Acts 4:5-12 (NRSV)
Read Acts 4:5-12 on biblegateway.com
Verse 5The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, Verse 6with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. Verse 7When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Verse 8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, Verse 9if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, Verse 10let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. Verse 11This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.' Verse 12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."
Devotion
Much of life is about power. Who has it. Where it is used. How it is kept. We live as if there is a limited amount of power in the world. It orders how business, politics, and societies function. We forget about Easter power that can disrupt anything.
The high priest and other religious leaders feel the stirring of a power they don’t control. Stories about resurrection. Rumors of healing. Their crippling hold on the Jewish people is being threatened. They demand to know by what authority these fishermen, Peter and John, work. The Holy Spirit flows from Peter’s mouth as he claims the power named Jesus Christ.
Hope is possible because wild Easter power creates new life in unexpected places. The world’s ways are upended to make room for the Lord’s dream of all people dancing and leaping and praising God.
Prayer
Risen One, your power shatters our rigid categories. Open us to be channels of your life-surging possibilities, for ourselves and for others. Amen.