Sermons from Mission Hills UCC
San Diego, California
Rev. Dr. David Bahr
david.bahr@missionhillsucc.org
May 24, 2024
“Set Free”
Acts 12: 4-10 – Common English Bible
King Herod had Peter put in prison, handing him over to four squads of soldiers, sixteen in all, who guarded him. He planned to charge him publicly after the Passover. 5 While Peter was held in prison, the church offered earnest prayer to God for him. 6 The night before Herod was going to bring Peter’s case forward, Peter was asleep between two soldiers and bound with two chains, with soldiers guarding the prison entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel from the Lord appeared and a light shone in the prison cell. After nudging Peter on his side to awaken him, the angel raised him up and said, “Quick! Get up!” The chains fell from his wrists. 8 The angel continued, “Get dressed. Put on your sandals.” Peter did as he was told. The angel said, “Put on your coat and follow me.” 9 Following the angel, Peter left the prison. However, he didn’t realize the angel had actually done all this. He thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself. After leaving the prison, they proceeded the length of one street, when abruptly the angel was gone.
It all started one morning after a night of fishing but catching no fish. Peter and his partners were bone tired, washing their nets along the shore. A traveling preacher interrupted their routine and asked Peter to row out a little ways so he could talk to the crowd pressing in on him. Peter obliged, but then just when they had finished and were ready to go home, the preacher asked them to go out and try fishing again. They objected but did it anyway and this time, so many fish jumped into the nets, their boats began to sink. Peter cried out, “Get away from me. I’m not worthy of this.” Jesus just said, “Peter, get over yourself and come follow me.” And immediately, he dropped everything.
For the past three months we have been following the story of Peter. We know of his extraordinary highs, like walking on water, and his exceptional lows, like when he realized he was walking on water, just like he asked, and began to sink. His extraordinary highs like when he recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, and his exceptional lows, when he completely misunderstood what that meant. Jesus as Messiah – not someone who would come in to enact retribution on their enemies but someone who would save the world by his sacrificial love. When he heard Jesus talk of his impending suffering and death, Peter scolded him and said, “Never!” Jesus turned right around and called Peter Satan. “Do you still not understand?” God would redeem the hatred and cruelty of the violent Romans through the example of Christ’s love.
We heard these stories and many more, like when Jesus was being dragged away by soldiers, Peter demanded three times, “I don’t know that man.” But after his resurrection, while preparing some breakfast on the beach, Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to redeem himself with three questions: Do you love me? Do you know the second question? Do you love me? How about the third? Do you love me?
Forty days later, Peter and the rest watched as Jesus ascended into heaven. Now, with Jesus gone, it was time to get busy. At their first organizational meeting, Peter stood in front of 120 followers and laid out the criteria to select a 12th apostle to replace Judas – overlooking Mary Magdalene as the obvious choice. No one seemed to question Peter’s role as the leader, but of course, he was the first of Jesus’ 12 disciples.
Impetuous and hot-headed, Peter seemed to mature after Jesus departed. Or at least, stories about him began to focus more on his accomplishments than his failings. Peter helped establish the new church as a community in which no one had need for anything because those with means sold properties to support the community.
Peter traveled around preaching and teaching and inviting people to change their hearts and lives but one day was confronted with an existential dilemma – could someone who wasn’t Jewish be baptized too? Two weeks ago, we heard a great story about how through dreams and visions, Peter was convinced that Gentiles were as much a part of the circle of Christ as anyone. Word got back to angry skeptics in Jerusalem that Peter baptized non-Jews, but Peter stood up to them and the church forever changed. The intent of the church, if not always its reality, is an inclusive body that welcomes all. We can all thank Peter for that.
Well, today is the conclusion of his story. It begins with King Herod harassing people who belonged to the church. Harassing and killing. It may sound awful, but the general population loved it, so Herod decided to give them some more to cheer about and had Peter arrested and put in prison. 16 soldiers were assigned to guard him. As he lay sleeping on the ground, two were chained to him while the others guarded the entrances.
While he was asleep, an angel appeared. The angel nudged him awake and said, “Quick! Get up!” The chains attached to the guards on either side fell from his wrists. Peter got dressed and followed the angel. They passed through one gate. Where were the guards? And then through a second gate, and when they came to the final gate to the city, the iron doors opened themselves. They ran down the length of the street and then the angel disappeared. Peter thought he was having a dream, but standing outside there by himself, he realized this was really happening.
He also realized, any minute now, a search party would be out looking for him. Imagine Herod’s rage at the incompetence of 16 guards holding Peter behind three different locked gates, two of them actually chained to him. And yes, in fact, Herod was enraged. In the morning, Herod rounded them all up, interrogated them, and executed every one of them. But, spoiler alert, it came back around and what happened to Herod is pretty gross. Should I wait or tell you now?
