“When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” (Acts 5:27-29)
I guess it was to be expected. No sooner had Jesus reversed his own death sentence than His disciples started engaging in their own acts of civil disobedience! The friction was initially between the Apostles and their local civil and religious leaders, but it soon escalated into a head-on confrontation with the Empire.
“We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29) is a gutsy statement from Peter who, not may days earlier had been running around scared and pretending that he had nothing to do with Jesus. Now he and the rest of the team were fired up and full of courage!
Reading this, I thought of my friend, Ciaron O’Rielly – Christian anarchist and anti-war activist. I had him speak at our church many years ago, and he told us about how he and his team had broken into US bases and disabled military aircraft. “We’re not the hit and run type of activists”, Ciaron said. “We stay and pray”.
Ciaron was arrested at US bases on two occasions, and he spent time in prison. He then spent years protesting the detention of Julian Assange, firstly outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then outside Belmarsh Prison. I lost contact with him two years ago after he was arrested while trying to deliver an enormous key to then US President, Joe Biden. The key was supposedly to Julian’s cell.
People of faith have always stood up to those in power because they believe in a higher power. I don’t think the Apostles (or Ciaron) were necessarily trying to disrespect the authorities. These civil servants had simply been overruled by a greater authority.
A few verses on in our reading, Peter says of Jesus, that “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior” (Acts 5:31) and these titles – ‘leader’ (archeyon) and ‘saviour’ (soter) – were labels that Caesar had reserved for himself! The clash was inevitable.
The Gospel proclamation was always going to confront the political elites and get the disciples into trouble, and it still gets us into trouble. At the moment, I’m only at risk of being deplatformed and defunded for speaking out about Gaza and Syria, but the global trends are alarming.
Already, in the ‘Home of the Free’ people are be deported for their pro-Palestinian activism, and in Europe, journalists are being harassed and detained for challenging official government narratives. In Gaza, of course, journalists are simply shot!
It seems that people of faith will always be caught in a deadly struggle with the principalities and powers of this world, and I believe that the life of our late brother, Pope Francis, is a case in point.
I’m not saying that Francis was perfect by any means, but I was deeply moved to read about his daily communications with the small Catholic community in Gaza, right up to the day of his death. Apparently, the Pope would do a video link-up every evening with the people sheltering with Gaza’s Church of the Holy Family. He would talk and pray with the children and their families and offer them hope.
Francis’ simple acts of compassion, and his ongoing calls for a ceasefire, might not have ended the violence but they evidently had an impact on the Israeli government. Not only were there no official condolences, but they went about deleting any posts from government sources that mourned his death!
I’m writing this reflection on ANZAC Day when Australians remember another plucky group of warriors who took on a force that would inevitably overwhelm them. Now, the Ottoman Empire is gone but the memory of our fallen comrades lives on.
Those of us who believe in the power of the cross recognise that we don’t have to win every battle to win the war. Political power never lasts forever. Integrity and truth remain.
Our Sunday Eucharist
We celebrated another wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend, where I was joined by Anderw Madry and Karyn Hemming on the panel.
It was Easter Day, of course, which is a day when most churches get a larger than normal turnout. It seemed to work the opposite way for us, presumably because some of our team were joining family and friends at other churches. I pray that Easter was celebrated wonderfully by all of us and that we’ll have everyone back with us for the broadcast this week.
As ever, I’ve pasted this week’s most popular shorts below. You can see the other shorts on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page, and you can watch the entire replay of last Sunday on our YouTube channel.
This week I’m very much looking forward to having Doug Pyeatt and Andrew Logan back with me on the panel. Join us from midday @ TheSundayEucharist.com or Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard.
I look forward to sharing this Eucharist with you very much. 😊
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What’s On
- Sunday, April 27th – Our Eucharist from midday via thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard.
- Tuesday, April 29th – Boxing at the The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
- Thursday, May 1st – Boxing at the The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
- Friday to Sunday, May 2nd to 4th – @Binacrombi. Please join me
The above collage contains many of my most cherished memories with Dr Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun – former Grand Mufti of Syria. If he is alive, it’s his 76th birthday today. If I could reach him, I’d thank him for all that he’s given us over those years.
With the exception of my father, Dr Hassoun is the greatest man I have ever known. I love him dearly and pray for him every day. It was a huge privilege for me to have him write the forward to my book, “Christians and Muslims can be friends.”
Dr Hassoun was arrested on the 26th March at Damascus Airport while attempting to leave the country to get heart surgery in Jordan. We have no idea where he now is. Some reports say he had a heart attack and is in a coma. Others say he has been killed. I am praying every day that he will somehow emerge alive and well.
You may notice that one of the pictures in the collage is of Dr Hassoun with my son, Soren, taken in 2017. The then-Mufti said that Soren reminded him of his son, Saria, who was murdered by the terrorists in 2011. Dr Hassoun preached forgiveness at his son’s funeral – urging his son’s killers to lay down their arms and rejoin their country. Now, 14 years later, those terrorists are in government, and they’ve come for him. May God have mercy on my beloved friend as he himself showed mercy to so many.
I don’t want to end today on a note of distress so I’m going to conclude with the video short I put together of the recent trip we made to Bunny Island (off the coast of Hiroshima in Japan). You’ll forgive me if that seems too ridiculous a transition but (as you’ll see in the video), even Bunny Island has had some darkness in its history.
Nothing in this world is perfect – not even an island full of fluffy bunnies. Conversely though, the darkness is never so all-consuming that the light does not continue to shine! Let us continue to shine the light of integrity and truth into the darkness.
Your brother in the Good Fight,
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About Father Dave Smith
Preacher, Pugilist, Activist, Father of four
