Easter 3 A - Acts 2:36-46

Acts 2:36-46

“What should we do?” It is the question of our lives and even if it is not on the same level as what should we do about crucifying the Lord and Messiah of God, the answer we arrive at matters. It may be the appropriate question for this day when even patriotic people rejoicing in the death of an evil person struggle because of Jesus’ command to love and pray for enemies. It is the question for relationships gone sour. It is the question for lives diminished by loss and pain and sorrow and grief. It is a question that continues to be asked and maybe never finds a fully satisfactory answer. That those who hear Peter ask it is significant. They were the keepers of the covenant and the people of the plan and yet it was their piety that drove them to kill the promise because he did not fit the pattern of what the law demanded. And so the rule breaker was done away with and the only wrinkle in the plot was that he came back and his foolish followers wouldn’t stop talking about him. So saving oneself from a corrupt generation cannot be about adherence to the law, obeying the rules, toeing the line, following the straight and narrow. It must be about whatever Jesus did. Like forgiving those who put hammer to nail and fastened his hands and feet to wood? What shall we do with that? It may be that despite Peter’s concrete answer we all need to work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) trusting that in Jesus “what should we do” is a moot question.