Monday, February 2nd

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Monday, Feb. 2

Acts 12:1-25

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, "Dress yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 

When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, "It is his angel!" But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Tell these things to James and to the brothers." Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!" Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

But the word of God increased and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.

Sometimes it seems like there is just no end to the bad news. I picked up my local paper this morning and saw the following headlines:

“Scores dead in Nigerian city”

“Bomb threats in Atlanta”

“Japan stunned by video claiming hostage death”

“Man shot while walking along street in Elgin”

There was even a headline that said, “The astroid is coming.”

And, of course, we can’t forget the national crisis of deflated footballs!

The story we read today from Acts 12 begins with terrible news.

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword...

Scholars believe that it is most likely that Luke is telling his readers that James has been beheaded at the order of Herod the king.

This Herod is Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great who was king when Jesus was born and who ordered the infamous “slaughter of the innocents” (Matthew 2); which was the murder of all the male infants in the region after he was fooled by the Magi who had come to worship the child Jesus.

Herod was brought up in Rome and was an associate of the emperor Caligula, one of the most violent and power thirsty dictators in human history.

So Herod was a man concerned primarily with his own power and therefore saw people as a means to either demonstrate his power or to magnify his position.

Herod was also an evil man.

James, the man Herod has executed, was the brother of John, who later wrote the gospel that bears his name. James and John were the sons Zebedee and were fishermen called by Jesus to be his disciples. Scripture indicates that Jesus gave them the nickname “sons of thunder,” perhaps (and this is just a guess) because they were strong personalities or were bold and rambunctious men.

Luke doesn’t tell us why Herod has James beheaded; we can only guess that James was a recognizable leader of the new Christian movement and Herod figured that killing him would serve to enhance his brutal reputation.

You can almost hear the questions that those who knew and loved James might have been asking in their shock and grief.

“Why is this happening?”

“Why James?”

“Why does a good and Godly man lose his life at the whim of such an evil man?”

These are the questions that swirl within us on a daily basis.

One of those news stories I mentioned earlier was about atrocities being committed in Nigeria by a terrorist group called Boko Haram. Just two days ago the Islamic extremists slaughtered over 40 people in seven villages; bringing number of deaths to an estimated 10,000 and many more kidnapped and forced into slavery. A few months ago Boko Haram kidnapped over 200 young girls that have not been seen since.

Evil.

Why does such seemingly random and wanton evil exist?

That’s a difficult and important question; a question the entire Bible was written to answer. But here’s a brief summary:

God created all that is in love and freedom.

Satan, once an angel of light, became proud and rebelled against God and has set himself against God.

God created human beings in his own image and for eternal relationship with himself.

But human beings also rebelled against God and sinned against him and against each other.

The result was the fall of all creation into sin and death.

All of that happens in the first 3 chapters of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The rest of the Bible is the story of how God is redeeming this broken world through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Sin and evil are in the world because God created everything that is in love and freedom. That freedom was used for rebellion; sin and death followed.

The gospel is God’s remedy for our rebellion; for our sin; for evil in the world; and for death itself.

The Book of Acts teaches us that the gospel does not protect us from evil, rather, it enables us to triumph over evil through the redemptive work of Christ.

Pastor Brian Coffey