In today's first reading, Acts 5: 27-33, the Apostles are brought to the Sanhedrin and reprimanded for speaking about the Risen Lord: The high priest questions them: "'We gave you strict orders did we not, to stop teaching in [Jesus'] name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter and the Apostles said in reply, 'We must obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.'"
Who am I in this passage? The high priest objecting to other people who live by their faith? Or am I Peter, who boldly gives testimony to his faith in Christ Jesus and His teachings by word and deed? To whom am I obedient? God or human beings?
Jesus, we know, was obedient to God His Father even unto death. He was hung on a tree, left to die. However, "God...raised Jesus and exalted him at his right hand...to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins." Repentance and forgiveness of sins are also offered to Gentiles, to you and me. We are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to repent of our sinfulness and to be obedient unto death: death to sin on a daily basis and accepting our final death when God calls us to return to our eternal home. Especially in our final dying to life here on earth may we be witnesses to our faith, as Jesus was on the cross!
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