Christians: we are in the Hands of God

Dear Friends, today St. Peter says, “We must obey God rather than human beings.” (Acts 5:28-32, 40b-41) I think all of us, at some point, have faced the danger of losing something because of what God says we must do. I think we all have faced a situation in which following God meant for us, perhaps, losing something important to us. St. Peter says we must obey God rather than human beings—when we cannot do both. (Of course, when in agreement with God’s law, we must obey human beings who have rightful authority over us, but that is not the focus here.) At the same time, St. Peter is encouraging us in that he finishes his discourse saying God gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. The Holy Spirit did two things for the Apostles—He saved them from prison, and He worked miracles through them. The confidence of the Apostles in God, their obedience to God rather than to humans, was rewarded by God Himself. God delivered them from the dangers they feared; and God gave them a power superior to any human power.

We must obey God rather than humans. For some people, nowadays, it is a good thing to be Christian, to proclaim your faith as a Christian, a good thing even to preach or to teach others to be Christian… Yes, it is a very good thing to say explicitly what we should do—but that doesn’t mean that you have to do what should be done (they think). We say but we do not do. Or we do… but only as long as we are not in danger of losing something.

This attitude of doing what God says as long as it is not inconvenient to us, is unfortunately more common than it may seem, and that is why I want to be clear about this. We cannot divorce faith from life. We will not be saved by God if we disobey God. St. Peter said we must obey God rather than human beings. The Apostles faced prison. They faced death. It is not that they were about to lose their jobs—they were about to lose their lives. But they preferred to obey God. Even without arriving at such extremes as that, you may find yourselves in situations where obedience to God is actually pricey. It costs. And a lot! At some point, some of you may have had trouble keeping a workplace position because of your beliefs. Some of you may have begun to feel as an outsider with your friends, or pushed a little bit out of the circle with your classmates or co-workers, because of your faith. Some of you may face loneliness—how difficult it is for a good Catholic youth, or adults sometimes, to find a good mate. How difficult it is for a good Catholic young man or woman to find a group of friends, a sound group of friends… True, they are not facing martyrdom, but they may fear that having a happy life and being a Christian are mutually exclusive—that they can’t have both. And that is a real suffering. Mind you: the Apostles, the saints of all times, and some of our brothers and sisters show us that it is possible to be very happy, even happier than anyone else, AND obey God. But sometimes obeying God is difficult.

It is difficult, but it’s worth it. In the end, who cares what human beings say when God is the One who will judge on the Last Day? What will it profit you to win the favour of the whole world if the One deciding your eternal destiny is not happy with you…? The Apostles were also joyful because they were suffering like Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus. They were making up for the times they had abandoned Him. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is given only to those who obey the Lord. If we are bold in our fidelity to God—not bold as contentious, but bold in our faithfulness, faithful like a spouse, in good and in bad—if we are faithful to God, God will give us the Holy Spirit. God will protect us. See the Apostles—delivered from prison! How many people do not say what they think because they are afraid of going to prison. The Apostles were not afraid, and they were saved. St. John Paul II was not afraid and he was shot. But he was saved. In the end, the Apostles died for Jesus, but only in that one particular circumstance where God allowed it, for His own good reasons. We Christians are in the hands of God, not in the hands of our enemies.

And let me clarify one thing. The person who is saying today, “We must obey God rather than human beings.” is a man who, himself, had just been put in prison for his obedience to God. But he is also a man who had denied Jesus three times, out of fear. Between the Peter who denied Jesus three times, and the courageous Peter who today is risking his life for Jesus, there is today’s Gospel. Jesus says to him:

"Peter, I know you have denied Me, but now, do you love Me more than these other guys? You used to say that, 'Even if all the others deny You, I will never deny You' and, Peter, you did deny Me. Do you now really love Me? Are you willing to be faithful to Me, in good and in bad? Are you willing to follow Me even up to death? Are you now willing to obey Me, rather than obey mortals—to follow Me rather than the crowd?"

Peter said, “Yes, You know that I am weak, but You also know that I love You.” Only a little while later, to make them strong, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to Peter and the other Apostles. With the help of the Holy Spirit, Peter could later do what at first had been too difficult for him.

Some of you are perhaps like the Peter of the first reading, courageous witnesses of the Lord, preferring to be looked down upon by human beings rather than displeasing God. Maybe others of you feel you have been like the Peter of the Gospel at some point in your lives, preferring to please human beings rather than pleasing God. Maybe most of us have a little bit of the weak Peter in us. Let us ask the Lord to send His Holy Spirit upon us. May the Holy Spirit save us from evil. May the Holy Spirit give us power and courage to be free, authentic Christians with only one Master, our God and Lord. Twelve courageous disciples transformed the world. Each one of us, in our own unique situation, can make such a difference—when we work with God, with Jesus, with the power of the Spirit. May we obey God rather than human beings, so that we may receive the power of the Holy Spirit.