Acts 4:23-31

Acts 4:23-31

After their release Peter and John went back to their own people

and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them.

And when they heard it,

they raised their voices to God with one accord

and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth

and the sea and all that is in them,

you said by the Holy Spirit

through the mouth of our father David, your servant:

Why did the Gentiles rage

and the peoples entertain folly?

The kings of the earth took their stand

and the princes gathered together

against the Lord and against his anointed.

Indeed they gathered in this city

against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed,

Herod and Pontius Pilate,

together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

to do what your hand and your will

had long ago planned to take place.

And now, Lord, take note of their threats,

and enable your servants to speak your word

with all boldness, as you stretch forth your hand to heal,

and signs and wonders are done

through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook,

and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, guide the words of my prayer with the words you have inspired in the Psalms. They are truly a school of prayer, and I promise to model my prayer with the Psalms. I recognize humbly that I do not know how to pray as I ought. Lord, teach me how to pray.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Praying with the Psalms of David: In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter leads the disciples in prayer after his release from prison. He doesn’t complain about his suffering or the persecution he has endured. Rather, in his prayer, he invokes the words of David, the Servant of the Lord. “The term ‘servant’ has a royal connotation; in the Old Testament, it is first and foremost the Davidic king who is the ‘servant’ of God (cf. Ps. 89:3). Peter quotes the beginning of Psalm 2 and applies it to Jesus, who, as the heir of David, is now the royal ‘servant’ (Acts 4:27). Peter identifies the various parties mentioned in Psalm 2:1-2 with those involved in Jesus’ Crucifixion. The ‘kings of the earth’ correspond to Herod, the ‘rulers’ to Pontius Pilate, and the ‘people’ with the populace of Israel” (Pimentel, Witnesses of the Messiah, 62). 

2. Discerning God’s Plan of Salvation: In his prayer, Peter strives to discern how his experience of suffering and persecution is part of the unfolding of God’s plan of salvation. He finds inspiration in Psalm 2. “Psalm 2 explains that God stands with the Messiah against their earthly enemies, including now some from Israel. All such enemies will therefore prove to be powerless in the end. Far from thwarting God’s plan of salvation, they unwittingly serve to advance that plan, which God unfolds according to His sovereign providence (cf. Acts 4:28). As a result, the disciples need not fear their opponents, but rather should face them with boldness. Accordingly, Peter prays not for relief from prosecution but for power ‘to speak thy word with all boldness’ (Acts 4:29)” (Pimentel, Witnesses of the Messiah, 63).

3. The New Temple: God responded immediately to Peter’s prayer for boldness and courage to fulfill the mission entrusted to the Church by Jesus Christ. Just as the Lord God shook the Temple of Jerusalem when he revealed himself to Isaiah (see Isaiah 6:4), “he now manifests His presence to the disciples, so that ‘the place in which they were gathered together was shaken’ (Acts 4:31). The Body of Christ constitutes a new temple that, like Solomon’s Temple before it, is ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 4:31)” (Pimentel, Witnesses of the Messiah, 63). God continues to shake the Body of Christ with the Holy Spirit. We should never be complacent that there are people around us who have not heard the Good News about the Kingdom of God.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit. Wake me from my slumber. Inspire me to preach the truth in love and charity. I have experienced your love, compassion, and forgiveness. I want to bring this to everyone I meet today.

Living the Word of God: How have I been complacent and slow to preach the Good News? How have I been on fire and filled with the Holy Spirit to preach the Good News? How have I reacted to suffering, trial, and temptation? Have I complained or sought, in prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit?