Second Sunday of Easter: First Reading, Acts 5:12-20          

Acts 5:12-20

I am sure that in all the meditations I have written, I have addressed this passage. I love it for several reasons and if you happen to remember (your memory would be better than mine), that I have written on it, you would remember I referenced dear Dr. Mitchell. He has made it to many of these writings because his influence upon my life was that great. He loved to quote the instructions given by the angel to the apostles, “Go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (5:20).

It is the only imperative given in our reading, and that to the apostles. And herein lies one of the great difficulties many seem to have in reading and interpreting this amazing book. Acts is a book of historical transition and it is the narrative of the exploits of the earliest Christian communities. It is mostly descriptive (informing) and not prescriptive (giving orders). Therein lies the challenge. Many read this book and take from it that the church of every age should operate in just the same way as the new communities of Christ did. If that’s the case then we should all be taking vows and cutting our hair as Paul did. We all should be meeting in council as the apostles and early leaders did. No, Acts is not the model beyond the explicit instructions given to all Christians by Christ previous to His ascension and the apostles afterwards. 

One instruction that does stick and that has made it onto our dockets is the imperative noted above. We know that because it is given in many forms in many contexts and that is this: “speak to the people all the words of this life,” remembering we are not carrying with us a system or set of principles by which to live. We carry with us a Person, the Living, Resurrected Savior. And to preach Him and His gospel is just what the angel said: it is life. On the immediate heels of last Sunday’s Resurrection celebration, let’s remember to proclaim what our Savior did. Not the improvement of the old, but rather a total replacement. Life from the dead. That’s our message.