After the debacle involving Peter, Herod left Judea for a little rest and relaxation on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. One day he held a rally. He got all dressed up in royal attire, seated himself on a majestic throne, and gave a rousing speech. His words caused people to shout over and over, “he’s a god, not a human,” which Herod’s ego liked. Well, remember the angel that “nudged” Peter awake? It “struck” Herod – same word. But whereas Peter woke up and was set free, Herod fell over, was eaten by worms, and died. Not died and was eaten by worms. Eaten by worms and then died. I told you it was gross.
But back to Peter. Still standing on the street by himself, he came to his senses and ran toward the house where church members were gathered, praying for his release. Peter stood at the outer gate and knocked, nervously watching behind his back, hoping someone would come quickly to get him off the street. What a relief when Rhoda came outside. She was overcome with joy to see Peter and hear his voice.
She was so overcome that she forgot to let him in. Instead, she ran inside to tell everyone that Peter’s at the gate! But they didn’t believe her. “You’ve lost your mind,” they claimed. But she kept insisting that Peter is outside. Someone said, “Well, maybe it’s his guardian angel.” While they sat around debating, Peter was still standing in the street, panicked, wondering what was taking so long and what was all that noise coming from inside the house. If he didn’t get off the street, he’d soon be found and the consequences would be deadly. When those in the house finally came out to see for themselves, they too were overcome with joy. Peter motioned for them to keep quiet. They all went inside and Peter recounted everything that had happened to him and then told them to tell James and the brothers and sisters. And then “he left for another place.” Those are the last words about Peter. That’s it. “He left for another place.” The end. Kind of anti-climactic.
Little is known about what happens to Peter after that. At some point, some how, he showed up in Rome, but little is known about his time in Rome. We know that both Peter and Paul lived in the city at the time of Emperor Nero’s reign.[1] It’s only from non-biblical sources that we know Peter died about the same time as the Great Fire in Rome, in the year 64. Tradition says that Nero blamed Christians living in the city for the fire even though he probably set it himself to justify his cruelty. Tradition says Peter was crucified, but on an upside down cross. He didn’t want to be killed in the same way as Jesus because he said, “I’m not worthy of it,” just as he told Jesus the first morning after that shocking abundance of fish.
Peter was crucified but Paul was not because Paul was a Roman citizen and Roman citizens couldn’t be crucified. Instead, Paul was beheaded. At least that’s the most common story. There are actually 15 different versions of how they died. Four different stories about Peter, five different ones about Paul, and six involving them dying together – well, not together as in the same place but on the same day of the same year.[2] Maybe. It seems odd that scripture records how King Herod was eaten by worms but nothing about Peter. Or other disciples except that Stephen was stoned to death. Of course, there are variants in how the four gospels describe the death of Jesus too. But, details aside, at least we know Peter died as a martyr to the Christian faith, right? Oddly, the Bible itself contains no word of it.
But anyway, after all these months, what’s the point? What is the bottom line? Peter was an average guy. A fisherman whose aspiration was taking care of his family. Jesus saw something in him and invited Peter to follow him, even though Jesus might later have wished to change his mind. Peter was often a bitter disappointment. He didn’t just make little mistakes, misjudging some situations where he should have known better. Among his many faults and failings already mentioned, perhaps his most egregious failure was the night soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the garden. Peter pulled out a sword and cut off the ear of a soldier – the absolutely opposite reaction Jesus taught.
And yet, even after all that, Jesus gave him a chance to make things right with those three little questions: Do you love me? To which Jesus gave the same answer: care for my sheep. After all those times of falling short, Jesus believed Peter could start again. All those times of really, really wanting to do the right thing and getting it so wrong. Oh Peter… And yet, bottom line? Peter is a good role model. What could be more reassuring for us? For those of us who really just want to do the right thing, who aspire to follow the teachings of Jesus but as often as we succeed we fail. Peter shows that we can begin again. Do you love me? Then take care of my people. And look who he became. Peter didn’t give up and as Jesus said, became the rock on which he built his church – the church to which we belong because Peter stood up and defended our place within it. A church which often, like Peter, gets it so wrong.
But, Christianity isn’t about achieving perfection. Can I get an amen? Christianity isn’t about achieving perfection. It’s always an aspiration and commitment to start again. So, my question: Do you aspire to do better? Forgive more often, slow you’re your anger, practice patience, love a little more? Do you want to be set free from what you have failed to do? Just don’t give up.
[1] https://www.christianpost.com/news/how-did-the-apostles-peter-and-paul-die.html
[2] https://bam.sites.uiowa.edu/faq/peter-and-paul-martyrdoms#:~:text=Answer%3F,recorded%20in%20the%20New%20Testament!
