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When the temple police had brought the apostles, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man's blood on us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."
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This is the mandatory selection from Acts that will be read aloud on the second Sunday of Easter, Year C, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. It will be the “First Lesson,” meaning it will dislodge an Old Testament selection. It will be presented prior to either a singing of verses from Psalm 118 (an expansion of that sung on Easter Day), or a signing of Psalm 150. One verse added to Psalm 118 sings this: “Blessed is he who comes in the name Yahweh; we bless you from the house Yahweh.” Psalm 150 will include this verse: “Let everything that has breath praise Yahweh. Hallelujah!” Whichever one will be read in unison or sung by a cantor will precede a reading from Revelation, where John wrote, “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” All will accompany a Gospel reading from John, where he wrote: “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
Because these selected verses are cut from the story that leads up to these verses, it being taken out of context means the Episcopal Church had made some things up to ‘bridge the gap,’ so to speak. There is absolutely nothing that identified “the temple police.” Verse twenty-six (not read aloud today) says (literally translated), “At that time [the apostles] having gone away , this temple captain together with these attendants [or underlings] was leading them [the apostles] , not with force [or violence] ; they were terrified indeed these people [or laity] lest they might get stoned .” Thus, the implication of armed “police” manhandling “the apostles” before the Sanhedrin should not be the image conveyed here. The apostles were not afraid; but those leading them were scared to death that any signs of force used against the apostles, displayed before common Jews who heard them preaching in the temple and loved hearing them preach would stone those men for being ungodly.
The story prior says a group of Sadducees on the Sanhedrin had heard the apostles preaching and ordered them to be arrested (privately and secretly) and then thrown into the same prison where Jesus had been held (at one time or another). While behind locked doors, with guards outside the cells, “an Angel” came and told the apostles to leave, which they did … unnoticed by anyone. The next daybreak, the apostles were back preaching where they had been before. The Sadducees ordered for the apostles to be brought before them, and the frightened captain and underlings went to the prison, opened the door, and found no one was there. It was a mystery, wrapped in an enigma and a riddle! Meanwhile, “a certain one” (which is code for one known, who would have been Joseph of Arimathea) went and told the Sadducees, “Hey guys, the ones you had arrested are preaching in the temple again; and, the people are loving it!” This set-up needs to be realized, in order to fully grasp the meaning of this reading.
Verse seventeen (not read aloud) says the reason the apostles were arrested was the Sadducees “were filled with jealousy,” where the word for “jealousy” also means they were very “zealous.” So, finding out the apostles had somehow gotten out of prison “perplexed” them. Knowing this, one should recall how several times the members of the Sanhedrin were so angered at something Jesus said that they tried to grab him and stone him. Every time he “escaped and walked away from their midst.” This says Jesus certainly could have escaped the same prison when he was arrested; but his time had come to release his soul, so his soul could be resurrected in his apostles. Thus, the apostles were acting as Jesus back again, multiplied; and, the rulers of Jerusalem’s temple had the same problem that they had before: Do something publicly against holy men makes you automatically become unholy men … and unholy men could not walk around town without threatening looks placed upon them.
In the above translation, a question posed by the “high priest” (Caiaphas) is changed into a statement, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name.” In reality, this verse begins with a bracketed capitalized “Ou,” meaning “Not,” which is a divinely elevated statement that says the apostles did “Not” obey the Sanhedrin. That word is placed within brackets, so this “Not” situation was unstated, while divinely elevated to say privately, “because Yahweh willed against it, that order was “Not” upheld. It was “Not” just.
Following that ‘aside’ of divine meaning, the next word is also capitalized – “Parangelia” – meaning a divinely elevated “Command” or “Instruction.” This word means the Sanhedrin thought they were godlike in their issuance of a command; but Yahweh saw fit “to Command” otherwise, by sending one of His “underlings” (an Angel) to open the doors and tell the apostles, “The Father says to leave.” So, that “[Not] to Command” says Yahweh put the nix on anything the Sanhedrin had to say to His apostles.
The question then posed comes from the words that follow, saying, “we commanded to yourselves not to teach on the basis of this name here,” where the question is “Did you Not realize our order said stop mentioning that “name” we all hate to hear [Jesus]?” Those words clearly end with a “?” written, followed by a use of the word “kai,” showing the question was followed by the importance of “look here!” (from “idou,” meaning “behold!”).
The question was then rhetorical, so the focus (knowing they had given “Orders” to lock up the apostles, which did “Not” work as planned) made by Caiaphas was: “you have filled Jerusalem of this teaching of yourselves , kai you desire to bring upon on us this blood of this of human of here .” The NRSV translation does well in capturing how the point of Caiaphas’ address was to imply the charges against the apostles were for slander; when the truth was the blood of Jesus was indeed the Sanhedrin's responsibility (Pilate was not about to crucify a hundred apostles, because some Sadducees were zealous). The proof of who was right at that time was the unspoken, “Okay, then explain how we got out of jail unnoticed, big guy.”
When we read, “But Peter and the apostles answered,” rather than think they all began clamoring in unison, so some teacher with a ruler would threaten to slap some knuckles if they all did not stop talking at once, the reality is ALL were Jesus resurrected within their souls, so they all thought the same answer, at the same time. Peter gets credit for being the one allowed to speak for the group; but Peter opened his mouth and Jesus did the speaking.
For Jesus to say, “We must obey God rather than any human authority,” that says they were all divinely led to do the Will of Yahweh. In the Greek text written, the word “Peitharchein,” is divinely elevated to say “Obeying.” That becomes a level that states complete submission of oneself (a “self” equates to a “soul”) as “necessary” in order to truly serve “God.” This capitalized word states all of the apostles were married to Yahweh (thus his divine wives in Spiritual union); and, no wife would ever be expected (back then at least) to go against the will of her Husband … no matter what the consequences would be. A wife of Yahweh had to be willing to pay any price, in order to possess such divine “Obedience.” As wives to Yahweh, each of the apostles had given birth to His Son Jesus (the only reason for marriage is to make babies). Thus, they all preached because His Son told them to preach. What they preached, Jesus told them the words to say, as he was directed by the Father.
Anyone else who was a Jew in Judea or Galilee (their realm of influence) would be expected to bow down before such “human authority,” as that held by the Sanhedrin; but then the Sanhedrin was not a collection of souls married to Yahweh, so they only pretended to be knowledgeable of Scripture. They were divinely clueless. The apostles, however, were Jesus reborn and under a Spiritual authority, which led them to preach the truth, to a most willing to receive audience.
Jesus then spoke through the mouth of Peter, adding the truth that said, “The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.” In that, the word written and translated as "tree" is “xylou,” which means “wood.” While “wood” does come from “trees,” the implication must be realized as Jesus telling his murderers, “You hung me like a piece of meat (or fish) to eat (out to dry); and, you did that in the dead tree of your prized possession – the Promised Land (Judah, by last name), which you squandered through your ancestors’ divorce from Yahweh. Instead of Israel being a vineyard with clusters of good fruit hanging, as the result of your good actions, your vineyard is laid to waste. Your land has Roman overseers; and, none of you know squat about what Moses said to do.”
In verse thirty-one, the NRSV shows four capitalized words (all are internal words in the actual Greek): God, Leader, Savior, and Israel. The truth of that written has this verse literally saying, “himself this God Prince kai Savior he raised up to this right hand of himself , of this to give repentance to this to Israel kai dismissal of sins .” Here, the Greek word “Archēgon” can translate as “Leader” or “Founder,” but it is acceptable also as “Prince.” Perhaps, the best translation is as “Founder,” because it follows the word “Theos,” so two divinely elevated words together say “God” created the soul of Jesus, to be His “elohim” that will make all who possess that “elohim” (the soul of Jesus) be divinely elevated to that as a Son. When Yahweh is recognized as the “King” to whom all Christians and Jews profess to serve, to be truly reborn as His Son then makes one (regardless of human gender) a “Prince.” That divine presence within makes Jesus be the “Savior” of “God,” so the name “Jesus” means “Yahweh Saves.” The name “Israel” must then be seen as the name given to the divinely elevated soul of Jacob, where that name means “Who Retains God,” with the “el” of “Israel” meaning an “elohim,” which is a “Yahweh elohim” – the “Prince Savior.” Thus, Peter spoke as Jesus telling the Sanhedrin, “I am Saved, while you sinners will burn in eternity for killing the “Prince” of the “God” you profess to serve, while thinking “Israel” is some patch of dirt on earth. That dirt is who you really serve; and, to dirt you will return."
When the last verse in this reading selection says, “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him,” one needs to grasp what a “witness” is. The Greek word written is “martyres,” which must be seen as the root Greek word for the English word “martyr.” The definition of “martyr” is this:
"One who bears testimony to faith," especially "one who willingly suffers death rather
than surrender his or her religious faith," specifically "one of the Christians who in former
times were put to death because they would not renounce their beliefs." (Online
This means being a “witness” is much more than saying, “I believe in Jesus Christ, because someone told me I get to go to heaven by believing that." A priest once said in a sermon, “If those Jewish Christians being eaten by hungry lions in Roman arenas were allowing that to happen to them, it was because of more than belief. Belief would have been disavowed as soon as the first hungry lion began ripping a Jewish Christian to pieces.” This means they became “martyrs,” because their souls were true “witnesses” to the presence of Yahweh’s Spirit, having become possessed divinely by the soul of His Son Jesus. As such, every time a true Christian was unjustly persecuted to death, Jesus died again and again, many times over.
Where the NRSV translates “Holy Spirit,” appearing as one word, like “God Prince” or “Prince Savior,” the Greek text is actually this: “Pneuma to Hagion.” That literally says, “Spirit this Holy.” Because each capitalized word comes with its own divinely elevated meaning, “Spirit” is the greater soul than one’s normal “breath of life.” This says “Pneuma” means one’s soul has married Yahweh AND that Baptism by “Spirit” has allowed a normal soul to become “Doubly Fruitful” (the meaning of the name Ephraim), so the soul of Jesus has divinely possessed one’s soul (divine resurrection). It is then “this” that makes one’s human flesh (like that of Peter and the apostles) become “Holy.” While the Sanhedrin paraded around town in the fanciest robes and carried the most ornate staffs (perhaps a high hat too), they could only put on the airs of being holy. The capitalization says the presence of the “Spirit” brought “this” state of soul being about.
When Peter then said, “whom has given this,” the “this” between “Spirit” and “Holy” is now said to be a “gift of God.” However, it is only given to “those who exist in obedience to him;” and, that means whenever Jesus speaks, an apostle Acts.
It is important to see this mandatory Acts reading, which will only be read on the second Sunday of Easter (with all the missing context never read aloud in church) as Peter being a perfect example of what a true Christian is – one raised from death by receiving the Spirit of Yahweh in divine marriage and being reborn as Jesus. In today’s modern world, where all the church bodies are led by people in positions of “human authority” (popes, archbishops, cardinals, bishops, and tenured theological professors and their pet ordained priests), the expectation is to “teach the message approved by some gay-loving implant, set on destroying the churches." They do this today in the same way Israel had fallen in ruin prior, splitting in two and then having pretend remnants come back to Jerusalem after exile. True Christians are those who stand before such rulers (all those rulers wearing something that says, “Look at me! I am holy, by god! See this collar!”) and find the jealousy that hates (zealously) anyone who acts like that dead guy Jesus. To them, Jesus is the deity they call down from heaven to bless their water, wine and crackers. Jesus does what they command; and, do not forget that God!
If someone claimed to be freed from prison by an angel, getting away without being judged as a criminal, he, she or it (trans-Christians?) would pee themselves before such “human authorities,” squealing like little piglets, “Look at me! I saw an angel! Aren’t I special!?” In these verses, nobody spoke about self. No invisible Angel was mentioned. They had all sacrificed self to serve Yahweh. They all had been reborn as Jesus to obey his every “Command.” To even take a position as one of those glorified employees listed above, means to admit, “I serve me. I serve a church organization. I serve some political agenda.” Nothing says, “I serve Yahweh,” because they would be out doing His Will; and, His Will is not likely wanting to make lambs be penned in pews, never told to go out in ministry and be reborn as Jesus. That would defeat the purpose of “God” making a “Prince” who importantly was created as the “Founder Savior.”
The Easter season is designed to make one’s soul be raised from the death that a simple breath in life, animating a body bound to die, is going to face one day. Yahweh might let that day be in a Roman arena, ripped apart by hungry lions. Death is an assured end to a mortal existence. Being afraid of death (cough – COVID19 – cough) means being a soul trying everything humanly possible to live as long as possible … in a body of dead dirt. Easter is a season designed by leaders no longer alive today, which is intended to say, "Do what Jesus said through Peter (and the other apostles) in this Acts reading." Sitting in a pew for however many Sundays a year one sits in a pew is not Acting as Jesus. Jesus teaches. He does not take commands from lowlifes.
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