The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide Tuesday, 29 December 2020

 The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide Tuesday, 29 December 2020

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection <info@mc.cor.org>

Tuesday, 29 December 2020

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide Tuesday, 29 December 2020

“Both Lord and Christ”

Daily Scripture:

Acts 2:31-39

31 Having seen this beforehand, David spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he wasn’t abandoned to the grave, nor did his body experience decay [Psalm 16:10]. 32 This Jesus God raised up. We are all witnesses to that fact. 33 He was exalted to God’s right side and received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit. He poured out this Spirit, and you are seeing and hearing the results of his having done so. 34 David didn’t ascend into heaven. Yet he says,

The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right side,

35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’ [Psalm 110:1].

36 “Therefore, let all Israel know beyond question that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

37 When the crowd heard this, they were deeply troubled. They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

38 Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.”

Reflection Questions:

By New Testament times, Rome claimed their emperors were divine, and called them “Lord” (Greek kurios). To call Jesus “Lord” in occupied Jerusalem was risky. There could only be one true “Lord,” and neither Romans nor Temple officials were willing to give Jesus that title. Yet this was Peter’s potent claim fifty days after the rulers crucified Jesus (verse 36). Before, Peter so feared the “powers that be” that he denied even knowing Jesus (Luke 22:54-62). Just fifty days later, in the same city, he boldly said Jesus was Lord “beyond question.”

Peter quoted Psalm 110:1, a text Jesus and the apostles often quoted (cf. Luke 20:42–44; 22:69; Acts 7:55–56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12–13; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22). To sit at a king’s right hand meant to share his authority and trust. How did this verse from the psalm, applied to Jesus, support Peter’s claim about Jesus in verse 36?

Just fifty days earlier, the Temple authorities, supported by some of the people of Jerusalem, had called for Jesus' death. Pilate, although convinced Jesus was innocent, gave in to their demand. If you had condemned Jesus, how would you have felt when confronted by Peter’s bold challenge? In what ways did Peter’s boldness itself bear witness to the truth of the Lord’s resurrection—what else could have changed him so quickly and dramatically?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I wasn’t there long ago shouting “Crucify him.” But as I reflect on Peter’s bold sermon, I know I also need to change my heart and life, and I ask you to be my Lord in doing that. Amen.

Want more reflection on today's GPS?

Read the GPS Insight by Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at Leawood's modern worship services, as well as at the West and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.

In college, my campus fellowship had regional gatherings with fellowships where we’d have breakout sessions for Bible study, listen to some awesome worship music, and hang out with other like-minded students from across the state. We looked forward to these. So during my sophomore year, being one of the few of my friend group who had a car, I offered to drive a car full of people to this gathering. Six of us piled into my 1996 Ford Taurus station wagon and hit the road.

We’d been to this hotel before, so I knew the way there. We were singing along with some 80s pop hits when someone in the car asked if we were heading in the right direction. That was a preposterous question. I knew the way there. So we sang a few more 80s songs and someone else voices a concern that we’re probably heading in the wrong direction. Nonsense—I knew the way there. Someone had the bright idea to turn around and look at street signs for people heading the opposite direction as us and, sure enough, they confirmed we were heading the wrong direction. We showed up to the gathering an hour and a half late, although we had a really good story.

There are many things we can say about my gigantic ego in college or the confusing highway system in Florida, but I think there’s a more simple explanation for why we ended up traveling for 30 minutes in the wrong direction. It’s always going to be easier to take one more step than to admit that you’ve been going in the wrong direction for a long time. And for every step you take, it becomes harder to admit your mistake. Every time I told this car full of people that I knew where I was going, it became harder to accept that they were right.

This behavior was not exclusive to me in college. As humans, we want to believe that we’re psychologically consistent. When we believe we’re a certain way and we’re presented with evidence that something we did is not that way, we usually don’t ask if we’re really the way that we think we are—most of the time, we’ll instead find ways to reconcile what we did with what we think we are. If you’ve ever seen a salesman lead a conversation with something like, “You look like someone who knows a good deal,” they’re exploiting this. Admitting you like a good deal makes it harder to turn down a legitimately good deal. This is something that’s hard-wired into us as humans.

So, going back to today’s passage, I think the most striking part of this for me wasn’t Peter’s boldness, but this crowd’s willingness to accept the inconsistency in their own behavior and beliefs. Knowing how hard I denied heading in the wrong direction illuminates how hard this must have been for a crowd who had just condemned Jesus to die a vicious death to turn around and accept that this Jesus was the Christ. If there’s one thing I want to learn from this passage, it’s how quickly that nameless crowd confronted its own mistakes and turned itself around. As much as we like consistency, we are all eventually wrong. It’s always going to be easier to take one more step than admit that you’re heading in the wrong direction, but how far off course will we be when we’re finally forced to admit it?

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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.

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