April 22, 2018 – Pastor John McNeill
Acts 4:5-12 (CEB)
“In the name of…” What does it mean? Expression in the name of the law.
Found through Google:
“Stop in the name of the law” came into being in England when the first police force was formed by Sir Robert Peel, Home Secretary, in 1829. Initially it consisted of 1000 “Peelers” or “Bobbies” who maintained law and order in London. Their success soon prompted other parts of the UK to set up their own police forces.
When approaching a suspected criminal, the police officers could command them to stop by saying, “Stop in the name of the law.” If the person tried to run off he would be chased by the police officer still shouting his “stop” order and blowing a warning whistle. This frequently encouraged members of the public to join in the chase and capture the suspect.
“In the name of” is what confers authority, empowerment, authorization.
To stop someone in the name of the law is to have a certain kind of empowerment or authorization. Deputized.
As I was thinking about this stop in the name of the law, my mind drifted in another direction to another stop in the name of… expression.
Stop in the name of love, before you break my heart. (Diana Ross)
This story follows on a healing. The disciples, Peter and John, encountered a disabled man at the temple begging for coins. Peter said to him: “I don’t have any money, but I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, rise up and walk!” Peter grasps the man’s right hand and pulls him up. Once he’s on his feet he is now able to walk – indeed he begins jumping around, praising God.
This causes a commotion among the crowd who was there, and Peter and John make a powerful speech about Jesus. This in turn gets the attention of the Temple authorities who stop them – Stop in the name of the law, they say.
In this context the alternatives are either: in the name of the law OR in the name of Jesus.
Or to put it another way: in the name of the law OR in the name of love.
That was the contrast that came to the fore in the encounter between the disciples and the political and religious leaders.
The religious leaders had their law, they had their law power of threat and intimidation – or so they thought. They believed that their law had the upper hand.
The empowerment of the disciples – revisited.
Not on their own – they were dispirited, discouraged
Required the Spirit, the presence of the Living Christ
encouraged
inspired
The story of Peter and John invoking Jesus’ name to heal at the Temple indicates how much has changed since they abandoned and denied Jesus, since they cowered in hiding.
Today as we read this text in 2018 we may understandably be put off.
When the text says,
12 Salvation can be found in no one else. Throughout the whole world, no other name has been given among humans through which we must be saved.”
we might first think of all the instances in the history of the Christian tradition when this sentiment was used as a weapon. Used to oppress or judge or condemn others.
There is no doubt that very bad and evil things have been done by folks using the words “in the name of Jesus.” It is important that we remember that.
Not everyone who says that they are speaking or acting in the name of Jesus is, in fact, speaking or acting in the name of Jesus.
Same way with the police who take action in the name of the law. Sometimes they say they are acting with that authority, but they are not.
People can misuse the authority or the name in which they are acting. Many instances of people saying “in the name of Jesus” who are not acting in the name of Jesus.
How do we know that?
Because to act in the name of Jesus is to act in the name of love. To speak in the name of Jesus is to speak in the name of love.
To truly speak or act in the name of Jesus is to re-embody, reenact, what Jesus was about.
So we look at Jesus’ life, we hear Jesus’ words and so we can understand what acting in the name of Jesus must look like.
By invoking Jesus’ name, Peter and John were invoking Jesus’ presence. They knew Jesus as a healing presence. They knew Jesus as a compassionate presence. They knew Jesus as an inclusive, including presence who embodied justice, compassion, mercy, forgiveness.
On their own they were aware that they often lacked that presence, power, and love.
But now, since encountering the Risen Christ they were on fire with the holy spirit – a power beyond themselves, lending them power, courage, compassion to have mercy on this poor man who needed help. Not in their name, authority. On Jesus’ name, authority, power.
They had been authorized. Jesus had told them to continue his work. Jesus had told them to be about the salvation, healing, reconciliation of the world.
That he had been raised from the dead after being crucified in the name of the law of violence and intimidation and threat was the sign that the name of that law was not the highest name. Was not the name by which the world must be saved.
In this immediate context these disciples had been confronted, accused, arrested, and brought to the political and religious leadership to put a stop to their activity in the name of Jesus. They had been stopped in the name of the law.
