Monday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time

Acts 5:12-26

To some extent, chapters 3 and 4 of Acts are a repeat of chapter 2, with another sermon from Peter. So, the Daily Office lectionary jumps to chapter 5, and to a running theme throughout Acts: conflict, opposition and the Church’s response.

The Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was a massive structure that was also more than one building. It was a complex of smaller buildings, gardens and various gathering places. The Temple was also run by the Sadducees, the party of those who supported the Temple Priesthood. The Sadducees had also been central in engineering Jesus’s death. And now here were his followers, perching themselves at the front doors of their Temple and proclaiming Jesus as Messiah.

And so it was that the Sadducees “filled with indignation” locked up the apostles in the hope of shutting them up. What I’ve just quoted is the New King James translation of v.17. Most translations say that the Sadducees were “jealous.” But the Greek word here is actually the root of our English word, “zeal.” Perhaps the Sadducees were “jealous” of the Apostles’ apparent healing power. But they were the heirs of the priesthood of Aaron, the brother of Moses. They had been the religious leaders of Israel for some 1,500 years. They had a great legacy of worship and wisdom that had been handed down to them. I think that indignation” best captures the mix of jealousy and righteousness that motivated the priests.

It was the followers of Jesus Christ who were upsetting centuries of tradition with a new message – the “Gospel” – or Good News. 2,000 years later, we who call ourselves “Christian,” must not be so committed to our traditions that we find ourselves becoming “indignant” in the same way as the Sadducees. Sometimes, what might seem unfamiliar, or even dangerous, might actually be the “Good News,” delivered in a new way to a new generation.

The risk in that perspective, of course, is that every challenge to the prevailing wisdom can couch itself as “Gospel,” and any reservation dismissed as “jealousy.” Tomorrow, we’ll see how we might discern that which is truly of the Spirit, and that which is merely of man.