Reader's Guide

Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Friday, July 5, 2013 Read – Acts 12:1-25 Chapter twelve interrupts that story of the church at Antioch and the mission of Saul/Paul that will soon dominate Luke’s narrative. On the whole the chapter presents a challenge historically for Luke’s readers. The story centers on events surrounding the reign of King Herod. This Herod would have been the nephew of Herod Antipas who was ruler of Galilee at the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This Herod was the grandson of King Herod the Great who was King of the Jews at the time of the birth of Jesus. Like his grandfather before him, this Herod was referred to a King since he was given rule by the Romans over Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. His reign was short – from 40-44 AD. He was named King when his uncle, Herod Antipas was deposed as tetrarch of Galilee and exiled in 39 AD. Herod Antipas, seeking to please his nagging wife, had begged the Romans to name him King and in return lost his place as ruler. The Herod in this story was as conniving and arrogant as his grandfather, King Herod the Great, had been. The events that Luke relates likely reflect the action of this Herod, although there are no extra-biblical records to verify what happened – except for his death which is also related by Josephus in a slightly different manner. Like Luke, Josephus tells us that God struck down this Herod because of his arrogant claim to be a god. For readers of the NT there are just too many Herods to keep them all straight. We will meet one more Herod later in the story (Acts 25:13) – that Herod was ruler during the arrest and trial of Saul/Paul and also during the fateful Jewish War of 66-70 AD. He was actually on the side of the Romans in that war and hated by the common people – all of the Herods were hated! As I mentioned, the narrative presents a historical problem since Luke seems to imply that the events in chapter 12 follow those in chapter 11. The famine that Luke refers to in chapter 11 occurred between 46-48 AD; at least 2 years after the Herod spoken of in chapter 12 had died in 44AD. From a strictly historical point of view Luke should have told the story of Herod before he told the story of the events in Antioch. Perhaps we ought to cut Luke some slack. Telling about the events in Antioch fits better right on the heels of the event at Caesarea. Both stories related to the Gentile mission. And Luke does say, “About that time King Herod ….” (Acts 12:1). Luke is imprecise in his dating. We have noticed before that the writers of the gospels and now Luke in Acts are not nearly as concerned about historical accuracy as we seem to be. So, the so-called historical conflict we encounter is really not very significant. The story itself is once again about the opposition that is leveled against the followers of Jesus – once again back in the city of Jerusalem. So far in the story we have heard nothing of the James mentioned here except his name (Acts 1:13). Luke speaks of another James, but he is careful to identify him as the brother of Jesus. This James is the brother of John and one of the original twelve. For a second time Luke tells of the death of a follower of Jesus. The picture he draws of Herod and of the people of Jerusalem is unsettling. Luke tells us that unbelieving Jews were pleased that Herod had killed James. Incidentally, this is likely to have happened in about 40 AD when Herod was rising to power. Seeing how pleased the unbelieving Jews were at the death of James, Herod has Peter arrested with the intent to kill him too. This is at least the third time Peter has found himself in jail. The story takes an interesting turn when Luke relates that the arrest of Peter took place during Passover – a similarity to the arrest of Jesus. As with Jesus, Herod does not want to stir up the crowd too much so he holds Peter in custody until the Feast of Passover is complete. God intervenes. The story has similarities to the story told in Acts 4 and 5 – two other stories about the arrest of Peter. As in the story in chapter 5 Peter is miraculously freed by God. This will not be the last time we will hear of such an action on God’s part – Paul will also be miraculously freed. It is likely that Luke did not know exactly when any of the arrests of Peter took place – or even if there were multiple arrests. Was the first arrest shortly after Pentecost and the second not long after that? We need to remember that the arrest spoken of in this text would have been several years later. Were there other arrests in between? All of these are questions for which we have no answers. One thing of note is that the hostility and intended violence against Peter grows in intensity as the arrests are narrated. Perhaps some of the content of each of these stories is due to Luke’s storytelling techniques. Luke, it seems, was not as interested in historical accuracy as in telling a good story that proclaims the core message of Christianity. The story is laced with irony and humor. Surely this was a story that early followers of Jesus loved to tell and to hear. The church is fervently praying and when the prayer is answered in a positive way, the people do not believe it. Peter is left knocking on the gate as prayers for his release continue! The story is also reminiscent of the women returning from the tomb to tell the Apostles of the resurrection of Jesus and they think the words of the women are an idle tale, a fantasy. On a more solemn note, one cannot but wonder why a story of the tragic death of James is placed next to an ironic and humorous story about Peter’s release. Why is one spared and the other not? Of course such questions are without answers for the people of God. Perhaps it is on purpose and beneficial that Luke has told the story in this way – tragedy and comedy together. Our lives are often like this as well. This episode ends with another conundrum for readers of Acts. In typical form Luke tells us that the church continues to expand (Acts 12:24), but then the text says that “Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name is Mark” (Acts 12:25). At the end of chapter 11 Luke had told us that Barnabas and Saul had been the ones to deliver the food aid to Jerusalem. They are already there. (Incidentally, this is one more piece of evidence that chapter 12 is an interruption – for some reason Luke put it there in the middle of his story about Barnabas and Saul and the beginning of the ministry of the church in Antioch.) It would make much more sense if Acts 12:25 said that Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem to Antioch. While there are no manuscripts that read in this way – it likely that Barnabas and Saul were not coming to Jerusalem but returning from Jerusalem. Either Luke made and error or, more likely, an early copyist of the book of Acts made the error and the error of that copyist was perpetuated. Again, this is a very small matter – but it is good for us to note such things since it helps us to understand that the Bible is a more complex book, tainted by human hands, and not somehow the dictation of God. The inspiration of scripture by the Holy Spirit does not mean a text without human error. The inspiration of scripture by the Holy Spirit does mean that scripture is the powerful Word of God that creates and sustains faith – in spite of human inaccuracy and complexity.