spirit (verse 31; 2:4; 9:17; 13:9). The initial filling accompanied the baptism in the Spirit. This filling brought boldness for God’s work. Jesus had promised His disciples that they would stand before kings and rulers and that the Spirit of God within them would implant in their minds exactly what to say to these leaders (Matthew 10:16–20).
The Old Testament refers to the cornerstone as the foundation of the earth (Job 38:6), the foundation (Isaiah 28:16), the stone for the corner (Jeremiah 51:26), the head cornerstone (Psalm 118:22), or the headstone (Zechariah 4:7). Thus the image of a cornerstone is used as both the chief stone and the stone at the corner of a foundation. In the first century a.d., the expression chief cornerstone was also used to refer to the stone placed on the summit of the Jerusalem temple. Thus Peter used the phrase to point out that when the people rejected Jesus Christ, they rejected the One who completed the plan of God for humankind. The phrase and its significance here would have been well understood in the first century, especially among the Jewish rabbis and people who knew the Scriptures.
Only by placing faith in the historical Jesus—the One who came, died, and was raised again—can a person be saved. The NKJV Study Bible
Psalm 118:22
The stone which the builders rejectedHas become the chief cornerstone.
Acts 2:24
whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
Acts 3:6–8
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength…
Matthew 1:21
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
It my “business”, it is easy to talk about what we believe. Yes, much easier to talk about it. Practice is another thing altogether.
Because we can simply recite a creed. And this I have learned over the years: beliefs are valid as a verbal affirmation, but they only come to life, (they only have bearing and impact), when there is skin—with faces, and names, and skin—attached.
Which takes me to my very favorite story to tell an audience, and to habitually retell myself.
A little boy was having nightmares. The kind that requires a momma's reassurance. (Dads, at least from my own experience, are typically not wired for nightmare duty.) So, to his momma’s room the boy went, "Momma, momma, I'm having nightmares."
"It’s okay honey," she told him, “Here’s what I want you to do. Go back to your room, kneel down by your bed, pray to Jesus, and he'll fix it."
Back to his room, the boy knelt by his bed, prayed to Jesus, hopped back in bed, and… more nightmares. All mommas know this story. Back and forth to momma's room, throughout the night.
On the sixth visit, "Momma, I know, I know the drill. I'm going to go back to my room. I'm going to kneel down by my bed, and pray to Jesus, and he’ll fix it. But before I do that, can I just lay in bed with you, and have you hold me?"
"Sure honey, why?"
"Because sometimes I need Jesus with skin on it."
Yes. And today, more than ever, we can be—and we need to be—Jesus with skin on it. Voices of mercy. And Compassion. And Welcoming. And Healing.
Speaking of names and faces and Jesus with skin, I just read this today in Religion News Service. A story about reporter Aleja Hertzler-McCain’s travel to El Paso, Texas, in March, to shadow two Catholic sisters as they accompanied detained migrants and their families in immigration court.
Part of the Scalabrinian religious community, which focuses on serving migrants, Sisters Leticia Gutiérrez Valderrama and Elisete Signor have built a comprehensive ministry and network of volunteers that has accompanied more than 1,000 people in immigration court since last June — and has continued to work with hundreds more in detention centers, as well as their families.
“I go because he is a human being. He is a migrant who is, at this moment, possibly lonely, depressed, scared,” Signor told Hertzler-McCain in March as they waited to visit a detained Sudanese migrant.
When Signor emerged from the visit, she came back with a task: “He likes crosswords, and I’m going to buy him one tomorrow.”
This ministry “doesn’t only transform the experience of the people we accompany, but we ourselves are transformed,” Gutiérrez Valderrama said at the volunteer information session.
“We are going to encounter sacred people. What they are going to tell us is sacred,” Gutiérrez Valderrama told potential volunteers. “Because who we’re going to encounter is the Lord Jesus there,” she explained, drawing on Christian theology of Christ’s presence with vulnerable people.
Yes, names and faces. Jesus with skin on it.
So, yes and Amen. “They serve one another. They have friends to protect them.” Sabbath Moments
No comments:
Post a Comment