We Will Testify To Jesus No Matter What You Threaten

Saturday of Easter Week

It’s remarkable that the same Sanhedrin council who, six weeks earlier, had been able to condemn Jesus to death for blasphemy, and then proceed to bribe or blackmail the Roman procurator to execute Him seems powerless in our first reading. They have brought the apostles to judgement for curing a paraplegic by invoking the name of Our Lord. The charge, of course, was again blasphemy. They had attributed divine power to a human being, One they thought was dead. The case should have been “open and shut.” So they sent them outside the council chamber and agreed that they should warn the apostles not to teach or heal in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John would have none of this. They asked the critical question, one that comes to the lips of so many witnesses to Christ, whether they should obey the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, or the clear instruction of Jesus, the Son of God. In other words, they told the Pharisee/Sadducee alliance, “not only no, but. . .” The Sanhedrin could do nothing, even after threatening Christ’s followers. It’s a little like the recent situation in which “woke” companies plotted to support teachers who were dragging small children out of their sexual latency by speaking of actions and situations that violate the natural law. Instead of the parents rolling over and begging for their tummies to be scratched, they fought back with every legal and moral tool at their disposal. Shareholders sold their stock in those companies and the general public sought refunds. So the Sanhedrin found their ability to punish curtailed, because the people were praising God for the miracles wrought in the name of Jesus. Our psalm today is considered the primo Easter hymn. Jesus was the stone rejected by Sadducee and Pharisee alike, but His presence is the foundation stone for the Church He left behind to continue His mission.

Christ’s mission in the Church is validated by His Resurrection from the dead. And as we read this last chapter of Mark’s Gospel, it’s wise for us to remember that the Gospels circulated for quite a while in the minds, hearts, and voices of the disciples without much being written down. Here we see a kind of condensation of several Resurrection accounts: Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus, otherwise seen most vividly in John’s Gospel. Then there’s the story of Mary Magdalene’s witness to the apostles, and their disbelief for some time. We also hear the story of the two disciples, Clopas and someone else, on the way to Emmaus, abbreviated along with their witness to the eleven surviving apostles. Lastly, we see the direct appearance of Jesus to the apostles, along with Him fussing at them for not believing the eyewitnesses. And, then, an abbreviation of the Great Commission otherwise seen in Matthew’s last chapter. These verbal traditions, which agree very well with each other except in some details, all testify that Jesus really did rise from the dead into a new life. That is the life available to us who believe and live out our lives in love of neighbor and love of God above all.