Today’s first reading from Acts teaches that God’s authority comes first before human authorities, be they political or religious. When Peter is ordered by the Jewish religious authorities, the Sanhedrin, to stop teaching in the name of Jesus, he responds: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” Whenever we pray the Our Father we affirm this teaching and commit ourselves to obeying God: “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done.” Jesus taught during his earthly life that God’s way and will come before all, even before the teaching and will of father, mother and our very selves.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39).
Jesus himself put his Father’s will before his own will. In today’s Gospel Jesus develops this contrast between earthly teaching and authority and God’s teaching: “The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all.” Jesus can speak and teach the things of God because he is from above and is the Son of God. God sent Jesus into the world to teach God’s will: “For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.” God sent his Son into the world with a message:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)
Peter’s word applies to you and me today: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” Human authority, both civil and religious, is important and we must show due deference. At times, however, obeying God might call upon us to challenge and even oppose either civil or religious authority. Jesus and the apostles after him showed us that we must strive to obey God in all things.
Image: “The Apostles preaching the Gospel” by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.