Human Action, God’s Action: A Reflection on Acts 3.12-19

One of the most notorious problems in theology (and belief in God more generally) is what is known as theodicy: the question of how God can be good and just in a world such as ours. While God still may have a lot of answer for — earthquakes, hurricanes, famines, plagues and pandemics, and so on — Christians can at least push back without too much difficulty against accusations when it comes to the existence of murder, rape, and more banal but no less damaging forms of human behaviour. For in a world where we were created free, there will always be the possibility of humans using their freedom to harm themselves and others. I start here today because during the Easter season we hear a lot in our Sunday readings from the earliest Christian sermons recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. And these sermons offer an interesting application of this idea that I think is worth thinking through.

Today’s lesson is the second of five ‘sermons’ (it’s really more of a rant, but I digress) Acts attributes to Peter. It follows a miracle of healing, and it’s worth quoting in full here:

Peter addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” (Acts 3.12-19)

What’s important for today’s purposes about this text is the repetition of the theme of responsibility. Stripping the relevant clauses to their bare bones, we have:

• “God … has glorified … Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected…”
• “You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.”

The same motif is present in the other early sermons in Acts:

• “You … put [Jesus] to death … but God raised him from the dead” (Acts 2.23-24)
• “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4.10)
• “God … raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed” (Acts 5:30)
• “They killed him … but God raised him from the dead” (Acts 10:39-40)

Now it has to be said that these sermons have born a lot of bad fruit over the centuries, used to justify all kinds of evil Anti-Semitic attitudes and actions. And these must be condemned full stop. But, if we look at what they are doing in their own context, these words are an internal religious critique from within Judaism about the behaviour of specific leaders and the fickle crowds they stirred up in a very specific situation. And they aren’t the point. At the same time, we can’t let our discomfort at the disturbing legacy of how people have abused these passages get in the way of hearing what they are actually doing: These are religious insiders accusing other religious insiders of a religiously-motivated murder, and proclaiming in no uncertain terms that God vindicated their victim.

The theme here is nothing other than this: Humans kill; God brings life. And being a religious insider, no matter how one defines that, does nothing to change that.

Where is God at the Cross? God is hanging from the Cross. And the same can be said for all other horrific acts of human violence throughout history. God was burned at the stake alongside so-called witches. God was whipped by slavers. God was killed under the guillotine’s blade. God was hung from the lynching tree. God was asphyxiated in the gas chambers. And on and on, in our sad human litany of murder.

Believers in God are often criticized for having a ‘God of the gaps’, but what Christianity offers is something both far less satisfying and far more interesting. We don’t have a God of the gaps, but a God of the gallows. God is dead and we have killed him.

But this is not the end of the story. For humans may do unspeakable violence to each other, the world, and God along with it, but God gives life. We just saw this theme the other day in the series on how the Scriptures talk about the Holy Spirit. We believe that God is present in and through all things, breathing life into newborns, whether starfish, rats, or people, and breathing green into deserts and wastelands.

Where is God in our violent world? God is suffering in solidarity with those we kill, and bringing new life into the deserts of our creation.

May we all choose to break the cycle of violence and join God in bringing life, vitality, and thriving wherever we go. Amen.