2000 years ago, a meeting was called in Jerusalem to put an end to a social uprising.

It was first thing in the morning and the men started to gather. Their priestly garbs sat awkwardly, hurriedly thrown on without losing respect for their significance exposed by the first light as it came in through the windows and fell briefly on one side of the rooms.

Cursory greetings were exchanged between the men, nothing more than a gruff good morning or a respectful nod—it was early after all, and many of them were really not in the mood for this meeting at all. But meet they had to. Something strange was happening and they needed to get a handle on it. They’d seen it before, but this time it stuck in there.

There was one guy, Theudas, who had taken a whole lot of people down to the river Jordan to perform a miracle. This miracle was that he would part the waters of the river and people would walk across : just like a guy Joshua had done in the old testament. This miracle was going to be the proof that he was a great prophet. Unfortunately, the romans sent some horsemen along to take them by surprise and disband them. Some of the followers were killed, others were captured and Theudas himself had his head cut off and carried to Jerusalem.

There were plenty of people who had delusions of grandeur about how they would save the world. Jesus, they thought, was just another one of them. But this Jesus story had a twist. There were nasty rumours going around that he was raised from the dead and this presented a serious problem. If these rumours were providing hope for people, how could the movement be quashed? If people have hope in someone who lives in their minds, who transcends death, then how can their minds be changed?

And this meeting was going to address this very issue. They’d caught some men preaching in the temple about how Jesus was some kind of saviour who could forgive them their sins. Who could set people free, who could turn the world upside down. Jesus could do amazing things they were saying, but more than that, that his way was better than the way that the jewish leaders had been leading the people with. Miracles had been performed by Jesus, there was no denying it. There was something spectacular about him. He wasn’t just like the other self proclaimed prophets. He had something else and it wasn’t just better magic.

Jesus also had a knack of getting people to hear him, he preached well, had a good handle on scriptures, it was difficult to argue with him, but the people loved it. Possibly what hurt more than anything for the council leaders was that as people were responded to Jesus, they seemed to lose faith in them. Something was ringing true. Something was making sense all of a sudden. These are the things they were hearing and it must’ve been discouraging.

So they put Jesus to death, especially when he started claiming to be the son of God. He crossed a line and they dealt to it swiftly. They needed to, things were heating up too much and people were beginning to doubt. The council was losing control of the society to something that was immoral. Jesus had been reinterpreting the law : and people were believing it. You just can’t do that. People don’t need to doubt, they need safety and certainty. They need parameters. If we’re going to look after this flock, we need to make sure they stay together and don’t stray. Jesus was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He needed to be and was stopped when they gave him one of the most brutal deaths they could think of.

Crucifixion, it could be argued that this was the first act of persecution on the church. They thought it would work, violent, bloody and slow. Time for people to make a mockery of their saviour, to come and see his weakness, spit on him, see him for what he really was. And that was the point. They made an example of him, but unfortunately as we will see, the example worked against them.

So, they were meeting first thing this morning to interrogate some men who were preaching that this Jesus had risen from the grave — an ironic twist really. They hadn’t come across this one before and it did make for some difficult decision making. The problem was that it was plausible enough for the masses. They knew it wasn’t possible, but the masses were begging to differ. So how do you stop a movement that seems to be responding positively to something supernatural? Good question.

They’d sent for the men an hour ago and the council was getting fidgety. How come this was taking so long? Where were the prisoners? They’d been thrown in the slammer overnight for preaching about Jesus in the temple grounds. There were no charges, they were just being kept. Now this wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience at all. I don’t think prisoners were given the same dignity that they are today.

Prisons are horrible places. They are full of anger. You don’t put an angry person in a cage and expect them to remain calm. You subdue them, beat them into submission through brutality. Humiliate them, diminish their spirits until they submit to your authority. But they still seethe. They’re still angry. They still hate and it’s suppression is thinly veiled.

Dank and sweat filled, nothing to sleep on. Prisons would have been ugly places. Overnight was not going to be pleasant for anyone.

“they’re not there.” Short and simple statement from a very embarrassed captain of the prison guards.

“What do you mean they’re not there” pause followed. The high priest of the council threw a bewildered glance at the guard. “The cell was securely locked, the guards were still there, but when we opened the door they were gone.” This is not something you say lightly. Your job is on the line, which means your family’s livelihood is on the line. You’ll probably get flogged as well. This was a frightening prospect for the captain and he wished he had some elaborate and convincing lie to spin, but there was none. The guards at the cell door were just as surprised. They couldn’t for the life of them work out how the prisoners escaped : they had been awake all night.

The high priest, “What happened?”

The captain shrugged his shoulders and whimpered a perplexed “I dunno, they just gone.”

The high priest, “12 men just disappeared from your prison. Not one, which we might understand. But 12? What happened?” and there was a long pause while everyone processed this observation.

The captain was about to start in when someone yelled out, “found them. It’s ok. We found all of them.”

This was odd. 12 men, arrested for preaching in the temple, imprisoned, escaped and then found : all together? Normally they’d split up wouldn’t they?

“where were they?” demanded the high chief as he dismissed himself from the captain’s shocked disposition with a ‘deal with you later’ shake of his head.

“they are, um, preaching in the temple precinct.”

12 men, arrested for preaching in the temple, imprisoned, escaped and then found back preaching in the temple hours after their escape?

This was madness.

The high priest turned back to the captain. “go get them then.”

There were lots of surprised looks on the council’s faces as they pondered this strange turn of events. Who has courage to do that? It’s just stupid. And it is. This is the kind of stupid plot we’d see from a blockbuster Hollywood movie. It just doesn’t seem real. It’s just not sensible.

The captain brought them back in to stand before the council. The 12 men were quite jovial actually : it had all been a bit of an adventure. They were even smiling.

So the high priest tried to wipe the grin off their face.

“you have disobeyed us. After the lame man was healed outside the temple gate, we told you not to preach this nonsense about Jesus anymore. It’s counter what the scriptures say, it’s counter tradition.

“Furthermore, you’re calling us murderers of an innocent man, when Jesus was tried and sentenced in a court of law. This is legal. you’re spinning lies about us. What’s the point of that? You’re inciting a rebellion. Do you think that’s helpful? To rebel against God’s people? To rebel against God? Why don’t you let your little rebellion simmer down and die? Stop, or you will die with your false hopes.”

Peter’s loud mouth came in handy sometimes. No pause, no nothing, just jumping in and calling it how it is.

“We obey God, not you. You say you have God’s authority. But you don’t because you don’t see that Jesus is God’s son and you killed him. If anything you are rebelling against God because you crucified him. But God used that and put Jesus at his right hand, the one you made lowest, became highest. And all this to provide the true way to find forgiveness and repentance in the arms of God.

“We see it. And if you were honest, you see the same stuff too, but don’t want to acknowledge it. The Holy Spirit is also a witness to it, the same holy spirit that healed the lame man, that inspires us to give to the poor, that killed two people who reneged on their promises, who releases people from unclean spirits, who heals the sick. Yes this spirit testifies to the Lordship of Jesus.

“With these hands I’ve been able to heal people, they’ve got new lives! Even you can’t deny that. And you are asking me to throw that away because it doesn’t fit with your reading of scripture? You’ve got it wrong.”

And the men in the council, who had dedicated years and years of their lives to getting it right, were furious. Years and years of being part of an elaborate education system to give them right way of doing things and they were being told they were wrong.

The high priest’s face went purple with rage. His eyes shadowed with hatred. “this is nuts! We’ve got degrees coming out of our ears here and you’re telling us we’re wrong? Wrong about a man who claimed to be God?”

Now, just for a moment think about that. If someone came up to you and said “I’m God.” I’m sure you wouldn’t take the time to check out their credentials. You’d probably react internally at least in a similar way to the how the high priest reacted. He wasn’t a bad man. In fact he was a god-fearing man. He wanted to live his life the best he could, and as far as succeeding at that, he was doing better than many of us. We can’t fault him for wanting to do the right thing here. Except that Jesus’ credentials preceded him. 3 years of miracles. Good ones too, not the one leg becoming the same length as the other one. Feeding 5000, healing people who had been blind from birth, casting out demons, stopping the weather (mind you only the disciples had seen that one)…Jesus was no charlatan when it came to working miracles. Even so, God? Even we would have doubts wouldn’t we? Which raises some interesting questions about why we believe what we believe really…but we won’t go into that right now.

