After utter reliance of the Holy Spirit, our next quality of the “apostolic mindset” to discuss is joyfully countercultural witness (CLICK HERE to read the rest of the posts in this series).
In Acts 5:12-42, the apostles as a whole are imprisoned after a fervor of activity. The believers are increasing, the apostles working miracles and healings, some even bringing their sick just to have Peter’s shadow pass over them. This being an example of our Lord speaking of the apostles working even greater miracles than He. For while our Lord certainly could have healed by His shadow, He never in fact did. Alas, the Sadducees, filled with rage at this apostolic activity, have the apostles imprisoned, upon which an angel of Lord miraculously frees them that night. And so in the morning, the High Priest calls the Sanhedrin and sends men to prison to get the apostles, only for them to report that the prison is securely locked and guards stood at the doors, yet nobody is inside, leaving the High Priest and Council perplexed. They then get word that the apostles are preaching in the Temple, which provokes their ire, so they arrest them, but without violence for fear of being stoned by the people. And they ask the apostles to defend themselves – we told you not to preach about Jesus! To which Peter responds that we cannot not preach of Jesus, that we must obey God, not men, and so I am, therefore, obligated to tell you that you killed Jesus Christ and must repent. This message isn’t much appreciated, so the Sanhedrin resolves to kill the apostles.
One man of the council though, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, preaches patience amidst this resolve of the Sanhedrin: why don’t we let this movement play out because there’s things that we can’t explain right now, such as how people are being healed and how the apostles have escaped from prison. His premise being that if this movement of the apostles is not of God, then it’ll die, while if it is (which we don’t know if it is or not because there are inexplicable things happening), then we need to stop! The council heeds his advice and releases the apostles after beating and charging them to not speak in the name of Jesus, which causes them to rejoice at having suffered for Christ.
Imagine that…imagine opposing the wicked designs of those around you, being beaten for that, and yet rejoicing. Could there be a greater example of joyfully countercultural witness? We get a papercut and yell and scream in anger, while the apostles get beaten and rejoice! Yet suffering has changed in Christ, for it’s sharing in the very life of our Lord Christ, Himself the suffering Messiah. And no servant is above his master, as our Lord speaks of. Thereafter the apostles are in the Temple every day, preaching Jesus without cease: they do not let themselves get beaten down by the culture that surrounds them, but joyfully witness amidst it.
