Daily Devotion – April 16, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Acts 10:39-43
We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Peter’s recitation of Jesus’ life in Acts 10 happened despite threats against the Believers in Jesus. For many reasons, what Peter said was anathema to the Jewish religious leaders as well as the folks in the crowds he was addressing who had no beliefs. Also, the seeming absurdity of a human being raised from the dead must have made Peter and his believer friends seem like lunatics.
And verses 41-42 make it even worse somehow. Jesus appeared NOT TO EVERYBODY. Just to US WHO WERE CHOSEN BY GOD AS WITNESSES. Jesus appeared to his followers – some dozens of folks in the end, but really just a few folks. Peter makes them sound like the elite, doesn’t he. Jesus appeared just “to us who were chosen by God as witnesses…to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.” As though those believers were some secret privileged group. If God had intended the miracle of the Resurrection to be easy to believe in, Jesus would have shown up in the midst of huge crowds in Jerusalem. But he came only to the believers TO GIVE THEM A JOB: to convince those Jesus had not appeared to that Jesus was Lord. And he still does.
Am I a believer? Are you a believer? Do we believe Jesus was and is the one ordained by God to judge the living and the dead? To be Lord? If I believe that, thanks to the calling of the Holy Spirit, then in fact I have a job: to testify to Jesus. I get to accept God’s grace and the promise of the Resurrection for myself, that’s sure. But let’s say I have a wonderful neighbor without faith. If I believe that on the Last Day that neighbor will rise with everyone on earth and perhaps be invited to the heavenly banquet, don’t I owe it to the neighbor (whom I am supposed to love and care for) to introduce him in some way to the host of that banquet? Might not that knowledge be a gift to that neighbor? Mightn’t I (perhaps even silently) testify to Jesus, whom I know to be the Lord, by the way I live my life? If we are witnesses to the Risen Lord, Peter says we have a job. How might we claim that job? How have we done it thus far?
Dear Lord, Thank you for choosing us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to believe in your son, Jesus. Thank you for trusting us with the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection. Thank you for giving us the job of witness. Tap us on the shoulder when we are standing in a situation which calls for us to do that job, and please help us to not be afraid to do it. Even give us a shove so we don’t miss the chance, for the sake of our neighbor, whom you have given us to love and serve. Amen.
