| Home > e100 > Essential 100 -- The Imitation of Christ... Not |
| Essential 100 -- The Imitation of Christ... Not | | Date Created: Apr 19, 2005, 06:34 AM |
72 — Tuesday April 19 — Acts 3:1 - 4:37
Again Peter converts thousands by starting with a healing and then teaching. In some ways, he's following in the footsteps of his teacher, who frequently healed and taught. In other ways, Peter's way -- our way -- is to be significantly different. First, Peter immediately deflects the praise elsewhere: "Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we made this man walk?" Jesus, as far as we know, never did anything of the sort. In fact, on occasion he did the reverse: "But so that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins... Get up, take your mat and go home" (Matt. 9:6).
The second difference is the content of the preaching. Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, about ethics, about farmers and sons and travellers on the road to Jericho who fell among thieves. But here in Acts 3 (as already in Acts 2), the message of the Christians is primarily and straight-forwardly Jesus Christ himself, crucified and resurrected, as the only way forward for those who would follow God. |
|
|
|
