Signs And Wonders As Our Roadmap To Salvation
A Study of Acts 5:12-20
In those days, many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high honor.
And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life."
RSV Acts 5:12-20
Christ is risen!
Today, as we continue our Paschal celebration, the Church, in her wisdom, provides examples of how our forefathers experienced the reality of the resurrection, mirroring how we are experiencing this great gift today.
Today is known as Thomas Sunday, for in the Gospel, we hear that Thomas, one of the twelve, upon seeing our resurrected Lord, proclaims Him to be "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). This proclamation affirms that Christ is God, and in His Lordship, He continues to reign in the presence of His people.
The impact of Thomas's proclamation, affirming Christ's reign among His creation, is vividly demonstrated in today's Epistle reading from the book of Acts. The signs and wonders performed by the Apostles among the people are a living embodiment of the resurrection of our Lord and God, a testament to His ongoing work of salvation.
The saving acts of Christ continue to present themselves to us through His Church, for through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us all, God is at work actively in and through us, as we know that He reigns in, through, and all around us through the Lordship of Christ. This reality is further proof that God will never abandon His people. So, for today's reflection, we will grapple with how the signs and wonders of the Apostles reveal the active work of salvation offered to us all, how we are called to cling to Christ in all of our hardships, and how the Lordship of Christ liberates us from the captivity of sin, leading us to new life in His saving presence.
At the beginning of today's Epistle reading, we hear, as mentioned previously, that there were many signs and wonders done among the people by the hands of the Apostles. These signs and wonders are not evidence that the Apostles have special powers of their own, conjuring or making. Instead, they are signs that the wonders of God are at work through their hands.
As we have reflected on time and again, it is our call to be coworkers in Christ's ministry. We are His body as distinct members of His Church, and when we center our lives in Him, we allow Him to work in us. Thus, we see in the Acts of the Apostles the very saving acts of Christ working through His Church. All Peter needs to do to heal is pass by those infirm with sin's effects. This is striking, for Peter's action does not directly correlate with these healings. Thus, these examples are given to us to show that Christ is the one Who is at work in His Apostles and Church, and we are integral to this divine mission.
Christ's active work in His Church is not a historical event confined to the past but a continuous reality. He will never abandon His people, and His work is evident in the signs and wonders performed by His saints. These acts are tangible reminders of His ongoing presence and care, a source of comfort and strength for us all.
We see the same reality at play when we see healings and God's wisdom offered to us through His holy ones. Yet Christ's saving acts are seen not only in this way; if we look hard enough at our own lives, we will also see the countless times God continues intervening for us.
The classic example I often use is looking back at difficult times in our lives. During hardships, it is hard to see Christ at work now, for we are bogged down by the present struggle. Yet, once on the other side of whatever hardship I struggle through, it becomes clear that there are many instances when all should have been lost, yet God provided.
We often think we can control and factor in every variable in life. Still, we are finite and human, making this an impossibility. We will always miss something out of ignorance or intent, and this vulnerability may lead to destruction. Yet, when we recognize our helplessness without Him, Christ always provides for our every need in His love, sparing us from the dangers that befall us.
We are not in total control of our lives, for our lives are intertwined with the lives of others and the world around us. But we are in control of the choices we make. We cannot control the actions of others or how the world reacts to us. But we can control how we react to the world, others, and all of life's challenges. In the midst of all of our choices, there is one continual choice we make. We can choose every moment of our life between turning to Christ for aid or turning away from Him and taking the burden of life alone. When we turn away, the struggle swallows us, but when we turn to Him, we participate in the saving acts He always offers us.
What we see causing even more believers to be added to the Lord is the recognition that He is at work among them through these signs and wonders. This realization leads to the understanding that salvation is found in His saving presence. Instead of attempting to make gods of ourselves, believing that we have total control over our lives and the world around us, we are called to embody the humility we see in the early Church. Their humility and recognition of their helplessness without the Lord are a powerful example, inspiring us to follow in their footsteps.
In all their ailments and hardships is the recognition that without the Lord, they are helpless. In a sense, we are all helpless infants in need of the sustenance provided for us by our parents. Thus, God fills this personal role, offering salvation in His saving presence, the very water of life that sustains and renews us.
He provides for our every need and nurtures us. As we mature, we wean from the milk of learning that God is with us and offers us the blessings of His salvation alone. This is our starting point and the foundation of our faith, and we are then given the meat of learning how to know love and serve Him as coworkers in His saving acts, as He continues to know love and serve us all. This is the great gift offered to all Christians, for as we turn to the Lord for all we need, we will see our helplessness without Him. But as we continue to grow in relation to Him, the fear of this helplessness dissipates as He illuminates the darkness that caused this fear in the first place.
In God's presence, we are never alone, and we know through the outpouring of His Holy Spirit that we are never without God, for He lives within the temple of our body. Thus, if God never abandons us, for He is in and with us always, we need to constantly meditate upon this reality, embody it, and grow in relation to the God Who loves us so much that He never abandons us.
Hardship in our journey towards Christ will always be a reality. We see much good done by the Apostles, yet we also see that the good done by them produces jealousy in the Jewish leaders. This jealousy leads to the imprisonment of the Apostles, which may lead us to believe that their ministry is lost.
Yet God, seeing their imprisonment, frees and calls them to return to the temple to speak to all of the people the words of life. This tells us that even though hardship will assail us all in the ministry God has entrusted to our care, this ministry does not belong to us.
It is the ministry of God, and as coworkers in the ministry of God, He liberates us all so we can continue to share His words of life through how we live our lives. This ministry is not without hardship, for it is an even greater struggle for the Apostles to return to preach in the presence of their captors. Yet the message they bring is the message of life, so there is no fear that even if the rulers kill their bodies, they cannot kill the Spirit of life, which enraptures their lives, emboldening their ministry.
Thus, we see through the liberation from prison, which was the result of the sin of jealousy, God continues to trample down the consequences of sin and death. He liberates us from bondage to sin so that we are able to grow in His saving presence. This growth is not for us alone; rather, it is a gift offered to the whole of His creation, so we must take to heart the reality that we are all coworkers with Christ. When we take to heart this reality, we find that we are truly coworkers in His saving ministry and that He will never abandon us, for even in death, through the resurrection, we find the loving presence of the creator of all.
So, today's Epistle shows that God is always at work within His Church. We are all members of the body of Christ, and as members, it is our call to realize the great signs and wonders that He carries out in our lives. These signs and wonders are not ends in themselves, nor are they idols to be worshiped. Instead, they are our signposts that lead us to the reality that salvation is truly at hand, for this is our one true end goal.
When we read the signs of salvation, their destination reveals itself to be in the presence of Christ, so it then becomes our call to turn to Him for salvation in all matters. When we turn to Him, He continually offers us all we need to have life in Him. As we grow further in His presence, we will continue our ministry as coworkers in His vineyard. Yet, hardship will not cease in this life. Still, in our relation to Christ, we will see He continues to offer us liberation, for sin and death are truly trampled down by His eternal reign, and we are now offered new life in His saving presence.
So, throughout our lives, we are to proclaim that Christ is risen, for we see He is always at work in and through us. As a loving Father, He continues to provide for our every need in this work. As we turn to Him, He strengthens us in our struggle through sin and death, where we receive the great gift of salvation in His resurrected presence.
Truly, the Lord is risen, for we are not abandoned to sin and death; instead, through sin and death, they have been trampled down, and to us who were once in the grave, separated from God, we are now granted new life in His saving presence. So let us turn to the Lord in all matters of our life so we may discern how we are called to know love and serve Him and His people, for in doing so, we will continue to embody the light of the resurrection of our Lord.
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