Doubts

Imagine being imprisoned or killed for your beliefs.

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, "Fasten your belt and put on your sandals." He did so. Then he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel's help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. On recognizing Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind!" But she insisted that it was so. They said, "It is his angel." Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, "Tell this to James and to the believers." Then he left and went to another place. - Acts 12:1-17

The miraculous event in Peter's story is how he was freed.

We tend to focus on that and gloss over the fact that he was imprisoned in the first place, and that James, the brother of John, was killed by the sword.  

Why is it so easy to accept the bad and be amazed at the good?

I guess we don't expect God's help when we are in trouble or lost.

Even though the church prayed hard for Peter, when he appeared at the door, they couldn't believe it was him.  They, too, doubted God's help would come.

Rhoda was the only one who believed it was Peter, and yet she was so happy to hear his voice, she ran to tell the others rather than let him in.

It may be in our nature to expect the worst and ignore or miss seeing the best, in ourselves, in others, in God.

If all we come away with in today's reading is that God sent angels to release Peter, we may miss the message for all of us.

There is good all around us, waiting to be put into service.  Some of us are the recipients while others are the ones chosen to bring the good news, the good deeds, the good humor, the goodness of God's grace and love.

And yet we choose to doubt.

Go figure.

More to come...