31 July 2010
Psalm 75, 76; Judges 5:19-31; Acts 2:22-36; Matt. 28:11-20

The song continues and calls out other nations and venerates Jael for her actions in killing Sisera. We tend to think of taunting a defeated foe as bad sportsmanship and certainly the ending of the song is a taunt of the mother of Sisera, but we in the United States have no concept of what it would be like to live under foreign domination. Not only that, but we are not intimately connected with God through the land itself. Foreign rule was also either an indictment of the god of the country or an indictment of the people’s faithlessness by its god. Victory would have been particularly sweet over the Moabites given the history of the countries and the animosity they shared for one another.

The chief priests paid off the guard of the tomb in order that they not tell what truly happened to Jesus’ body. Why could they not simply come to faith when they heard of the resurrection and why would the guards accept this bribe rather than believe? Even here, however, with Jesus on the mountain, we see that some doubted. The word here is only used twice in the Bible and it means something more like hesitated and perhaps indicates that they wanted to believe but were continuing to find it difficult. Paired with the first paragraph of the reading, it is easy to understand why. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a difficult thing to believe and if there is another story out there like the one the chief priests concocted, that is actually more believable, one could see the reason to hesitate in belief. We must, however, believe if we are to grow in faith and grace.

When we see Peter here expounding upon the events of the past seven weeks, boldly proclaiming Jesus crucified and resurrected, we see a new creation. Gone is the old Peter who denied Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest and newly emerged is a man with the boldness he always thought he possessed. Simon had indeed become Peter, the rock. Something happened to change this man, and that something was twofold, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What he had seen he now proclaimed. He knew that there was indeed nothing to fear from the world, God truly had power over the body and soul. His boldness was intimately connected with his sure and certain hope of his own resurrection from the dead. It was one thing to witness Jesus’ resurrection among other disciples, quite another to do so here and in the coming days.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;