As we continue to read from the Acts of the Apostles during this Easter Season, it might be helpful to keep in mind the threefold purpose of this book. St. Luke details the life of the early community, its phenomenal growth and the witness that the apostles and the community give. The episode of which we read today falls into the first category as well as the third.
We read that the apostles had been arrested by the Jewish authorities and placed in prison. During the night, an angel opened the doors of the jail and told the apostles to go to the Temple area and continue to teach the people. When the jailers came looking for them the next day, they found the cell empty even though the door was still barred. One detail that we will learn later is that not only were the jail cells locked, a guard was usually placed both inside and outside the cell. Despite this, the apostles were able to escape without being detected by the guard.
When they are led back to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the guards did not use force for fear that the crowd would stone them. This little detail simply illustrates another point about the Acts of the Apostles. You will remember that something similar happens to Jesus. The people are so angered by what Jesus has to say that they lead him to the brow of a hill with the intention of throwing him over the precipice. However, he simply walked through their midst without any further threat. So the experience of the apostles parallels that of Jesus once again.
These vignettes from the early life of the community help us to see how God not only protects but is the force behind the apostles’ efforts to continue the preaching and teaching of the life of Jesus. While we might expect the apostles to be fearful in the face of the actions of the chief priests and the Sanhedrin, their response was anything but fearful. In fact, when they are persecuted by the Jewish authorities and are asked to suffer for their efforts, they find consolation in the fact that they are being treated as Jesus was treated. It reinforces their faith that they are on the right path. If Jesus suffered at the hands of the authorities, how could they hope to fare any better?
CUSANS believe that they “suffer for a purpose.” Although we are not persecuted for our faith, we believe that by bearing the various crosses that have been given to us with a spirit of resignation and obedience to the will of God, we are able to participate in the redemptive suffering of our Savior and the disciples of Jesus who have gone before us. Like them, we find a sense of ratification in the fact that God has asked this of his Son before he asked it of us.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator