B: 4th Sun of Easter (25 Apr 2021) - RED-TAGGING (Ac 4:8-12)

RED-TAGGING – 4th Sunday of Easter (B)

Acts 4:8-12 (25 Apri 2021)

“Rulers of the people, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel...” (Ac 4:8-10).

This is how Peter began his response to the inquiry of the high council of Jerusalem, i.e., the Sanhedrin, that was composed of “rulers, elders, and scribes ... with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family” (vv. 5-6). We can only imagine that it was a celebrated trial of Peter and John, who had just been imprisoned (v. 3) on the accusation of “teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead” (v. 2). On top of that, they were charged of healing a sick person (v. 7), which is referential of an earlier incident when Peter healed a crippled man at the gate of the temple (3:2-8). But one wonders whether Peter’s words and deeds should really merit such a fiasco on the part of the religious leaders of Jerusalem.

This debacle, nonetheless, was not something new for the apostles. For the past three years, they were eyewitnesses to how their master was wrongly tagged with a litany of accusations: ignoring the Mosaic laws, disregarding purity practices, dining with public sinners, forgiving sins, identifying himself with God, and disrupting the societal order even if what he was doing was only for the benefit of everybody especially the poor and the needy.

For example, even if he only cured the sick that alleviated them from their miserable condition, Jesus was suspected of violating the Sabbath as he performed most of these healings on a presumed day of rest (Mk 2:24; 3:4; Mt 12:10-12; Lk 6:6-9; 13:14-16; 14:1-5; Jn 5:16-18; 9:14-16). Additionally, even if he only spoke about the truth on his identity that did not incite the crowd into rebellion against the government, Jesus was condemned of blasphemy (Mk 14:64; Mt 26:65; Lk 5:21; Jn 10:33), leading to his arrest and crucifixion. Often, Jesus’s deeds and words were misinterpreted by the leaders of the society. Such did not stop him from fulfilling his mission and doing the will of the Father, which includes the plight of the marginalized: “So it is not the will of the Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost” (Mt 18:14).

The same is true with the apostles. Despite their “overkill” trial before the Sanhedrin, Peter and company continued their mission of proclaiming the truth about Jesus and performing good works, unfazed by the threat given them by the authorities (3:18, 21). Soon enough, a second arrest happened, putting the apostles back into jail (5:18). But they were miraculously liberated by an angel (v. 19) and continued their preaching on the following day (v. 21). A third arrest followed and they were tried before the Sanhedrin once again (v. 27). To the interrogation, they only replied in a strong chorus, “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (v. 29).

Despite these endless persecutions, the apostles courageously witnessed to God’s benevolence. The true barometer of the merit of any action, anyway, is the positive public response: “Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by” (Ac 5:14-15).

While some good deeds of individuals are, often, wrongly tagged by government leaders for advocating alleged repugnant ideologies or ulterior motives, may we learn to shun these accusations away and just continue performing and sharing God’s goodness to the needy.

- Rex Fortes, CM