Peter in HD (Part 21) -- Civil Disobedience

Dewey Bertolini's podcast

It is with a lump in my throat that I present to you this PODCAST.

We are about to bid a fond farewell to someone who has become a dear friend of mine—a precious-if-forlorn 40-year-old lame man.

It started out as just another ordinary day in Jerusalem, as if any day in the Holy City, in the two months following Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection, could have rightly been described as ordinary.

Peter and John made there way up to the Temple for their daily 3 PM prayers. They had no idea that by the end of that up-until-then ordinary day, their personal lives, the entire nascent Christian community, and all of Jerusalem would be rocked to their respective foundations.

Peter and John encountered a lame beggar holding out a helpless hand as he sat in Temple Courts. Having compassion on this desperate middle-aged man, lame from birth, Peter and John mercifully proceeded to heal him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Naturally, at hearing this now-walking man leaping and praising God, thousands of worshippers gathered in Solomon’s Colonnade to see what had happened. As Peter was explaining to these awestruck witnesses that this man was healed in the name of their recently-resurrected Messiah, the Temple authorities stepped in.

They forcibly removed Peter and John from the Temple Courts, threw them into prison, and held them in custody overnight to await their trial the next morning.

As the Sun rose in its majestic arc over the Mount of Olives, Peter and John were rousted from their slumber, released from their shackles, perp-walked before the Sanhedrin, and forced to defend themselves before the Supreme Court.

Their only crime? Enabling a 40+ year old cripple for the first time in his life to walk. That’s it.

But what Peter and John have to teach us by their example is a lesson well-worth learning, especially in light of today’s headlines.

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God bless you richly as you listen.