A Cause for Commotion
Reflections on wisdom, discernment, and repentance based on today's readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041126.cfm
After the disciples went through the area preaching the Resurrection of Christ, they caused a considerable amount of commotion. Many people were flocking to them to see and hear the Good News they came to share.
But this commotion was unwanted by many of the authorities. The elders approached the disciples and ordered them to stop preaching.
We can understand the psychology behind this easily enough — the Gospel, when preached in sincerity, challenges those who hear it to break with their old ways and begin living according to the way of Christ. So many people, especially those who have become quite accustomed to the way things are (the elders), are more interested in maintaining the established order than in having this order radically transformed.
Though we can sympathize with these motivations, we must not overcomplicate the morality of the situation. Peter says it simply:
“Whether it is right in the sight of God
for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges. It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
There are two statements here that are equally important for our consideration. The first is that the advice of men can often conflict with the dictates of God.
Though we are often told how foolish it is to ignore good advice, we are seldom warned about the danger of heeding bad advice. To be open to advice indiscriminately is not a sign of humility but of stupidity.
This very clear teaching by Peter shows us this, but it also provides the criteria by which we are to judge the quality of advice given — namely, whether it is aligned with the will of God.
There are times when this can be complicated. In difficult interpersonal situations involving the messiness of human brokenness and years of background, it can be difficult to discern the will of God and, therefore, to assess whether the advice others give us complies with it.
Yet there are still certain guiding principles that can always help us recognize the type of advice that should be avoided. One instance is the well-meaning but deeply damaging advice to avoid repentance.
Today’s reading shows that failing to preach the Gospel is failing to follow the will of the Lord, but an implication of preaching the Gospel is a recognition of the need for repentance.
There are many cases where one suggests that someone else not go through the process of self-examination because they do not want it to lead to self-condemnation. This is a caring instinct, but it is intellectually and spiritually misguided.
The distinctive element of Christian self-awareness is that one can ruthlessly examine oneself without ever condemning oneself, because one has such great trust that the mercy of God is greater than one’s sin. This means that encouraging another to avoid repentance is discouraging them from strengthening their belief in the Gospel.
Of course, there is a way of preaching repentance that makes one feel condemned, and this should also be avoided. But, as the old saying goes, abuse does not negate use.
And this leads to the second part of the statement: “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
The reason the disciples are able to so clearly and confidently follow the will of the Lord, despite the pushback from the elders, is that they are not following some abstract principle, but are simply preaching what they have seen and heard for themselves.
This is also a pattern that occurs so often during evangelization efforts and can impact many forms of advice-giving and receiving.
The elders, who have not seen and heard this for themselves, can again be understood for not wanting to cause a commotion, but those who have cannot help themselves. When one has encountered the Lord, there is a certain impulse to share Him with others.
We must remember that those who were giving advice seemed like very good men by worldly standards, but the disciples are coming to introduce a new standard. There is a certain tension here that still exists today.
The conventional wisdom of those who are good in the eyes of the world will clash with the divine wisdom that works its way through whomever the Lord decides. As today’s reading shows, the Lord often chooses such people to share this wisdom so that the ears of the proud will not be able to understand.
Those who believe that wisdom is an exclusive possession of the aged or the learned will be unable to understand when it is preached by the young or uneducated, as it was by the disciples.
Yet those who know wisdom to be a gift from God, given as He desires and for purposes only understood by Him, are capable of receiving wisdom from anywhere and everywhere — not without discernment, but without undue restriction.
May we all be open to receiving the wisdom of the Lord, may we be discerning in the advice we receive, and remain fixed on always following the will of the Lord.