Great Aunt Ruth's Paisley Loveseat Acts 12

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My stepmother loved to visit a lady by the name of Ruth Jones. Even though she wasn’t related to me, I still remember her as Great Aunt Ruth. Though I possessed the energy of a twelve year old hormonally induced boy, her elderly eyes were steady and unrelenting. Those steely peeps could track a bogey at 300 mph. Her interior design skills were unmatched. A visitor would never know that a glistening green carpet, the matching paisley print livingroom set, and all her imitation wood recently ordained with pledge was in the home of a double-wide. Yet, what I remember most were the steady eyes, the pillowy white hair, and her hands. Especially the hands. They were translucent, cold and waxy. And they were the kind of hands that prayed a good deal. Sometimes slightly folded, sometimes wrung, and sometimes pushed together like two woodboards. She used to write me in college that she would pray for me and my family back at home. I imagined her sitting on her paisley green love seat, with those waxy fingers pressed together, calling down the power of the Almighty. I don’t think I truly understood what that meant then, or what it means now here in verse 5. Still, when I read verse 5, I imagine hundreds of Ruth’s praying for Peter. The mighty Herod, backed by the Roman Army, versus a room full of great Aunt Ruth’s praying.

Herod Agrippa 1 did not know what he got himself into.

V1 – 5

The grandson of Herod the great, Herod Agrippa I, reached from his throne in Jerusalem, and picked off one of Jesus’ precious 12, James, the brother of John. The story just got real. It was one thing for a Jewish brother or sister to be persecuted. Just the common folk - you know, the cousin of the guy you know from college. All of these deaths were local, and insignificant. But, one of Jesus’ own? This is James the son of thunder we’re talking about. The apostles that are supposed to be leaders of the future tribes of Israel? Rome was starting to pick off the very core of the church.

Persecution just went national.

And Herod loved it. See, this was his career job. He recently took over the reign of Judea and Samaria in 41 AD, and Herod really needed to keep the job. He had already embarrassed himself with a string of bad debts, then was accused of treason and sent to prison by the Emperor Claudius. he knew that to keep his job, he needed to keep “pax romana”, (Roman Peace). This meant he needed to make the Jewish people happy. Nothing would make them happier than to destroy the heretical church. So, Herod, having won kudos for killing James, goes after the head of the church, Peter. The great, Roman power goes after the head of the church. How does the church respond? They gather together and have a good ol’ prayer meeting.

Wow.

What about writing the local legislative? Or breaking Peter out? Or causing a riot? Where are the viral youtube videos, with cheap flashing fonts, bad lighting and the unsteady cam shot?

6-11

Verse 6, we find Peter locked away. Probably in the tower of Antonia, a roman garrison. It was located northwestern corner of the temple complex. Standard procedure. Herod arrested Peter during the Passover feast. But, because he knew that a good Jewish leader would not allow a trial or execution in Jerusalem during the weak of Passover, he waited. Also standard procedure. But, Herod did arrest Peter when he knew the city population would be twice its size due to the feast, so a good deal more would see Peter’s death after the Passover week ended. Herod knows how to work the marketing campaign for himself. Standard, once again. Lastly, Peter was bound between two guards, and there were sentries at the door. Still, pretty standard. Herod knows how to play the game.

But something otherworldly takes place in the inspite of our self-aggrandizing politician. It is so unexpected and so transcendent, that even Peter doesn’t quite understand what happens next. This sudden, detailed account of the angelic encounter creates a heart-pounding scene. First, the angel wakes him. Then, instructs him to grab his cloak and sandals. It describes in verse 10 that they approach the gates, which unlocked and opened by themselves. You can almost see Peter’s heavy breath in the night air by the end of verse 10. Suddenly, the angel is gone.

12-18

When Peter makes his way back to the house of Mary, mother of John, what does he find them doing? It says the people are still praying. STILL PRAYING. Peter was probably arrested in the afternoon. They prayed throughout the evening, and until the morning. Maybe there is an ancient way of praying that is lost on my modern sentiments...anyway. Now, we shouldn’t miss this. It is no coincidence that verse 5 ends with, “prayer was made to God by the church.” When Peter arrives in verse 12, it says they were “gathered together and were praying”. They pray. Peter, their prayer request walks up to the gate and calls out them.

Has that ever happened to you? You are up against a Herod. You pray for something crazy, something out of this world, and God answers the prayer? You look at yourself in the mirror and say: “Me? Why would the God of the universe answer me?” Why would the God of the universe listen to my great Aunt Ruth who prayed for me, and my salvation and my studies and my ministry and my future wife?

The people at Mary’s house felt the exact same way. Peter knocks at the gate. Rhoda, who will be forever remembered as our biblical airhead, runs to the gate. And “in her joy” completely forgets to open the gate. She runs back to the people to tell them Peter is alive. They tell her that she is out of her mind. And if her actions are an indication of her state-of-mind, they might be on to something. But, in the end they go to meet Peter.

Many scholars observe the almost comical, lighthearted encounter in verses 12-17. This reads like a story we tell over and over. Remember those stories your family tells around the dinner table about the alligator infested water and how your big brother almost fell over? Or how your crazy brother from Mississipi loved to go catfish noodling. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Click here.

This is the story of common folk. They do not have power or influence. They work at Starbucks, the dentist's office, etc. This is the story when common folk, approach an uncommon God, by pressing their hands together like two woodboards, are able to defeat the almighty Herod. This is my great Aunt Ruth, who isn’t really my great aunt, but who really is my great Aunt, as the kingdom of God goes. On the paisley print love seat, she prays for a curly-head boy who can’t fathom the power of those waxy, cold, fingers.

It’s what Karl Barth meant when he said:

“To clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”

Wherever you are when you read this, I’m not sure if the financial walls are closing in, or you are at the end of your marriage. I don’t know if all of your friends have abandoned you at the hour you most needed it. Maybe, stuff can’t seem to work out. But, I know that God is all about the common folk. He is all about addressing the needs of those who need it most. Pray, pray, pray. Join others in prayer. I cannot even begin to explain to you the extend of God's goodness. Frankly, it will surprise you. It surprised the church in Jerusalem. It still surprises me.

More so, some of us might be the King Herod in the story. Let it go. When we abandon the futility of our careers, our influence, our ambition, and recognize that we could never stand up to my great aunt Ruth and those beautiful hands, then we will be that much closer to the kingdom.

But, the writer doesn’t quite end here. Take a moment and read 20-25. Reflect on two passages: v22“He did not give God the glory…” v24 “But the word of God increased and multiplied.”

Peace

Kevin

Just a little extra.

For the writer Luke, who wrote both Luke and Acts, prayer was a very important theme. Luke seems to believe that without it, the work of the Spirit could not be unleashed (Luke 3:21; 6:12; 9:18; 9:29; 21:36; 22:32; 23:34; 23:46. Acts: 1:14,24; 2:42; 4:24-31; 6:4,6; 9:40; 10:2,4,9,31; 12:12; 13:3; 14:23; 16:25; 22:17; 28:8). For Luke, you cannot separate one from the other. If you have time on your hands, review the passages and consider what your life would look like if you began mixing in a little more prayer and the power of the Spirit.