A Bold Word

“And now, Lord, look at their threats,

and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness.”

–Acts 4:29 

The words above come one day after the disciples Peter and John encountered a man who had been unable to walk since birth. Calling on the name of Jesus, Peter healed him and then told the crowd how it had happened. John and he were immediately arrested by the Sanhedrin because that religious council viewed the disciples and the reactions of the public as a threat to their authority.

The next day those two Christians are brought back to those officials and told to explain themselves. Peter shares the same details spoken about how the man had been healed. The officials cannot dispute the outcome, but are fearful more Jews will begin to follow. Thus, they order the men never again to speak the name of Jesus. Peter says he will not follow their decree, the leaders warn again, and send them on their way.  

Peter and John go back to their fellow believers and report on what has occurred. Someone in the room responds with a prayer that begins, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?’” That man is quoting Psalm 2, a part of the Old Testament that speaks of how earthly rulers plot and scheme against God, always failing in the end. 

That unnamed follower of Christ was connecting the ancient text to the recent example of what public officials had done to Jesus. One might think that the painful memory of a crucifixion and now the arrest of Peter and John would make them more cautious, and the man does add “And now, Lord, look at their threats” asking God to protect them from harm. But he is not finished. “Look at their threats,” the man continues, “and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness.”  

In the face of hardship and intimidation that believer doesn’t ask God for a way to be safe and get along with the authorities. He doesn’t ask for protection and some creative way to sidestep the Sanhedrin’s command not to speak Jesus’ name. No, he asks God to help them proclaim even bolder words. They have just come through an early challenge to the church community, yet that unnamed believer remains resolute, asking for strength to keep at it. “Grant to your servants,” he prayed “to speak your word with all boldness.”     

One day in 8^th grade, I was kicked out of Sunday School. The issue was a behavioral problem; namely my refusal to pay attention to the teacher or quiet down. I’m guessing I was in the back of the room sitting next to my closest friend—James—who also happened to be the pastor’s son. Neither one of us was adding anything to the class that morning and suspect it had been that way for a few weeks. Thus, on this particular Sunday after several attempts to reign us in failed to bring about a change, Mr. Swygert pointed at us and angrily said “Get out of my class and don’t come back!”

James and I happily followed his instructions and spent the rest of the Church School hour roaming the hall. We laughed about how we had gotten the better of the situation, but soon realized we would have to go home and explain what had happened. As I recall it, after James did so he returned the next Sunday and apologized to Mr. Swygert. When telling my mother about the experience she told me I needed to apologize, too. In response I said, “He should apologize to us for being so boring!”        

One might call those words bold. A more accurate description would be “petulant” or “annoying” or “immature” or “punishment-worthy” or all four. That’s not the kind of boldness a believer in the first century was seeking in his prayer of long ago nor the kind we are called to emulate.

No, his petition sought something else. “Grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness” he said. Another way to phrase it would be for them to continue speaking and acting in the way God would have them do. That’s a different kind of boldness. So instead of only requesting protection, he asked God to help them respond boldly in the way their Maker would want.  

What does that look like?  Certainly there are any number of ways we could assume that effort. Let me offer just one possibility.

Just before finishing this post, I watched an online service of a congregation dedicating a renovated sanctuary.  Painted on the chancel walls behind the pulpit are three verses of Scripture. My friend is their pastor and his text that day was one of the three: “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (1 John 4:16b) He spoke of such words as foundational, basic to the faith.

So my question for you is simply this: what if we spoke that word with boldness? What would happen if we acted on that truth no matter the setting or occasion? While I can’t predict fully the outcome, of course, I do suspect that the world, or at least our part in it, would be transformed in a way that we cannot fully imagine. Thus, I invite you to speak and act on those words with boldness.

As for me, there’s one more thing to be said, too. “Mr Swygert, I’m sorry!”

Loving One, may my words this day be bold and fully reflect your love. Amen.