Acts 3:12-19 (20-21) New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

12 When Peter saw it, he addressed thepeople, “Fellow Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stareat us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13 TheGod of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, hasglorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in thepresence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 Butyou rejected the holy and righteous one and asked to have a murderer givento you, 15 and you killed the author of life, whom Godraised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And byfaith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see andknow, and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfecthealth in the presence of all of you.

17 “And now, brothers and sisters, I knowthat you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 Inthis way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that hisMessiah would suffer. 19 Repent, therefore, and turnto God so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 so that times of refreshingmay come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send theMessiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, 21 whomust remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that Godannounced long ago through his holy prophets. 

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Note:  Duringthe season of Easter the First Reading from the Revised Common Lectionary isdrawn not from the Hebrew Bible, but from the Book of Acts. 

                Asermon needs a context, especially when something unusual leads to the sermon. Thesermon we have before us is only an excerpt. The reading provided by theRevised Common Lectionary, at least in the New Revised Standard Version UpdatedEdition (that’s a mouthful), ends in the middle of a sentence. Thus, I’vecompleted the sentence by adding in verses twenty and twenty-one. I’ll addressthe reason why the reading ended where did later in the reflection. But thecontext first.

                Afterthe Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit fell and Peter got to preach, thefollowers of Jesus continued to spend time in the Temple as well as breakingbread together in their homes, even as the community continued to grow (Acts 2:43-47). One day, when Peter and John went to the Temple to pray, theyencountered a man who had been lame since birth. This man was laid at theentrance of the Temple so he could beg for support. It was a good plan sinceone would expect people going into the Temple to pray might feel as if helpingout the man with alms would benefit their prayers. At least, it couldn’t hurt! Whenthe man saw Peter and John he asked for alms. However, the two disciples didn’thave any money to give him, so they offered something else, something evenbetter. There was a song I learned in youth group that covers this moment. Itwent like this:

That walking and leaping and praising God, apparently causedsomething of a stir, because Peter saw fit to do a bit of preaching. The sermonis a bit judgmental at points, but it does do what an Easter sermon should do.It proclaims the resurrection. In fact, there’s a bit of resurrection in allthat walking and leaping and praising God! It also invites repentance on thepart of the people, whose leaders participated in Jesus’ execution.

                The readingbegins in verse 12, which is the beginning of the sermon. However, we mightwant to step back to verse 11, which reports that “While he clung to Peter andJohn, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’sPortico, utterly astonished” (Acts 3:11). So here we have Peter and John,standing in an area known as Solomon’s Portico. The man formerly crippled is nowable to walk and leap, clinging to them, while a crowd gathers. As they do so,Peter takes the opportunity to preach his sermon. Of course, Luke only gives usa synopsis of the sermon, not the full sermon. The lectionary only gives us anexcerpt of Luke’s synopsis. In some ways, Peter’s sermon is a rebuke to thepeople for rejecting Jesus, their messiah. It’s a bit harsh and even a bitproblematic. Peter begins by asking the people why they’re staring at them asif they did this on their own power. It’s not Peter and John who heal the man,it’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of their ancestors. God hadhealed this man to glorify Jesus, “whom you handed over and rejected in thepresence of Pilate.” This is where things get tricky. It appears that Peter isblaming the people, by people, we mean Jewish people, whom he accuses ofconspiring with Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Now, was it thisgroup of people who had gathered to listen to Peter who handed Jesus over? Orwas it a small group of religious leaders who conspired with the Romangovernment to take care of a problem for both “church and state”? This is wherewe must always be careful with how we read passages that appear to blame theJewish people as a whole of killing Jesus.

                Passagessuch as this have been used in the past as fuel for anti-Jewish andanti-Semitic acts of exclusion and violence. Even today, some people and groupsaccuse Jews of being Christ-killers. While it’s likely that Luke was a Gentileand wrote to a Gentile audience, Peter, John, Jesus, and John the Baptist, wereall Jews. Most likely the religious leadership that conspired with Pilatereceived their authority not from the people but from Rome. It’s this smallgroup who participated in Jesus’ execution. Rome didn’t execute people for religiousdifferences. Rome was concerned only about challenges to its authority. So, letus be careful how we read this passage since as told by Luke, this is an in-housedebate among Jews as to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We should note here that Peter, accordingto Luke, accuses his audience of acting in ignorance, as did their leaders. However,what happened to Jesus fulfilled the witness of ancient prophets who suggestedthat the Messiah would suffer. Peter doesn’t give chapter and verse, but Lukeassumes his audience knows what he is talking about. The point here is that Jesus’death was expected from the beginning. It was part of God’s plan of redemption.That idea is foreign to us, especially those of us who find Penal Substitution.But, as Alyce McKenzie notes, Luke’s insistence that this was part of the planis intended to “counter the Jewish objection to Jesus as the Messiah that hedied a felon’s death and was therefore under the curse of the law (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13)” [Connections, p. 220]. Thus Jesus is understood here to be theSuffering Servant of Isaiah 52-53.  

In Peter’s message, as told by Luke,despite the efforts of “church and state” or “temple and empire,” God turnedthe tables on their conspiracy and raised Jesus from the dead. So, the messageto them is that they should repent and choose a different path.  Then their sins will be forgiven and wipedaway!

This is where the lectionary readingends, but there is more to the sermon. In verses 20 and 21, gives us the eschatologicaldimensions of this act of repentance. The expectation is that their repentance,their change of allegiance, will lead to the “times of refreshing,” which willbe inaugurated when God sends the Messiah, who is Jesus. However, Jesus must “remainin heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long agothrough his holy prophets.” It is this apocalyptic dimension that drives thepassage and thus shouldn’t be neglected.

As we read this passage, we need toask what it might say to us. How might we be complicit in the death of Jesus inthe way we live in the present? How might we hear Peter’s call for repentanceso that our sins might be forgiven and wiped away? What might this say to usabout God’s nature? That Peter imagines the coming universal restorationsuggests something more than a quick revival leading to increased numbers ofchurch members was underway. He envisions something dramatic lying out in frontof them, which Jesus’s death and resurrection inaugurated. In a sense, thehealing of this man that captivated the crowd is a sign that the “times ofrefreshing” had been inaugurated. This universal restoration he speaks of is anapocalyptic message that contrasts the old age with the new. Repentance leadsto the wiping away of sin so that the new age can take hold of a person’s life.The universal restoration is nothing less than a restoration of Eden, a freshstart for creation. That is, the coming of God’s realm in its fullness. Whilewe may have been complicit in the acts of destruction that mark the old age,now is the time to make a change and embrace God’s realm so we might experiencethe messianic age that is embodied by Jesus that leads to this universalrestoration.

                So,with this in mind, we can hear the message embedded in the healing of this manborn lame, who has a new lease on life. As such, the healing of the man whobrought Peter and John to the attention of the people is a sign that lifereigns victorious in Christ the agent of healing. In this regard, Willie JamesJennings writes:

The man healed is now a sign of theman resurrected from the dead, the author of life itself. Now the actions ofthe One confront the wayward propensities of the many. If peoples are oftenseduced by the power of violence and take up the weapons of death, here isJesus the Messiah who has overcome the effects of violence and the pull ofdeath. If peoples are prone to choose against their own well-being and life,here is the Messiah who heals, restores, and gives life. We need not bemystified by the crowd or frustrated by their failures to act for the common good;Jesus has acted for them and offers his body as a way out and a way to betogether [Jennings, Acts, Belief, p. 43].

Peter and John stand before their neighbors, who like themhave come to worship the God of Israel. The apostles proclaim the message that Jesusthe Messiah, the one who had been rejected, has been accepted by God. Therefore,he brings life, even amid death. The question then for us is whether we willchoose allegiance to God, who is merciful, and turn away from the path ofdestruction. Will you join the movement for the common good of all thatultimately leads to the time of refreshing and universal restoration?