The Lost Scriptures.

The Acts of Peter

“…a multitude gathered together, and they brought unto Peter many sick that he might heal them. And one of the multitude adventured to say unto Peter: Lo, Peter, in our presence thou hast made many blind to see and the deaf to hear and the lame to walk, and hast succoured the weak and given them strength: but wherefore hast thou not succoured thy daughter, the virgin, which grew up beautiful and hath believed in the name of God? For behold, her one side is wholly palsied, and she lieth there stretched out in the corner helpless. We see them that have been healed by thee: thine own daughter thou hast neglected.

But Peter smiled and said unto him: My son, it is manifest unto God alone wherefore her body is not whole. Know then that God is not weak nor powerless to grant his gift unto my daughter: but that thy soul may be convinced, and they that are here present may the more believe -then he looked unto his daughter and said to her: Raise thyself up from thy place, without any helping thee save Jesus only, and walk whole before all these, and come unto me. And she arose and came to him; and the multitude rejoiced at that which was come to pass. Then said Peter unto them: Behold, your heart is convinced that God is not without strength concerning all things that we ask of him. Then they rejoiced yet more and praised God. And Peter said to his daughter: Go unto thy place, and lay thee down and be again in thine infirmity, for this is expedient for me and for thee. And the maiden went back and lay down in her place and was as beforetime: and the whole multitude wept, and entreated Peter to make her whole.

But Peter said unto them: As the Lord liveth, this is expedient for her and for me. For on the day when she was born unto me I saw a vision, and the Lord said unto me: Peter, this day is a great temptation born unto thee, for this daughter will bring hurt unto many souls if her body continue whole. But I thought that the vision did mock me.”

The Acts of Peter is a document written sometime during the second century. In this writing, Peter is described as a miracle-maker trying to use his power to instill faith in the people of Rome. His enemies are the pagans. He will be crucified for converting pagan wives to Christianity. His enemy in this text is Simon Magus, a well-known rival Christian Gnostic. Peter’s encounters with this man, the back and forth of attacks through miracles, are the stuff of legend.

One story tells about Peter’s daughter who is paralyzed, lying in a corner. The people ask him why he does not heal his own daughter. He heals her, asks her to rise to prove her restored health, but then Peter orders her back to her infirmity. Peter is safeguarding her virginity – sexual abstinence leads to salvation in the teachings of Peter. In a famous contest between Simon Magus and Peter, they are in the forum matching each other with miracles. First there are talking dogs; then the dead are raised. The climax comes when Simon vows to fly into the sky up to G-d. The next day, as the crowds gather all over Rome, they see Simon passing over the temples and the hills. Peter cries to the Lord Jesus Christ and prays for Simon to fall and cripple himself by breaking his leg in three places. Simon falls, and because the crowds favor Peter’s faith over Simon’s, they stone Simon. The angel of the Devil later kills the sorcerer Simon Magus, which leads Peter and is brethren to rejoice in the Lord.

The importance of the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the early Apostles and followers of Jesus cannot be lost on us. Whether these stories are exaggerations or not, that is not the point. The point, my friends, is that the power of the Holy Spirit is not to be downplayed, or trifled with.

Pastor Dave

⁹As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you.¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. John 15:9-17

One of the helpful mantras of the yoga world is the invitation and imperative to “choose joy.” I regularly remind myself of just how many times I actually do indeed have a choice about how I view something, react to something, focus on one thing or another, knowing that each of these things can be an instance of “choosing joy” over frustration, anger, hopelessness, and more. At the same time, and in light of Jesus’ teaching here, it seems like joy is also and simultaneously beyond our choosing and comes to us, often at unawares, as sheer gift. Jesus commands his disciples to remain and abide in him and his love for them. True enough. But he also just plain loves them…enough to give his life for them (and us!). Moreover, he is pretty clear that, whatever they may have thought, they didn’t actually choose him, or decide to follow him, or consciously become his disciples. Rather, he chose them. He chose them.

