
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
Matthew 27:22
The question was posed ages ago, but is it not the central question
before us, "What shall we do with Jesus?" The response to a simple
question such as this, at least the one asked by Pilate, was "Crucify
him!" A convicted criminal was released that day so that "innocent"
blood could be shed.
Amazed and perplexed, they asked each other, "What does it mean?"
Some, however, made fun of them saying, "They have had too much
wine."
Acts 2:12-13
Like the one before it, this second question seems also to have the
same centrality as to humanity, "What does this mean?" Contextual
reading would reveal the early Christians, waiting for the promised
Holy Spirit, were all together in one place. Without any warning an
odd thing happened to these people, they received the Holy Spirit!
Upon receiving God's Spirit, they were empowered to speak of God
in tongues not their own [which would be necessary for God to get
people of other tribes, tongues and nations to hear of Him]. What I
find interesting is the reponse of those who heard this oddity.
Utterly amazed they asked: "Are not all these who speak Galileans?
Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native tongue;
Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea or
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt as well
as parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome; Cretans, Arabs -
we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"
Amazed and perplexed, they asked each other, "What does it mean?"
Some, however, made fun of them saying, "They have had too much
wine."
It seems to me that the questions of, "What shall we do?" and "What
does this mean?" are met with one of two replies. The first being an
outright rejection of or the explaining away of the legitimacy of all
that took place, as was the case with those that shouted "Crucify..."
and those who said "They have had too much wine." The second of
which is an acceptance although not based on complete knowledge
of the situation, that what has taken place may be legitiamte.
The Apostle paul would later, after his own personal encounter with
Jesus, wrote these words, "As it is written: 'See, I lay in Zion a stone
that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and all
who trust in him will never be put to shame."
Romans 9:33