Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 18

Scripture Reading: Acts 12:1-25 (NRSV)

We see another Herod on the throne.  This passage refers to Herod Agrippa who came to power in A.D. 41.  He was the grandson of Herod the Great who Matthew describes orchestrating the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem.

We can see the family penchant to violence as Agrippa has James, the son of Zebedee killed.  We also see Peter arrested for the third time.  He is miraculously freed and this is the second time he has had an angel intervene in his incarceration.

The safe house where he finds himself may be the house of the writer of the Gospel of Mark.  When he shows up, and Rhoda reports that he was outside, they don't believe her.  Luke has shown this kind of doubt among believers before as women tried to attest to the resurrection in Luke 24:10-11:

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

You would think they wouldn't be so surprised after they had already taken part in this kind of escape.

Peter decides to be prudent this time and moves to Caesarea which is on the coast.  Not a bad place to end up - I'm sure they need to hear the word just as much where there's an ocean view.

While Peter escapes to greener pastures, we see the ultimate demise of Herod Agrippa as he lets his ego get the best of him.  Josephus records this same story in Book 19 of his Antiquities of the Jews.  It is found in section two of chapter eight.

Sometimes beauty refuses to be caged.

Here we see Luke transition back to Saul with Barnabus and John Mark who was the son of the owner of the safe house where Peter stayed.

As this chapter unfolds, we see death but also miraculous release.  We see evil suffer its own consequences.  We see the witness to the world continue to expand in spite of opposition.

Today, the opposition may look different.  As a pastor, it feels very strange to close the church - even temporarily.  I especially find this a difficult proposition for worship.  Fortunately, in a digital age, we can continue to worship together online.  The opposition may be our inability to adjust.  There are parts of corporate worship that we'll miss.  If we deem online worship a little too strange, we won't bother to engage.  It won't capture 100% of our normal participants.  But it will also capture those who normally wouldn't show up in person.

What kind of miracle could come from all this?  Where will life be shared that otherwise may not have heard?  How can you participate in your faith in new ways that are helpful to you and to others?

Prayer for the day:

God, help us in our trust of your presence.
We are like the apostles in that when presented with a miracle, we scoff.
Could it be that while we are convincing ourselves that this couldn't possibly be happening, another may be transformed?
Open us to where you are still working in our lives - even today, amidst all the fear and frustrations.
And when we find opposition to our faith, may we have to look outside ourselves to find the source.
Amen.

Photo by Hendrik Wieduwilt via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.