{"id":1582,"date":"2022-04-21T08:19:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T12:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1582"},"modified":"2022-04-21T08:19:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T12:19:50","slug":"unschooled-and-ordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/21\/unschooled-and-ordinary\/","title":{"rendered":"Unschooled and Ordinary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For the four weeks leading up to and going beyond Easter, we’re looking at the life of Peter.\u00a0 Because he\u2019s so often at the center of both the brightest and darkest moments in the Gospels, he has always been a source of hope and inspiration for those endeavoring to follow Jesus.<\/em>


The word \u201cmiracle\u201d is somewhat overworked these days.\u00a0
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We speak of miracle drugs, miraculous fourth quarter comebacks, the miracle of finding a parking space right in front of the store, and Miracle Max from The Princess Bride<\/em>.\u00a0
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When it comes to the possibility of God breaking into the natural order with supernatural power, however, many of us are reluctant to use the \u201cM\u201d word.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s because we\u2019ve never had a firsthand experience of something truly miraculous.\u00a0
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A few years ago we recounted the story of Jim Loder, a man who was driving with his family on a trip.\u00a0 Jim pulled over to help a woman who was struggling to change a flat tire.\u00a0 He was lying under her car when another vehicle swerved onto the shoulder and slammed into its rear bumper.\u00a0 The jack went flying and the car collapsed onto Loder\u2019s chest, crushing it.\u00a0 Five of his ribs snapped and blood began to fill his left lung.\u00a0 The minutes that followed would be critical to his survival.\u00a0
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His wife, barely five feet tall, placed her hands on the bumper of the car and prayed, \u201cIn the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,\u201d and lifted the car off his chest so he could be dragged out.\u00a0 Weeks later she learned that she had fractured a vertebra in the effort.
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Loder was in a state of shock when he arrived at the hospital.\u00a0 Doctors prepared for emergency surgery.\u00a0 His chances were iffy.\u00a0
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Suddenly, without warning, Loder\u2019s skin changed from gray to pink.\u00a0 The wounds in his chest were healed.\u00a0 He looked up at the gathered surgical team, who never did connect him to the oxygen, and led them in singing Fairest Lord Jesus<\/em>.\u00a0 Loder later discovered that this was the precise moment that his father-in-law, who was a pastor, had asked his congregation to begin praying.
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It\u2019s hard not to be jaded by such stories.\u00a0 So many turn out to be urban legends, endlessly forwarded on the internet or recited at somebody\u2019s church picnic.\u00a0
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But this one\u2019s a little different.\u00a0 The man we\u2019re talking about is the late Professor James Loder of Princeton Theological Seminary.\u00a0 His body wasn\u2019t the only thing restored that day.\u00a0 So was his heart.\u00a0 By his own admission, Loder\u2019s notion of God was fuzzy prior to the accident.\u00a0 But afterwards Jesus became a living and accessible presence.\u00a0 Loder\u2019s heart grew so tender that he became known at Princeton as \u201cthe weeping professor.\u201d\u00a0
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The ministry of Jesus, as reported in the four Gospels, is punctuated by miraculous healings.\u00a0 On three occasions Jesus even raises the dead.\u00a0
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Peter and his fellow disciples are there to see it all happen.\u00a0 They\u2019re likewise present when Jesus makes it clear that his apprentices would one day experience God\u2019s healing power working through their own touch.\u00a0 In the opening chapters of the book of Acts \u2013 within mere days of Jesus\u2019 ascension \u2013 that prediction begins to come true.
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One afternoon, as Peter and John are heading to the Temple for a time of prayer, they come upon a beggar who\u2019s been crippled from birth.\u00a0 He customarily sits at the Beautiful Gate.\u00a0 The beggar looks up at them expectantly, hoping for a handout.\u00a0 But on this particular day he receives more than he has ever dared to ask.
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\u201cI don\u2019t have a nickel to my name,\u201d Peter says, \u201cbut what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!\u201d\u00a0 With that, Peter grabs him by the right hand and pulls him up.\u00a0 His feet and ankles instantly become firm.\u00a0 He can walk!\u00a0 (Acts 3:6-8)
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The beggar is overwhelmed.\u00a0 He begins to dance.\u00a0 A crowd of onlookers is amazed.\u00a0 They begin to ask questions about Jesus.\u00a0 But the religious elites of first century Jerusalem feel threatened. \u00a0True to form, whenever the Lord\u2019s Prayer is answered \u2013 when God\u2019s kingdom comes right here and right now, and his will is being done on earth as it is in heaven \u2013 some people begin to push back.
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The authorities trot out their standard weapons.\u00a0 They stare down Peter and John and say, \u201cWe are ordering you to stop spreading this so-called Good News.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t stop, we have power over you.\u00a0 We can shame you.\u00a0 We can take your property.\u00a0 We can imprison you.\u00a0 We can even execute you.\u201d\u00a0 Since these threats are typically effective, they\u2019re jolted when Peter and John fail to do what they are supposed to do.\u00a0 They don\u2019t crumble emotionally.\u00a0
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Instead, Peter announces in Acts 4:12 that the disciples are not intimidated.\u00a0 They have thrown in their lots with Jesus.\u00a0 He declares, \u201cSalvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which people can be saved.\u201d\u00a0
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The next verse is an eye-opener: \u201cWhen they saw the courage of Peter and John, and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 In verses 19 and 20, Peter and John add the clincher:\u00a0 \u201cJudge for yourselves whether it is right in God\u2019s sight to obey you rather than God.\u00a0 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.\u201d
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Now we\u2019ve come full circle in our study of the Bible\u2019s stories about Peter.\u00a0
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Who was Peter when Jesus originally called him to \u201clearn how to fish for people\u201d?\u00a0 He was an unschooled, ordinary man.\u00a0 Who is he now?\u00a0 He is still an unschooled, ordinary man.\u00a0 But the religious authorities have identified what makes all the difference:\u00a0 \u201cThey took note that these men had been with Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Peter had been with Jesus.\u00a0<\/em>
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Even though he had gotten less-than-perfect grades in Jesus\u2019 school of life \u2013 and outright flunked a handful of crucial spiritual tests \u2013 Peter is now leading the way in the first days of the Church.\u00a0 \u00a0
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Is it likely that any one of us will personally experience an actual miracle?
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That\u2019s God\u2019s business. \u00a0But when we look back from the next world and finally grasp how God has always been at work in life\u2019s smallest details, we\u2019ll no doubt be amazed at the miracles we somehow overlooked.
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In the meantime, our marching orders are clear.\u00a0 We\u2019re called to do what Peter did.
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Let\u2019s choose to be with Jesus<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0

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For the four weeks leading up to and going beyond Easter, we’re looking at the life of Peter.\u00a0 Because he\u2019s so often at the center of both the brightest and darkest moments in the Gospels, he has always been a source of hope and inspiration for those endeavoring to follow Jesus. The word \u201cmiracle\u201d is somewhat overworked these days.\u00a0\u00a0We speak… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,421],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-miracles","tag-peter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1584,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions\/1584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}