Some thoughts on an early Christian witness

During The Great Fifty Days of Easter, it has been the custom of the church to repolace the Old Testament Reading in its various lectionaries with a reading from The Acts of the Apostles.  The Revised Common Lectionary's reading for the Second Sunday of Easter comes from chapter 5, verses 27-32.  That passage reads:

When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, so that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.’  (NRSV)

This is a rich mine from which we can extract a multitude of truths and lessons.  But one thing that caught my attention for the living of these days is Peter’s response to the high priest.  He (and “the apostles”) replies, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”  That is easy to latch upon.  People can (and have) used this quote from Peter to justify just about any behavior or idea.  It is the perfect all-purpose rejoinder to religious authority.

On the other hand, sometimes religious authority becomes so restricting (or constricting) that a person of faith has no choice but to reject that authority.  One can argue that Jesus spent much of his teaching in trying to sort out authority for authority’s sake from genuine godliness.

We also remember that Peter himself would later on take the role of authority in the church, and I suspect that there were occasions when Peter said something like, “Look, Jesus Himself gave me the keys to the Kingdom of God.  He told me that whatever I bound on earth would be bound in heaven, and that whatever I loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven.  I think I have a right to some say-so in this matter!”

It is easy to challenge authority when we don’t have any.  It is difficult to let go of authority when we have achieved or grabbed a little.

The Book of Acts is making a specific point, and I understand that.  But such things are to be handled delicately.  Or we end up on a slippery slope awfully quickly.