It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. – Acts 12:1

Today's Scripture Reading (March 8, 2024): Acts 12

Officially, it was Executive Order 13769. The Executive Order was signed into law on January 27, 2017, by President Donald Trump. The order restricted the people allowed to enter the United States, and prohibited anyone from seven specific nations from entering the nation, for the next ninety days. You have probably never heard of Executive Order 13769, mainly because it has a much catchier name; it was known as "The Muslim Ban."

There are many reasons why President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order. But maybe the largest is that the Christian church, of which I am a part, seems to be Xenophobic; we don't tend to trust people unlike us. Many people have accused President Trump of also being Xenophobic. And he might be. However, I am convinced that the reason he signed Executive Order 13769 has less to do with President Trump's beliefs and more to do with political expediency. Executive Order 13769 is something that the President knew would earn him brownie points with the Christian Right. In the Bible, we have read Jesus's words where he asserts, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40), but we don't really believe it. And so, the Muslim Ban is announced, and the Christian right rejoices. It was not our finest moment.

Luke says that Herod began to arrest Christians, intending to start another wave of persecution of the Christians in the empire. Among the first to be arrested were Peter and James, two-thirds of the inner circle of Jesus's disciples. This Herod is Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great who was the Herod who had reigned at the time of Jesus's birth, and the nephew of Herod Antipas, who was present at the trial of Jesus before his crucifixion.

But it is essential to recognize that Herod Agrippa I didn't have any kind of theological disagreement with the Christian Church. Agrippa was not a fanatic in the protection of Judaism. Persecuting the Christian church was a pragmatic response to gain the people's approval. And so, he arrests Peter and James, likely planning on executing both of these disciples, believing that his Jewish followers would approve of their deaths. With James, he succeeded, but Peter escaped from prison before Agrippa's plan for him could be put in place. However, in the process of persecuting Christians, Agrippa became the protector of Judaism and had put in place what could have been viewed as a first-century Christian ban in Judea, making himself more popular with the Jewish populace.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: James 1