For last year's anniversary of my mother's death, I quoted Bono from U2, someone who lost his mother during his teen years. This time, I'll quote Paul McCartney, who---like Bono and John Lennon---also lost his mother during his teen years (if you know these three men's songs, you can see how these events influenced their songwriting).
The song "Let It Be" was written by Paul during a time of growing conflict within The Beatles. Perhaps he could tell that they wouldn't be working together for very much longer---I don't know. But, he dreamt one night that his mother visited him and told him something along the lines of "It will be alright, just let it be," and that was the starting point for the song. By the way, "Mother Mary" in the lyrics refers to his own mother, who was named Mary.
Now, I'm not going to get into any possible religious significance of the dream except to say that "let it be" can sometimes be a fine way to translate the Greek word "aphiemi". In the New Testament, this word can mean everything from "send away" to "divorce" to "depart" to "permit" to "forgive," for example "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12, ESV) and "let both grow together until the harvest..." (Matthew 13:30, ESV). Sometimes, it is a matter of faith to "let it be"---to let go of one's fears, expectations and grudges, to forgive, to trust that God has reconciled to himself all things through the cross (Colossians 1:19-20), that He is making all things new (Revelation 21:1-5) and that Christ will lose nothing that God has given Him (John 6:35-40).
Pentecost is a week from now on the Western church calendar. Acts 2, of course, is the record of what happened during the Pentecost following Jesus' resurrection. I'm going to write a little bit about Acts 3, however, which describes a lame beggar being healed and Peter using the opportunity to preach a sermon.
The healing of a beggar who sat at a temple gate---which took place when Peter commanded him to rise up and walk---attracted a large crowd. Peter then preached a sermon that was similar in many ways to his Pentecost sermon. It began:
“Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all..." (Acts 3:12-16, ESV)
There was no beating around the bush with jokes or sentimental stories! Peter started off with full-blast preaching about their sin under the Law and the grace of God in the Gospel. The result: just as people were "cut to the heart" at Pentecost (Acts 2:37), so here they responded with either hostility or belief (Acts 4:1-4).
But, don't confuse the holy boldness of Peter with a "holier-than-thou" attitude. Note how he first disclaimed any personal power or piety in the healing of the beggar (v. 12). And, as he spoke about the people having "delivered up (Greek: paradidomi) and denied (Greek: arneomai)" Jesus (v. 13), he probably recalled how he and Judas had done the same things in their own ways. During the night before Jesus' crucifixion, Judas "betrayed" (Greek: paradidomi) Jesus to the Jewish leaders, and Peter denied (Greek: arneomai and aparneomai) Jesus three times even though he promised that he would never do so (Matthew 26). The only reason why Peter was alive and preaching, rather than dead from despair like Judas, was the grace of God (Luke 22:31-34); like the lepers of 2 Kings 7, he was sharing the good news of God's undeserved favor to people who also had nothing to boast about in themselves.
In vv. 13-15, as he does in Acts 2:22-23,36, Peter puts the responsibility of Jesus' death upon his hearers. No one deserves to be sinned against, and Jesus takes it personally when we sin against our neighbors---particularly those in the church (Matthew 25:31-46, Acts 9:1-5). But, the awfulness of sin was most magnified when Jesus---who never sinned, but perfectly loved God and every person---was put to death by the hands of sinful men in fulfillment of the Old Testament ("They hated me without a cause," Psalm 69:4, John 15:24-25).
Yet, God's grace has been magnified where our sin has been magnified (Romans 3:5, 5:20). Jesus' death and resurrection were the key to God's plan to bless the nations, as Peter says in vv. 17-26, and they are the ultimate fulfillment of Joseph's words "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). Christ was crucified by men "without a cause (Greek: dorea)," and through the crucifixion God justifies all men "by his grace as a gift (Greek: dorea)" (Romans 3:23-24); alternatively, one could say that we "gave" Christ his cross, something He did not earn, and through that cross God justifies us---not because we deserve to be justified, but because God is gracious.
During Pentecost, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit having been poured out upon the church. This gift is part and parcel of our justification, adoption and redemption---a "guarantee" of our future inheritance (Acts 2:38, Romans 8:14-17, Ephesians 1:13-14). He teaches us, empowers us, encourages us and testifies to us about Jesus and about who we are in Him (John 14:16-17,26, 15:26, 16:7-15; Romans 8:16-17; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7). And, as with all of God's gifts through the Gospel, the Spirit has been given to us freely, not as a result of our works: without cost, without cause. Thanks be to God!
Who are you? There’s a deep question to get things rolling. Who are you? In the martial arts they teach you to know your center of gravity. If you know your center of gravity, you aren’t easily knocked over, no matter how hard you are hit. It allows you to stand firm in the midst of battle without being locked in place. You can move and act with confidence, because you know where your center of gravity is. If you don’t know who you are, you have no personal center of gravity. You’re easily knocked off balance by the slightest thing. You let other people define who you are, lay expectations on you, try to bend and mold you to their idea of who you are.
When we don’t know who we are, we tend to ball up on ourselves, assume a kind of fetal position with respect to the world. And we never mature, we never grow up, when we don’t know who we are. We have no sense of meaning, purpose, place. We simply exist and let others or our circumstances define us.
Who are you? Peter answers that question for some newly baptized Christians in his first epistle, part of which you just heard. They are newborn infants that need to nuzzle up to the breast of mother Church, to drink the pure spiritual milk of the Word so that by it they would grow up to salvation. They have tasted that the Lord is good. They have come to the table, still dripping wet from their Baptism, wearing white robes, oil running down their faces and onto their robes. They have come to eat their Savior’s body and drink His blood and taste that the Lord is good.
Now Peter tells them who they are as baptized believers: They are living stones built into a spiritual temple; and they are a holy and royal priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Another way of saying it: they are worshipers who worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.