“This is an outrage! I’ve a mind to want to have you put to death for saying such things. Son of God…baloney—we should stone them.”

“Stone them” began a commotional council. “Stone them…” the high priest was pleased with the support of his colleagues and was about to launch into a little speech when before he could go any further one of them called Gamaliel stopped the proceedings.

“guys, hang on a sec. Guards, can you remove these men for us? We need to talk in private.”

The 12 disciples weren’t quite so jovial now. They knew that death was possible and they walked nervous-bravely out with the guards.

Gamaliel turned and looked at the council. “we’re going about this the wrong way don’t you think?”

“Think carefully about this. Remember theudas? That was a fad and the romans sorted that for us. Where are his followers today? Nowhere. Four hundred he had following him, and now, nothing. How about Judas the Gallilean? He tried it on. The whole messiah bit, but he too perished. And his followers? Nowhere. They disappeared.

“These guys? Leave them alone. It’s just gonna take time before people will get so annoyed with them that they’ll plot to kill them. The Romans might even step in if it gets out of hand, in which case, their blood is not on our hands.

“Consider this then. If their preaching is of human origin, it’ll fail in it’s own time. But if it’s of God, then I wouldn’t want to be the one getting in the way of it. Why are we reacting so much here?” he turned to the high priest.

“is it because Jesus is getting market share? That he’s taking away the faithful? That our church is in decline?”

The high priest looked undone. It was true. He was jealous at the vibrancy of this movement, the tangible experience of this movement. The way God seemed to be doing miraculous things from this movement. All these things, the high priest was jealous of. And I can’t help but feel like I resonate with him to some extent. Some of the stuff of the holy spirit is really scary. So scary it’s easy for me to distance myself from it. So while we talked last week about not following the hype, let’s also acknowledge the undeniable work that God is doing in his community. But it’s hard to take, especially when we go to easter camp and see a whole lot of stuff that we don’t see here at mt albert. What’s going on? Are we realistic or sceptical?

So I’m going on a limb here. Let’s break into groups and ask the question : how come supernatural things happen in other churches on a week by week basis, but not ours?

Now I asked that negatively on purpose. I wanted us to react to the statement that some of us feel like saying, but not really prepared to follow through with it. I also hoped that stories would come out of the discussion of how God is working outside these service times. And it’s worthwhile to get the glimpses of the spirit’s action. But the thing is. If the spirit is working, it’s going to upset some people.

We’re back in this council meeting. and they all agree with Gamaliel. There was no doubt that they couldn’t lose if they followed his advice so to save face they had the disciples flogged and then told them not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore.

Now here’ the thing. After the flogging, the disciples couldn’t believe their luck. They were rejoicing that their backs had flesh hanging off them. That they had endured pain like you and I wouldn’t believe. 39 lashes with a whip. 39. that’s not a small number. Their backs would have been bloody and tender. It would’ve taken days to recover, but every time they moved they rejoiced that they had shared in the suffering of Jesus.

Persecution. We have no idea really. We sit here privileged. Our persecution might amount to how our boss or workmates treat us. But 39 whips?

Make no mistake. Persecution is not something petty. There is nothing nice about watching someone’s brains oozing out of a bullet hole in the skull. There’s nothing romantic about body’s being torn limb from limb by wild animals as thousands watch from grandstands. There’s nothing glamorous about being burned alive : watching your skin blister and char and finally catch alight. This is not something we should wish for.

Yet in all honesty, persecution is one of the best things for faith. Suffering for the name of Jesus? Are we up for it? I mean really? How far would you go? How many of us look at our suffering and rejoice in the fact that we share in Jesus’ experience of this world? How many of us look at the painful stuff, especially the stuff we are still going through, and celebrate it as being part of the suffering of Jesus?

It flies in the face of this world that thinks that we should be happy, that our aim in life is to be happy. Jesus makes no such promise. In fact what he asks of us is to claim our suffering, to rejoice in it because maybe just maybe we are going to get closer to his heartbeat about this world. Our suffering is a fact of life. But don’t ask me how to celebrate it.

How do we say that to people who are suffering in our congregation?

What do you guys think? How can we realistically celebrate suffering?

Jesus is a saviour alright, but sometimes, it’s going to hurt like hell.