Read: Acts 5:17-32
We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching . . . (v. 28)
The religious authorities were afraid. They had already tried to silence Peter and John and the rest of the apostles by warning them not to spread the name of Jesus, but the power of God was spreading like fire around Jerusalem. Feeling threatened, the authorities did everything they could to squelch it. Imagine their dismay when, the morning after they threw the apostles in prison, those same men were teaching in the temple!
The name of Jesus simply could not be killed. And because it had triumphed over death itself, it also could not be imprisoned or shut away or intimidated into silence. And this eclectic bunch of “uneducated” followers who once hid in a dark room for days out of fear were transformed into bold preachers and prophets, telling the world about the power of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps this transformation surprised the apostles as well. I imagine Peter and John looking with surprise at one another, thrilled with wonder at the change that had come over them. Who would have imagined that their choice to follow the rabbi Jesus those years ago could have led to this? Now here they were, teaching in the temple about the way their world, and the whole world, had changed because of the resurrection.
Jesus’ example, we discover with Peter and John, is one of power and boldness, and the message of the gospel is free to spread like fire. —Amy Curran
As you pray, ask God for boldness in the hope of the resurrection.
About the Author
Amy Curran is a gardener, a reader, a runner, and an avid coffee drinker. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she runs a community garden and a farm-to-table café for Reality Ministries.
