The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, April 18th: Acts 5:27-32, 40-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19)

ARE WE OBEYING GOD OR OBEYING MEN?

Last week we discussed Doubting Thomas, the disciple who at first would not believe Jesus had risen from the dead. But once he saw Jesus in the flesh, Thomas changed completely, never again wavering in his faith. He even became a missionary to a strange and distant land, and ultimately lost his life because of his faith in Christ.

There is another disciple who also had a remarkable change, our good friend St. Peter. Most people are familiar with Peter’s shortcomings. He was impulsive; even when he didn’t know what to say, he’d say it anyway. When he tried to convince Jesus not to go to Jerusalem because it was too dangerous, Jesus yelled at him, “Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me.” (How’d you like to have God Himself call you Satan? Ouch! That must’ve hurt.)

Then, of course, there was Peter’s performance on the night Jesus was arrested. Mere hours after boasting, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you,” Peter denied Jesus three different times. And it wasn’t like it was Roman soldiers with spears and swords who challenged him about being a friend of Jesus. It was a servant girl who inquired whether Peter was one of Jesus’ disciples. He immediately shrieked in reply, “Woman, I don’t know him!” Not exactly a profile in courage.

Because Peter’s denials occurred on the night Jesus was arrested, everyone hears about it each year during the Palm Sunday reading of the Passion. It is probably the one thing Peter is most famous for. Which is unfortunate, because Peter, just like Thomas, had an amazing turnaround. After the Resurrection, after being filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter was transformed into a fearless champion of the Gospel.

We hear evidence of this transformation in this week’s first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles. By the way, starting back on Easter, and continuing for the next couple of months, the first reading each Sunday is from the Acts of the Apostles, one of the most fascinating books in the whole Bible. It tells the story of the early Christian church, featuring Peter and Paul, but the true hero of the book is the Holy Spirit. I strongly suggest you make time during this Easter season to dig out your Bible and read through this book. (It is located right after the Gospel of John—the book of Acts, I mean. The location of your Bible is another issue. Sorry, I can’t help you there.)

Peter, John, and some of the other apostles had been arrested for preaching the Good News about Jesus. After a remarkable escape from prison (an angel from God unlocked the jail door—read about it in chapter five), the apostles went right back to the temple courts and continued to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. They were rounded up once again and brought before the Sanhedrin, the religious ruling council.

The high priest said to the apostles, “We gave you strict orders, did we not, to stop teaching in [Jesus’] name?”

And at this moment, Peter gave the most awesome and courageous reply imaginable. He said, “We must obey God rather than men.”

How amazing! Just a few months after cowering before a powerless servant girl and then hiding behind locked doors, terrified of being arrested, Peter stood before the very people who had demanded Jesus’ death and looked them right in the eye. He proclaimed, in effect, that he was interested only in doing God’s will, and if that conflicted with their plans and desires, well, then tough camel nuggets, pal!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had the courage to do the same? In today’s modern secular society, just talking about God’s will, let alone doing it, is frowned upon. People who do what Peter did—live their lives dedicated to serving God and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ—are thought of as fanatics, zealots, and wackos.

So most of us (and I definitely include myself in this group), even though we firmly believe Jesus is who He said He is, and even though we know a person’s eternal fate is determined by his or her relationship with Jesus, out of fear of being labeled some kind of “religious nut,” we keep it to ourselves. We make sure we don’t risk offending the people we come in contact with: family members, co-workers, neighbors, politicians, school officials, A.C.L.U. attorneys, powerless servant girls—in other words, all the people we find so frightening.

We end up doing the exact opposite of Peter: we obey men rather than obey God. Even if we don’t consciously think of it in these terms, we are in essence making the decision that having other people, often total strangers, think well of us is more important than having the Creator of the Universe think well of us. We decide our personal comfort level is more important than, say, whether or not a precious lost soul goes to Hell.

(Speaking of wanting other people to think well of us, I’m reminded of an old anonymous quote: “When I was 20, I was very concerned what other people thought about me. When I was 40, I no longer cared what other people thought about me. And when I was 60, I discovered they were never thinking about me in the first place.”)

If we do speak up for our Lord, and tell other people what He’s done for us, what is the worst that can happen? Someone might give us a funny look? They might say, “What are you, some kinda religious nut?”

Is that so bad? When Peter and Thomas and Paul spoke about our Lord, they risked being arrested and put to death—and in fact, every apostle except John was eventually killed for preaching the Gospel. (John got off easy. As an old man he was exiled and left to die on a harsh, desolate rock of an island. Not exactly the Fairway Meadows Retirement Village.)

Nowadays, at least here in the United States, we are not in danger of being arrested and put to death for our faith. We are only in danger of having people give us a funny look or make a sarcastic comment. That doesn’t seem too bad, does it? It certainly is a whole lot better than having the Creator of the Universe look us straight in the eye the moment after our death and declare, “Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me.”

©2010