Persecution: a martyrdom and a deliverance
1. Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church
in order to mistreat them.
2. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.
3. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it
was during the days of Unleavened Bread.
4. When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of
soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.
5. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
6. On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping
between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.
7. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and
he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands.
8. And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so.
And he *said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."
9. And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done
by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
10. When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into
the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately
the angel departed from him.
11. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel
and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
12. And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called
Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
13. When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer.
14. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in
and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.
15. They said to her, "You are out of your mind!" But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, "It is his angel."
16. But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.
17. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him
out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James and the brethren." Then he left and went
to another place.
18. Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter.
19. When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they
be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.
1. James Is executed (v1,2).
- herod is the grandson of herod the great (the one who killed all the kids in bethlehem)
- herod is also the nephew of the herod who had john the baptist killed (that was herod antipas)
- this herod is herod agrippa.
he was a close friend of caligula, having spent much time in rome.
he was imprisoned by tiberious after someone overheard remarking that he wished for tiberius' death
so caligula could reign.
when caligula became emperor, he was released and set up as ruler of some territory in the middle east.
he later had his uncle antipas banished (he accused him of some seditious act) and ended up ruling all of judea.
the jews liked agrippa; josephus mentions his piety and generosity to the jews.
at any point, at some point between 41ad (herod was in rome) and 44ad (herod's death), he has james the brother of john killed.
the motivation for this is speculated to be to earn favor with the jews.
this is explicitly stated as his motivation for wanting to kill peter.
it is notable how little time luke spends on the death of james...it's almost merely a prequel for the story about peter.
2. Peter Is jailed and waiting execution (v3-5).
herod notices that the jews really like that he killed james.
so...he arrests peter and plans to further increase his rank in the popularity polls by killing him too.
peter is in jail and herod is waiting until after passover to kill him. peter is actually being guarded
by 16 soldiers total (likely 4 per shift); v6 mentions that he was chained to 2 of them.
the church, not able to take any direct action to help peter, prays.
3. An angel frees Peter (v6-12).
on the last night before peter's execution...an angel appears to peter in the night.
the angel tells peter to stand up, makes the chains fall of peter's hands, and tells him to put his shoes on.
the angel then proceeds to lead peter straight out of the jail. when they make it to the gate, it swings open
for them by itself.
the angel leads him down a street and then vanishes.
peter clears his head and deadpans, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel
and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
4. Peter is reunited with the disciples (v13-18).
peter heads to the house of mary, the mother of john mark (probably a widow since we just mention her).
as it turns out, a bunch of the disciples have gathered to pray there (probably requesting his release).
he gets to the gate, but this one doesn't open on it's own...he has to knock.
a servant named rhoda hears his voice, and is so excited that she leaves him there and goes to tell the others.
they don't believe her and say that it must be his angel. while they argue about who/what it is, peter is
stuck at the gate.
at some point someone gets up off the couch and goes to open the gate, and in comes peter.
peter tells the disciples of his escape, and tells them to report these things to james and the bretheren (in jerusalem).
for those of you keeping track of herod(s) and james(s), this james is not the executed brother of john but the living
brother of jesus. james becomes the de facto leader of the jerusalem church.
peter then leaves to go elsewhere.
"where does peter go?"
shut up kid, don't ask so many questions.
nobody knows. antioch? corinth? rome? lubbock?
5. Guards are killed (v18,19).
herod hears of peter having gone missing...and he has the guards executed.
and so...the enemy soldiers are killed instead of peter.
20. Now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him,
and having won over Blastus the king's chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was fed by the king's country.
21. On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them.
22. The people kept crying out, "The voice of a god and not of a man!"
23. And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24. But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.
25. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them
John, who was also called Mark.
note: josephus describes this same event...though he doesn't say that herod was killed becuase he accepted the praise of the people.
1. tyre and sidon are in trouble...
tyre and sidon are coastal cities.
evidentally they've upset the king, and he's cut off food to them.
they ended up hiring a lobbiest, and managed to win over blastus, the kings chamberlain/chief of staff.
2. herod shows up to talk to the people, all gussied up in his royal bling.
when?
most argue that this was march of 44ad, at the quinquennial games in caesarea.
in any case we're pretty sure that this was 44ad since that's the year of herod's death.
herod is wearing his royal apparal, which josephus describes as being made of silver and glistening.
3. the hoi polloi flatter herod and call him divine; he doesn't refuse the glory and an angel strikes him
wikipedia's version of josephus tale is:
After Passover in 44, Agrippa went to Caesarea, where he had games performed in honour of
Claudius. In the midst of his elation Agrippa saw an owl perched over his head. During
his imprisonment by Tiberius a similar omen had been interpreted as portending his speedy
release, with the warning that should he behold the same sight again, he would die within
five days. He was immediately smitten with violent pains, scolded his friends for lying to
him and accepted his imminent death. He experienced heart pains and a pain in his abdomen,
and died after five days.
the acts narrative drops the owl portent (portents were popular in roman circles, see the ides of march, etc)
and adds the humiliating detail that worms ate him.
4. so...herod (enemy of the church and god) dies, and the church goes on.
in contrast to herod, the "word of the lord" continued to grow and be multiplied.
barnabus and saul return from delivering their cash gift to the poor/hungry in jerusalem with young john mark.
1. purpose. we don't measure it well.
james dies. that was god's purpose.
jesus spent the most of his time with peter/james/john.
they alone saw the transfiguration in matthew 16; seemingly they were groomed for hugely important roles.
and now...he's just dead?
shining comparison (spoiler alert)
in kubrick's the shining, you're kind of built up to expect some salvation from the black guy who has the
special powers.
he finally shows up, and as soon as he arrives he takes an axe to the chest.
in some ways, the death of james has the same feel. he's significant, prepped, etc...and then he's just dead.
luke clearly establishes that god is in control of the narrative here.
two significant miracles in this chapter alone demonstrate that god is in control of the situation.
you have no choice but to conclude that this was god's purpose for james.
what about us:
- DON'T worry about measuring your success like a student or businessman (converts, accolades, etc)
we can not predict what god's purpose for us will be, nor will we necessarily understand
'why' something was his purpose.
- DO worry about seeking first the kingdom of god and it's rightousness.
let god take care of the rest.
that is wildly hard. how do we encourage one another in this?
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1. encourage one another not to worry - that is a mark of pursuing outcomes instead of
trusting god to accomplish his purpose.
2. encourage one another to wholy chase the kingdom of god in all areas of life.
be christlike, serve the church, proclaim the gospel to the world.
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2. God wants some of us to suffer, some times.
james was martyred. peter was released.
no why is given.
god wants some of us to suffer. at least some of the time.
that does not make it easy, that does not make it fun.
PLEASE don't worry about 'fair' however.
our concept of fair often turns out to be not what god had in mind.