“Facing up to trouble”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Acts 11:27-12:5 (Forward, p. 88) CEV p. 1148

It can probably be stated as a truism that, no matter what, we never will never have to seek out trouble, but that it will ‘find us’. Trouble of one sort of another seems to be the common lot of all humankind. Certainly, it does seem to be the lot of the early Church.

Today’s account spells out two instances of trouble impacting the infant church. The first was a famine, a terrible one that would impact the entire world, as predicted by the prophet Agabus. This actually happened, according to this text, during the reign of Caesar Claudius.) It is of particular interest to see how the Christians in Antioch decided to respond to this. They decided to gather up whatever resources they could find and send them to the followers in Judaea in the able hands of Paul and Barnabas. Now, it is interesting to speculate—especially given that the famine would be so widespread—why they would choose to send relief to Jerusalem, and not to some other place. Many suggestions have been put forth, but none is conclusive. Some have suggested that it was because Jerusalem was the ‘mother church’, as it were. Others have suggested that Judaea, being so dependent upon regular, seasonal rains, might be all the more susceptible. And others have wondered whether the experiment in communal living, their practice of selling off their possessions to care for the poor, had left them destitute, in an especially perilous situation, given that they were probably without any fall-back provisions. (See Acts 243-45; 4:32-37; 5:1-11 for the ‘low-down’ on this.) Anyway, no matter how ‘you cut it’, the church responded generously and graciously to a need among their fellow members.

The other issue, the other kind of trouble, that the infant church experienced was also from ‘the outside’, namely from the Roman appointed king, King Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod of the Great. He favoured the Pharisees and their policies and so was especially popular with them. As a consequence, he was quite eager to please them, and this case, did so by ordering the execution of James, the brother of John, seemingly without any trial or obvious justification (at least, there is no indication of either). Noting that this had greatly pleased them, he also had Peter arrested and thrown in jail, with the express intent of bringing him to trial in public as soon as the Feast of Passover had finished. But here

again, the church did not merely ‘sit on its hands’ and worry about the outcome but kept up continual prayer for Peter’s safety and deliverance in the meantime.

So, here, we find a church that is intensely concerned, albeit in very practical ways, with the welfare of its fellow believers, both the leaders and the ‘rank and file’, and not just those at home. People sometimes suggest that in our local church’s charitable giving, we should simply look to our own, to the needy and important causes here at home, but those in the early church did not see it this way, but reached out and helped anyone of their number in need, no matter who or where they were. We should also do likewise. Amen.

Forward notes; “About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church” (chapter 12, verse 1).

“Many Christians have been persecuted and even killed because of their faith. When I was a young girl, being Christian was frowned upon. Authorities didn’t take kindly to people who thought differently or worshiped anything other than the political system. My parents never talked to me about the church, yet I believe the Spirit was working in me because I felt a curiosity and desire to learn more.

“Once, a group of young men from the Union of Communist Youth came to my classroom and asked who among us was Christian. No one raised their hand. I wanted to do so but was afraid; I knew I would lose people’s esteem, and my parents could get in trouble. As an adult, I learned that between the 1960s and the 1980s, many churches emptied in Cuba because of persecution. Afraid of losing their jobs, many left the church.

“Thank God those times are over, and nowadays getting along with Christians suits authorities better.”

Moving Forward: “How does religion-based hatred and intolerance affect our lives?”