They were stopped in the name of the law from carrying out their activity in the name of Jesus. In the name of love.
So, when Peter argues back to the authorities to claim the importance of Jesus’ name, he is claiming the healing as a sign that the name of Jesus – so the name of the power of the risen Christ, the one whom these very leaders insisted be tortured and murdered, the very one who they thought was a worthless stone to be discarded, is now being revealed as the one who holds the answer to healing, wholeness, salvation.
The one who is “the head of the corner” the one on whom the structure and reality and ongoing existence of the cosmos depends. It is love that is at the root of it. In the name of Jesus, the name of love that brings wholeness and healing and justice and compassion.
Let’s be clear: What has been revealed?
The disciples had witnessed the risen Christ as a part of the Easter resurrection story.
That story tells us that the love and power of God did not come to an end on the cross on Good Friday, but instead the risen Christ will meet us where we live, inviting us to join our life story into God’s divine love story.
And when the disciples connected with the risen Christ they were able to find the courage to embrace this empowerment to act forth, act up, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Love.
And what about us? Will we find the courage to embrace this empowerment? Will we open ourselves, our lives to speak up, act up, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Love?
Jesus came embodying God’s love, God’s being, the divine substance in human form. Jesus lived and proclaimed a way for the world that called for:
- Reconciliation instead of retaliation.
- Justice instead of oppression.
- Compassion instead of condemnation.
- Generosity instead of greed and selfishness
- Humility instead of self-righteousness and
- Acceptance instead of exclusion. Jesus wanted to draw the circle of love really wide.
To act up and speak up in the name of Jesus is to act up and speak up in the name of love.
As I said a few weeks ago: all of this is simply an elaboration and an extension of the biblical truth that God is love. You can look it up – 1 John 4:16) The very foundation of all that is is love. And if you dig deep enough into any thing, or any person, or any situation, there is love waiting to be discovered.
To speak up, act up, in Jesus’ name, is to speak up, act up in the name of that love.
At the same time, of course, there is a counter-story:
There were those in Jesus’ world who were pretty good at retaliation, oppression, condemnation, selfishness, self-righteousness and exclusion who had no use for him or his message. Jesus’ life and message undermined what they thought was their power: violence, judgment, lies, and fear, their power to act in the name of that law of violence and intimidation.
And so they plotted to get rid of Jesus to protect their power and their position. They wanted to send the message that death was stronger. Death, fear, and violence could defeat love: in the name of the law of death.
And that can be a strong message. And there are those who are still acting as though the real powers in this world are death, fear, and violence. The news is full of it. Our own experience is often touched by it.
Sometimes this comes out of people who say that they are acting in the name of Jesus. But again, if they’re not speaking and acting in the name of Love, they’re not acting in the name of Jesus.
So, just to circle back to our discomfort with what are easily heard to be very exclusionary words:
12 Salvation can be found in no one else. Throughout the whole world, no other name has been given among humans through which we must be saved.”
Perhaps we can now see the truth here: All the alternatives to love, all the alternatives to compassion, all the alternatives to justice, all the alternatives to a life of love will not bring us wholeness.
These words may sound like they are an invitation to a dominating power. But in his offering himself up to be abused, cursed, tortured, and murdered, Jesus was showing us that the way of God is not the way of domination and intimidation. There is no domination in the name of Jesus.
To act in the name of Jesus, is to act in a way that opens up love.
The disciples had been empowered by their encounter with the Risen Christ to see in the name of Jesus the deep center of what Jesus had embodied in his life and death that they would carry forth in his name:
- Reconciliation
- Justice
- Compassion
- Generosity
- Humility
- Acceptance
The way of life that seeks conquest, humiliating rivals, punishment, and subjugation is not the way God has put the cosmos together. The cosmos runs on love, not dominating power.
It’s easy to feel disheartened and discouraged and confused. It’s easy to feel like we don’t have much to say or do. It’s easy to feel like we are not really part of anything larger than ourselves – a grand and noble endeavor.
But here’s an experiment we can try.
It goes something like this:
Act in the name of love – and open up your heart.
Speak in the name of love – and open up your heart.
Think it over. Think it over.
Salvation is to be found in no other power. There is no other name by which the world will be saved.