Which will be critically important to the disciples in the hours to come. Keep in mind that this conversation takes place on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. In just a few hours he will be arrested, tried, convicted, and executed as an enemy of the state. He endures all of this in order to demonstrate the love he has for his disciples and, indeed, the profound love God has for the whole world. But that action will not only witness to Jesus’ love for the disciples, it will also leave them feeling bereft, alone, and frightened. Which is why Jesus both urges them to abide in him and reminds them that what is more important is that they know he will abide in them. And so he tells them that they did not choose him; rather, he chose them.” (David Lose, …in the Meantime website, On Being Chosen, May 4, 2015)

But, what is love?  Mother Theresa was rolled out in a wheel chair at the National Prayer Breakfast toward the end of her life.  She was at this time a frail person, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, but a frail human being who needed help standing.  She stood hunched over all four feet of her.  She could barely reach the microphone.  In her distinctive voice, she said that America had become a selfish nation, in danger of losing the proper meaning of love, which she defined as “Giving until it hurts”.  Have you ever heard of love defined in this way?  Usually love is defined as a feeling.  Love is defined as something we give, or something we receive.  Mother Theresa said that love is “giving until it hurts”.  That, of course, is what Jesus does for you and for me – he loved us in the same manner that the Father loved him, and he continued to love us to the cross, and he continues to love us beyond the expanse of time and space.  Of course, knowing that Jesus gave all that he could because he loved you and me helps us as we go through this life and the trials, the fox holes, the tribulations, of this life, we know that God’s love is all that we need – and learning to dwell in that love can be life changing.

Love that is Life changing.  Think about that with me for just a minute.  In the ministry of Jesus, through his love and compassion Jesus never left a person the same after their encounter with him.  Jesus always made them better – the blind could see – the lame could walk – the unloved and disenfranchised experienced a love that transformed them – made them whole, welcomed, loved.  We try to share a love for each other, but our love often comes with conditions.  Over breakfast one morning, a woman asked her husband “I bet you don’t know what day this is do you?”  Feeling as if his love for her was being questioned the man answered with in a huff “Of course I do!”  And with that he kissed his wife and left for work.  Later that morning the door bell rang and when the woman answered the door a flower delivery guy handed her a box of a dozen red roses.  Early in the afternoon, a gift-wrapped box of her favorite candy was also delivered to the house.  By early evening, the woman had received not only the roses, and the candy, but a box containing diamond earrings.  As soon as the man arrived home, his wife met him at the door with a full kiss on the lips.  She said, “First the flowers, then the candy and then the earrings.  If you treat me this way on Arbor Day, I can’t wait to see what you will do for our anniversary”. 

The difference between our love for each other, and God’s love for us, comes in the word Abide.  This is a word that we do not use too often in every day conversation.  But this is the word that the Gospel of John uses to describe the nature of the love between Jesus and the Father – and the nature of our love for both.  Abide can have several different meanings.  It can mean to “wait for”.  We are called to abide in a relationship with Christ until Christ comes again.  We have certain periods of the church year where we put an emphasis on the “waiting” – in Advent, and even in Lent.  Abide can also mean to “remain and endure”.  There are times in our lives where we wish we could endure and remain.  Vacations are often such a time – a time away from the stress and strain of every day life.  Abide can also mean to “dwell” – as in our house can be called a “dwelling”, a place where we live.  When Peter was reeling from the experience of the Transfiguration, he asked Jesus to build three booths, three dwelling places so they could abide in the experience of Jesus’ transformation.  In the same manner, we are to “dwell” in the love of Christ – which allows us to properly love each other, and I know that loving each other in that manner is hard, hard, hard.

When we fully hear about the abiding love of God made manifest through Jesus – when we seriously learn the lessons that Jesus teaches us to obey – and when we hear the word and feed on his body and blood, the Holy Spirit comes into us to build faith – and moves us to preach this good news to others – and to love others without condition in the indwelling, abiding love of Christ.

Pastor Dave