Experience - Day 33

33 When they heard this, the high council was furious and decided to kill them. 34 But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while. 35 Then he said to his colleagues, “Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men! 36 Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. 37 After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered.”
 
38 “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
40 The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.“
Ok, I’ll admit that this has been one of my favorite passages in the New Testament since I was in high school.  Let me try to share why.

First of all, you can easily see how charged people’s emotions were in this moment.  They were so upset that they were ready to kill these men, just like they had Jesus, because nothing else they tried, shut them up.  And they may have succeeded in doing this, had there not been a sage in their midst.

I’m sure we all have people in our lives that when they speak up, you listen.  They’re often grandma’s and grandpa’s, but not always.  I worked for many years at Walla Walla University, and while there I had the privilege of working with two of these types of people.  One was Dr. Jon Dybdahl, professor emeritus, author, and friend.  The other was Dr. Dave Thomas, the former dean of the school of theology.  Both of these men exuded such wisdom, that whenever they spoke up, people listened.

Gamaliel was one of these people.  He was a revered teacher of the law, and if you want to know how good he was, you can simply look to his star pupil, a young man named Saul who we know better as Paul.  When Gamaliel stood up, I’m sure the crowd hushed in silence to hear what wise instruction he had to give in this instance.

What Gamaliel basically says is that there have been previous revolts, so-called Messiahs, and other revolutionaries that would seem to fit a similar bill as this Jesus of Nazareth does.  In each of those previous cases, Gamaliel points out, once the leader of the movement was killed, the movement died out.

Then Gamaliel makes a statement that sends chills up my spine every time I read them.  Basically, he says that if this Jesus thing is like those other things, man made, it’ll fail just like those movements failed.  However, if this Jesus thing is actually from God, guess what?  You won’t be able to stop it no matter how hard you try.

And here we are, over 2,000 years later, and this Jesus movement is still going.  In all these years, no one has been able to snuff out the message of Jesus, erase the memory of him, or extinguish the impact He made in his short 33 years of life.

As Gamaliel said, who as far as we know, was not a sympathizer to Jesus, His disciples, or His message, if these Jesus thing doesn’t end it must be from God.  So the fact that we’re still having this conversation, that I’m writing this series guide, that you’re reading it, that we have places of worship to attend and Bibles on our bedside to read, is all proof that all that took place, was of God.  The immaculate conception, the incarnation, the life and teachings, the signs and miracles, the crucifixion and resurrection, as well as growth of the Jesus movement and the gospel message, all from God.  Though it has faced much opposition, no one and nothing has been able to stop it.

JOURNAL

1. What do you think? Do you agree with Gamaliel’s logic?
2. Do you have any proofs that you hold on to that help you believe that what Jesus said and did, as well as the stories about him, are real? 
3. Who are the sages in your life, the people you go to when you need wisdom?