Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 2:22-36 (August 5, 2025)

August 5, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 2:22-36

Good morning my dear friends in Christ. Please be careful in the heat over the next few days of this week. It is just going to be too hot to be out and about for any long periods of time. And yes, I still believe that we all need to be praying for the relief of some rain. It has been far too long since we had good heavy rain in Tucson. I think that we can all relate to the stories of drought and famine that are a part of the Old Testament that brought Joseph's family to Egypt. However, in other ways, others fled to Egypt as a kind of self-imposed exile, like the prophet Jeremiah, and even Mary, Joseph, and their son Jesus when the then King of Israel set out to destroy this new great king who was going to place Israel on a right path with God. In our longer reading for today, we can see the Spiritual drought of the people of Jerusalem, and if we think very much about the content of this reading, we can see such strong parallels to our modern times and how often, even people in the Church can be led astray by power, greed, and a hunger for control over the Father in Heaven, especially when they have failed to understand the importance of the Christ of Heaven for all of history.  This is where the Christian Nationalists have found their own "faith" taking them. They are caught in an extremely difficult reality of their own making, not of the giving of compassion, forgiveness, and love which comes from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This quite unchristian movement in the modern church really needs to re-read this passage during which the preaching of Peter reminds everyone present who Jesus really is. Remember His necessary connection to King David, and Jesus being the living presence of God in the world, bringing God's Grace and Compassion for the sin of the world to a place where it was, and continues to be, forgiven through faith in the Messiah, God's only begotten Son.  Peter also reminds the crowds listening, that they bear responsibility for the Messiah's death on the cross, assuring the people that not even death could hold Jesus because of His Holy and perfect righteousness, His complete freedom from sin. Peter tells the crowd that even David understood who this heir of his would be. And those who were gathered to hear Peter, heard through the Spirit, their own responsibility for the Son of God being murdered. But Peter lets them know, as do other Apostolic proclaimers that the cross on which Christ died at the hand of sinners, was always God's plan, so that people might once again come into a right relationship with Him! The most sinful act in all of history was carried out by the Jews, and of course, we bear that very same sin in our own lives, in all of its horrible reality, and if we were the ones to encounter the Savior, we too would likely clammer for His death as a charlatan and criminal when we thought we were the right ones, and He was the evil presence in our world threatening the importance of wealth and power that we so often treasure as the really important stuff of this life we live.

And where is Peter's proof in all of this? He, and the other disciples of Jesus, have all witnessed the Resurrection of the Savior! This is such an extraordinary claim that it is no wonder that the Spirit's gift of faith in the lives of God's children is needed for all who accept Christ! Where else, or when, have any of us ever seen a person raised from the dead after days of being dead? The struggle for Peter and the other Apostles will be that some will come to belief, and others will never understand, even though the Holy Spirit has worked to move all people to faith in Christ. Only God really knows why some remain unfaithful, or perhaps worse, revert to some unholy lie while still claiming to be Christian, or are never able in their lives to accept this glorious reality, and the presence of Holy Grace in the Son of God, our Savior.

This Sunday our Church Council meets after worship. They are reminded to bring snacks for that meeting. The Blood Pressure Clinic will also be available after church with Sarah Wright; RN. Our thanks to Sarah for her faithfulness in this health ministry!

With the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim