They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. – Acts 4:3

Today's Scripture Reading (January 15, 2021): Acts 4

Television personality and former psychiatrist Keith Ablow argues that "sometimes when you push someone, you find out who that person really is." Or, if you push them hard enough, you can also confuse them, forcing them into who you want them to be. Making the suspect uncomfortable, intimidating them, and keeping them off balance has been the custom of law-enforcement since antiquity. And it is still a practice that yields its benefits today.

The sudden arrest of Peter and John was intended to instill fear in the two disciples. It appears that the disciples were not gently placed in a cell for the night. The arrest seems to have happened suddenly; they were handled roughly, threatened, and then unceremoniously tossed into a cell. All of which was supposed to make the disciples afraid and keep them off balance.

The arrest and how Peter and John were treated appear to have been an attempt to destroy a weak Christian movement before it gained any strength. The establishment wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Christians were still few in number; their leadership, symbolized by Peter and John, were inexperienced; they had not yet displayed any militant tendencies, although Rome likely feared that one day soon that might change; and the Christians were opposed by the Jewish establishment, so arresting Peter and John was unlikely to provoke a response from other, more powerful groups. James Boice seems to get it right when he argues that Peter and John's arrest was a declaration intended to be heard and felt by the entire Christian Church. "They [the establishment] were declaring: We have the power. If you are allowed to preach, as you have been preaching, it is because we have permitted you to do it… Anytime we want, we can arrest you and carry you off to jail" (James Montgomery Boice).

Of course, the tactic didn't work. Peter and John's response became the reaction of the Christian Church in adverse situations for decades to come. In a time of stress, they learned to trust God rather than fear their opposition, respond by praying for their enemies rather than physically attacking them, and realize that God was still leading the church, so our inadequacies were unimportant.

All of that would change in the early years of the fourth century under Constantine the Great's reign. At that time, the Christian Church would become the establishment, and we would begin to learn the lessons intimidation, suppression, and fear. We became the persecutors of those who would oppose us, just as they had once persecuted us. It would not be a good day for us, and lessons of fear and intimidation are still teachings that the church cannot forget.

But, the forgetting of these lessons is still a priority. Maybe that means we need to become a weaker church, like the one led by Peter and John.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Acts 5