XXV, July/August 2019

The angel of the Lord opened the doors (Acts 5:19)

Dear Brothers in the Priesthood!

The next text in the Acts of the Apostles about the presence and activities of the holy Angels, still in the fifth chapter, takes us not only into the life of the Early Church, but also into ours. The first, which we considered already (Acts 5:1-11), speaks about the confrontation with the mystery of the Church, an important challenge for lay-Christians. The second, to which we now come, is a challenge of the church-men. Accordingly, this regards the situation of us priests. "More than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them … bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured." (Acts 5:14-16) This irritated the worldly-minded men of the 'hierarchy' of the Jewish theocracy (since there was no heir of David on the throne).

Then the high priest rose up and all his companions, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and, filled with jealousy, laid hands upon the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said, "Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life." When they heard this, they went to the temple early in the morning and taught. … Then someone came in (to the high priest and his companions) and reported to them, "The men whom you put in prison are in the temple area and are teaching the people." Then the captain and the court officers went and brought them in, but without force, because they were afraid of being stoned by the people… they… questioned them … Peter and the apostles said in reply, "We must obey God rather than men…". They became infuriated … had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them. (Acts 5:17- 6:1)

1. The irrational Fight

We see here a great dynamic of passing from freedom to prison and back to freedom again, and then being taken once more and again set free.

The apostles are free, commissioned by Jesus, they preach Jesus and, by the grace of God, work many miracles.

This makes the actual authorities nervous, so they lay their hands on them and put them in prison.

However, before they could deal with them, God freed the apostles from jail by a heavenly intervention: An angel led them out of the prison and sent them back to the temple to preach there.

The High Priest and those of his party, the Sadducees seized them again in temple and led them before the Sanhedrin. Thanks to prudent intervention of Gamaliel, a pious Pharisee, the infuriated Sanhedrin had the apostles 'merely' scourged and set free with a warning.

A close look reveals a real tension of hierarchical order: The apostles fear God and are guided by the angels; they suffer on earth physically but in their spirit they are happy. The common people "were all cured" and thus benefitted from their proximity to God and were following the Apostles more and more. At the same time, there were many people who lacked the fear of God. In their minds and hearts reigned human respect and the fear of losing their position of power.

The relationship among them was tense, not based on reason, but passions, evidently irrational and, not surprisingly, turned violent. It was, in its root, a rebellion against divine revelation, as before St. Stephen made clear: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it." (Acts 7:51-53)

2. The angels' intervention

GOD himself entered into the "battle-field". He never leaves his faithful alone. He sent an angel to act with a rather unexpected authority: he entered the prison, set the apostles free and gave them clear orders what to do, quite contrary and opposed to that of those in authority: "Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life." The apostles understood very well the angel's command for it fitted perfectly with their commission by Christ. Accordingly, they drew the strength to ignore all fear before the high priest and his companions: The angel called the apostles out, and they went. We do not wonder about the power and possible influence of the angel in this moment. Through many biblical events we are familiar with the dominion which the pure spirits have over the material world and people. The most well-known case is that of the angel in the "furnace … heated seven times more than usual." Even King Nebuchadnezzar saw him as fourth man (Dan 3:19 and 91f.). Many such interventions are foretold by St. John in the book of Revelation.

In short, the angel's words were a charismatic, prophetic motivation and encouragement to consciously use the authority with which Jesus had vested them in the ordination and for their apostolic mission. The background is: Because in Christ all the prophesies of the OT have been fulfilled, the apostles have now become the authentic leaders of Judeo-Christianity. They are the heirs of the Temple,… and the Sanhedrin has now no longer any authority.

Then the angel told them what to do: "Tell the people everything about this life." This is the vocation and mission of the apostles, along with all their priestly successors, to authentically preach the Word and tell the people about Jesus. Note how their mission is similar to that of the angels, the heavenly messengers. "The life of a priest is centered around … the revelation of Christ confided to the Apostles. Outside the celebration of the sacraments, the core responsibility of the priest is to teach the faith. … if we don't see that clearly as priests, our lives effectively become sterilized…" (Thomas Joseph White, O.P., Letter to an Aspiring Priest, March 2019).

In all this, it is admirable how the apostles immediately followed the angelic exhortation. We should not miss the invitation to reflect on this fact. The angelic intervention helps them to become aware and take responsibility for their mission which they received from Christ. The angel's intervention is as a servant of the Holy Spirit, who is leading the Apostles to the full truth, the full, conscious possession of their apostolic ministry, 'reminding' them and enlightening them with regards to the scope of the mission which they received from Christ. As priests, we can count with the same blessing of God for us if we follow our mission as the angels and the apostles do with the angels' help, if we obey faithfully the order God gave us with the priestly ministry. We can read various times: "The Holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him," (Acts 5:32) and Jesus "became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." (Hb 5:19) This leads us to the essential point of the event, the obedience.

3. Obedience: the requested link

Some players in this drama — the angel, the apostles and one of the religious political figures, Gamaliel (in the Martyrology of 1914, on August 3, listed as Saint) – were filled with the Fear of the Lord. As a consequence, they wished to render obedience to God. Gamaliel told them: "Keep away from these men… You might even be found opposing God." (Acts 5:39) To God we must submit, Him we must obey. This is the supreme law.

The high priest, however and all his companions, that is, the party of the Sadducees, did not believe in a life after death. Therefore, even when they dealt with religious matters and were responsible for the temple, their concern was only their own personal temporal advantages and power. When they saw how the people listened and followed the apostles, they became jealous and envious. The main problem, however, was their spiritual attitude towards God as Gamaliel pointed out to them, their opposition to Christ's message. Just as it had happened few years before in the time of Jesus, so it happened here again: The "Love of God" walks over the earth and brings restoration from evil, cures everyone – but they reacted with envy (cf. Mk 15:10) and fury (cf. Acts 5:18 and 33): "Filled with jealousy" they used their power to interfere with the work of God. They responded with vicious passion and willingly opposed the truth, well known to them: When "Peter and the apostles said in reply, 'We must obey God rather than men' … they became infuriated," they did not want to hear the truth, but put the defender of it to death (cf. Acts 5:29.33). By their rejection of the Christ, the Son of God, towards whom the entire economy of the OT was directed, the old hierarchical regime of the OT became defunct; the hierarchy of Christ's priesthood came into itself in the Apostles. And this was the sense of their statement, to obey God rather than man, as they had been directly commissioned by the Son of God. (Moreover, Christ's priesthood and the authority of the Church shall stand till Christ's coming in glory.) In the imitation of Christ, the apostles confessed what they had to say, and also submitted to the unjust punishment imposed by the political powers that were; indeed, they even went away "rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name" (Acts 5:41; cf. the promise of the Holy Spirit to Paul, Acts 20:23).

Dear Brothers in the Priesthood!

Granted we are in this world; we have to preach to this world, but we are not of this world and have to call the people out of this world. And St. John Paul II made clear that there is also an inculturation of the World into the Church (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 52; Fides et Ratio, 72). St. Augustine points to this fact and calls all to build the City of God. St. Ignatius of Loyola presents the two banners and invites to a decision. The Church and we priests are today submitted to a certain public pressure. Here it is good to recall what the apostles experienced: Angels are more than men; grace is stronger than human weakness; super-natural life is stronger and wins against natural reason (cf. Mk 9:23; Jo 14:12; Mt 19:26). Let's`s start with prayer, like this Psalm: "Keep me safe, O God; in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord, you are my only good. Worthless are all the false gods of the land." (Ps 16:1-3).

Fr. Titus Kieninger, ORC

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