Following the martyrdom of Stephen, a man named Saul advanced the widespread persecution of the church in Jerusalem. He was determined to eradicate the followers of Jesus by binding them and bringing them to Jerusalem. He obtained letters from the high priest authorizing him to go into the Damascus synagogues and continue the search.
Suffering and persecution may seem like an unlikely place to look for the sovereign God, but this was precisely the agency that he used to spread the gospel. The believers that were scattered were preaching the word as they sought to find safer areas to live. Philip went to Samaria and proclaimed Christ.
The movement of the gospel is making powerful connections with people and areas that included generational, geographic, and cultural barriers. The gospel is making a move to the Gentiles. Cornelius is a Roman centurion, stationed at Caesarea.
The Spirit bid Philip go over to the chariot and Philip complied and ran up to him. As he arrives at the chariot, he discovers that this man was reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip offers to help him understand the scriptures. The Ethiopian invites Philip to come up and join him.
He declared these things to the angry mob, but they cried out, covered their ears, and rushed at him. These leaders gave full vent to their anger, losing any semblance of self-control. They cast him outside the city and pelted him with rock after rock. Their anger would only be satiated by blood.
These leaders are astonished at how well spoken these uneducated men are, but they recognized that they had been with Jesus. They were speechless as this gathering was attended by the lame beggar who was standing as an undeniable witness to the healing that had taken place. They dismissed these men and conferred among themselves. The best plan they could come up with was to warn these men not to speak in the name of Jesus.
The people rushed together, and Peter seized the opportunity to preach. He gave the crowd a proper address but quickly shifted the attention away and dismissed any thought that they had done the miraculous. He recounted the people's denial of Jesus and pointed to their irrational decision to accept a murderer instead of Jesus.
Then some wonderful happened, the Holy Spirit came, and it was both visible and audible. God the Spirit came in power and was accompanied by the sound of a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire. These tongues of fire endowed the disciples with the ability to speak in various languages to the multicultural crowd that had gathered for the festival.
The ascension meant their communion with the risen Christ had come to an end. Jesus would not join them in the upper room again. They accompany the departure with news of a certain return on the clouds of heaven, just as he departed this earth.
As they drew near to the village, Jesus indicated that he was going farther. They urged him to stay with them because the day was ending. As he blessed the food for the meal, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus. Immediately, he vanished. The recalled how their hearts had burned within them as Jesus opened the Scriptures.
Mary stayed, she was broken-hearted and perplexed. Mary’s attention moved to the two angels dressed in white. The angels asked Mary why she was crying? She replied, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
Everything that was happening was precisely what God had planned and Jesus knew it. He had known it all along. Every detail is significant. There was great significance placed on the fact that the crucifixion took place in Passover week.
In order to accommodate them, Pilate came outside the building and addressed them in the courtyard. The dramatic irony is that for the Jews to participate in the Passover celebrations, they were actually conspiring to murder the Passover Lamb of God. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that his kingdom is not of this world so there is no imminent threat. But still Pilate doesn’t get it.
Passover is drawing near and things will begin to move quickly and in an unthinkable fashion. Instead of remembering what God had done for his people during this season of celebration, the religious leaders were plotting murder. God had visited his people and his people sought to kill him.
Mary left quickly and those around her followed close behind supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep. Mary spoke words very similar to her sister and fell at his feet distressed over their loss. Jesus was deeply moved and asked where Lazarus was buried. Jesus wept.
He pleads with Jesus saying, "If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." One might expect Jesus to console this distraught father. However, Jesus rebukes him for his lack of faith. At this point, the father responds in desperation with a visceral plea for help asking Jesus to help his unbelief and as the crowd approaches, Jesus commands the spirit to leave forever.
Jesus and the disciples pass by a man that has been blind from birth. The disciples raise a question concerning the relationship between sin and suffering with regard to the man's blindness. Jesus challenges their simplistic correlation between this man's blindness by stating that none of the individuals were the cause of the congenital blindness. Imagine the disciples' surprise when Jesus explained that this man was blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Peter and the water both obeyed Jesus, and Peter began to walk on the water toward Jesus. It did not take long for Peter's fledgling faith to waiver and Jesus allowed him to sink into a dark, angry sea. In that moment of sheer panic, Peter called out for Jesus to rescue him.
Jesus, having announced the necessity of his suffering and death, now tells his followers that if they desire to follow, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow. Following Jesus is a death to self and finding your life in his.
These parables of Jesus were told in light of the fact that he regularly received sinners and ate with them. Tax collectors were evidently considered an entirely different class of sinners. Therefore, to the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus' behavior was scandalous.