Acts 4:5-12 – The Power of Life

Last Sunday afternoon there was an icy wind whipping in off the Bay, churning up waves like I’ve never seen before.

I went down and walked along the foreshore. As I rounded the bend at the most exposed part of the coast, I saw enormous waves bursting against the sea wall. The wind was whipping up the spray and carrying it right up the cliff and across Beach Road.

I went back the following day to see the aftermath. Here is a photo of it. Sections of the bluestone sea wall have been smashed.

What sort of power is represented here? The force of a stormy ocean, the power of nature. How is that like the power of God?

The reading we have heard from the book of Acts today deals with power. Peter and John have been arrested by the “Powers That Be” – the Jewish Priestly Authorities – for Peter and John have been performing Acts of Power (healing a crippled man), and they have been proclaiming the Power of the Resurrection. The Powers That Be are challenged, threatened even. So Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin, the ruling council, and the interrogation begins.

“By what power did you heal this crippled man? In whose name are you acting and teaching?”

And Peter replies, “Rulers of the people and elders, [you Powers That Be] … let it be known to all of you … that this man who once was crippled is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.’ You crucified … God raised from the dead.

What we have here today is a clash of “Powers”: the Powers that Be on one hand verses the power of God in Jesus Christ on the other.

Speaking of clashing powers, there is a new movie out which the kids and I went to see the other night – it’s the latest X-Men movie, Wolverine. In this movie’s comic book vision of the world, some humans are born with mutations which give them super-powers. Wolverine, for example, is immortal and indestructible, his body heals immediately when he is wounded – he has claws and a nasty temper to go with them (and he’s one of the good guys). Other mutants have diamond hard skin, laser vision, super-strength, mind-reading ability, or wings. One woman can control the weather with her mind (that’d be a good power to have). Lots of powers all pitted against one another, good mutants verses evil ones.

How would Jesus fare if we put him into the world of Wolverine? I said that Wolverine was immortal and indestructible … is he like Jesus with claws? What would Jesus do when faced by Wolverine’s evil brother Victor who loves to kill just for the sake of it? – or the evil super-baddy who has retractable swords that come out the ends of his arms? Would Jesus have the moves, the power to defeat mutant evil?

I sometimes hear people talking about Jesus as if he is some kind of superhero. But, when Jesus faced the powers of his day, they crucified him. And now Peter and John stand before those same powers in the name of Jesus Christ. It’s the Power of Death verses the Power of Life. “You crucified … God raised from the dead.”

Which power is represented by Wolverine? Most of the characters in X-Men, even the good ones, have variations on the power of death and destruction. But Jesus didn’t fight. He never raised a finger in violence let alone a steel claw. Jesus has no claws.

So what kind of power are we dealing with when it comes to Jesus? Back to the real world.

Does this image of the broken wall at Black Rock represent the power of death or the power of life? No one died in that storm. I heard on the news that yesterday was the first anniversary of the cyclone in Burma that killed 140,000 people. Storms certainly can be death dealing.

But then, aren’t storms just a natural part of life, the movement of the atmosphere we breathe. Aren’t they simply a part of the power of life in creation?

On the other hand, storms of increasing ferocity are happening in the world these days, probably as a result of human driven Global Warming and Climate Change. Perhaps this picture shows what happens when human beings exert the suffocating power of death on the atmosphere. Is God in this at all?

Well let’s see if this picture might be a representation of the Easter Gospel, the power of resurrection.

There is the ocean – a place of depth, mystery, and power – like God. It’s full of life (as you’d know if you’ve ever been snorkelling or fishing off there) and it is a source of life – like God.

And there are the walls humans build. We build a lot of walls, don’t we? – literal and spiritual ones – walls to hold back the ocean, walls between people, and walls that keep us from full emersion in the deep, dangerous mystery of the divine.

In the story of God that we tell, the gospel of Jesus Christ, God comes to be with us behind those walls. God comes in Jesus to break the walls that divide.

As it says in Mark 13:1-4 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great [walls]? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’

And how does Jesus accomplish this barrier breaking? – by what power?

Matthew 27:50-52 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

In the torture and killing of Jesus is the rending and breaking of all that imprisons our hearts, all that keeps the ocean of love from flowing through us.

Yes, Jesus is the victim of torture and brutality, the power of death. So to imagine his followers using torture or even debating the appropriateness of its use as they are in America just now is bizarre. To say we will never torture even our worst enemies is to embrace the power of life. It’s a costly path to take as we see in the case of Jesus. But in our story, God takes the place of the tortured, not the torturer – the power of life surrenders to the power of death, but, paradoxically, by that very act the walls are broken and life emerges.

Let me finish with that stormy story from 1 Kings 19:11-12 – the story of Elijah hiding in a cave. ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Elijah is told, Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.

Is the power and presence of God in the storm, the earthquake, the fire? No, but in the stillness after the storm. That’s what we see here in this picture. The stones lie broken, like the stone that sealed the tomb of Jesus. He is not there in the place of death. The storm of his dying has passed and he has gone (probably up those stairs!) into our world. And that’s where we will meet him, that’s where the power of his risen life is at work – on the other side of the broken wall, loving, giving life.

Let us pray:

Jesus, you are the one
who cries out in the storm,
“Peace! Be Still!” (Mark 4:39)
and there is deep calm.
Help us, your people,
to embrace the power of your name,
the power of resurrection,
and to live with you in peace
beyond the broken walls that once divided.
Amen.