Acts 4:1-12

     Well, the whole plan to do a section a day didn't work out after about the first week or so.  The plan to come back after vacation and get right back into things also didn't work out well.  Nearly another two months went by, and I'm still in the beginning of Acts.  Given the pattern I imagine I will be here for quite some time.  At least I'm still around, even if very infrequently.  It's progress.

     Decided to take a read into Acts 4:1-12.  Only a couple of things stood out to me while reading this.  The first thing that stood out was how interesting it might have been for the religious leaders when they found that that this Jesus guy that caused up a huge stir, whom they had a hand in putting to death, just won't go away.  He was this person with such a huge following, broke important religious rules and then made these witty remarks about them like it was no big deal, undermined the religious authority, and seemingly blasphemed God by calling himself God.  Now there are these followers of Jesus around doing similar inconvenient things like making more followers and breaking more rules (apparently it was illegal to hold a judicial inquiry at night¹)... This Jesus guy just won't go away. 

     The second thing comes from Psalm 118, which, for context, is a Psalm for "Thanksgiving for victory in battle."² The chapter talks about how God is on my side and is always there for me.  Even when enemies surround me, the Lord is there to help me.  If we read further to v.22, we see here "a metaphor of reversal of expectations (cf. Ps 113:7-9)."³  It's interesting to see the disciples use this verse as an extra jab at the religious leaders, telling them clearly whose side they (the followers of Jesus) are on. 

Psalm 118:22	Acts 4:11
The stone that the builders rejected     has become the chief cornerstone.	This Jesus is      ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;         it has become the cornerstone.’

     Note here how the verses are different between Psalm 118:22 and Acts 4:11.  Added to Acts is the clear indication that Jesus is the stone, as well as the clear reference to the builders as "you."  Why the word "chief" was added out, I don't know (not sure whether it's significant or insignificant).  The fact that it was Peter who was the bold one (filled with the Holy Spirit) giving this message is significant as well.  He was the cowardly one who denied Jesus three times.  But now, things are changed, and things are different.

     So what does NT Wright have to say about all of this?  He spends some time talking about the Sadducees, who were the religious leaders in power and did business with the Roman governor.  They disapproved of the idea of a resurrection, as that was an idea that said that God was bringing about restoration to the world, and the power structures that were already in place would be in jeopardy.  Wright also talks about how Peter's claims about the resurrection in Jesus shook the religious leaders even more. The same accusations Jesus had against them are reiterated again by Jesus' followers.

This is the new level of subversion, which will burst out dramatically in Stephen's speech in Acts 7. As Jesus himself had hinted, he is the one prophesied in Psalm 118, which speaks of a stone that has been rejected by the builders but has become the head cornerstone of the whole building.  When builders are searching around for ordinary stones to put up a wall or a house, they reject the one with the odd shape, because it won't fit.  But they may then find, when they get to the top of the building, that the one with the strange angles is the very one they want.  This passage in Psalm 118 already came to the early Christians full of hints about the Temple itself.  God will build a new Temple, thus declaring the present one redundant.⁴ 

     These are pretty bold and clear statements by the disciples of Jesus, not meant to be wishy washy or open-ended in interpretation.  Clearly they wanted to undermine the religious leadership and remind them that they were not the bearers of leadership and authority.  Clearly, especially, they wanted to claim Jesus, whom the religious leadership despised, as true source of leadership and authority.


     (Not sure when I'm come back again, but I think I'll come back again eventually.)


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(1) The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha.  Michael Coogan, ed. Oxford (2007): 191 New Testament.
(2) Ibid. 878 Hebrew Bible.
(3) Ibid. 879 Hebrew Bible.
(4) Wright, NT. Acts for Everyone: Part I. Westminster John Knox Press (2008): 64.