Today's reading shows us the limit that religious consciousness can reach. This limit is marked by Gamaliel's speech (vv. 34-39). Gamaliel belonged to the rabbinic school founded by Hillel, a teacher of the Torah who lived approximately two centuries before the Nativity of Christ. Representatives of this school were never religious formalists, believing that the Torah should be written in the human heart, determining a person's whole life and helping him build a relationship with God. For them the first place belonged not to ritual, but to intimate, mystical communion with God. Hillel is credited with the words: "Where two or three gather in the name of the Torah, there the Shekinah dwells among them" (in Judaism, the Shekinah is the presence of God). It is no surprise that a representative of this very school spoke before the Sanhedrin in support of the apostles.

The situation did not at all seem clear and unambiguous to Gamaliel either, but he was not afraid of what the temple leadership feared: that the new movement that had begun among the people would turn against them (vv. 27-28). His absence of fear and readiness to accept everything that truly comes from God distinguish him from most representatives of the official religious authorities.

Gamaliel cannot say anything definite about the apostles and their preaching, and that is not surprising: he remains a bearer and guardian of a religious tradition, in no way connected either with Jesus or with His disciples. But his spiritual and religious experience tells him that movements of this kind succeed only when they come from God. Therefore he is calm: if the apostles are doing God's work, he has nothing to worry about; if not, then there is no need to be anxious anyway, because in that case it will sooner or later come to nothing.

Such a position appears neutral and watchful, but it could not have been otherwise: Gamaliel remained within religious boundaries, although his faith was sincere and his religiosity consistent. He truly knew nothing either about Jesus or about the apostles, and no religious experience could reveal to him what is revealed only through contact with the Kingdom. At the same time, however, Gamaliel, as we can see, remains absolutely open to God's action and ready to accept everything that comes from God. His position presupposes, above all, absolute honesty before himself and before God. And this is, apparently, the best that religion can give a person. In such a state of spirit a person will neither rush after false prophets and false messiahs, nor grab stones whenever some new religious movement appears. His religion gives him inner peace. That peace, of course, does not replace the Kingdom, but it gives him the possibility of seeing it.

At first glance, everything is clear. Of course, God is the main one in our life; we must obey Him in everything. One can even say that all our troubles come from disobedience to God, since original sin itself is nothing other than disobedience. Do we not try to obey Him? True, it does not always work out... But that is all right, God will help, and everything will work out for us!

Stop, but what exactly will work out for us? Did the people who sent Jesus to the Cross and then judged the Apostles consciously disobey God? And the people who stoned the first deacon Stephen were absolutely certain that they were fulfilling the will of God. Look into the history of the Church: intolerance, crusades, the Inquisition - these too were supposedly done out of obedience to God. And present-day terrorism also tries to declare itself holiness, even if Islamic!

How are we to understand that what we consider the will of God truly is His will? There is a seemingly simple answer: check it against the Bible. But recently someone told me that both warring extremist parties in Northern Ireland justify their murders and bombings with quotations from the Bible! The point is not only what is written in it, but also how we understand it, and that is already the sphere of the Spirit's action. Remember how Jesus, when His disciples wanted to interpret a biblical passage incorrectly, said to them: "You do not know what spirit you are of" (Luke 9:55)

So how are we to obey God?

It would seem familiar to us to understand the Cross and the Resurrection as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. Yes, the author of Acts says this (see Acts 5:31), but right away he also mentions repentance. This is striking. We understand that the Lord came into the world so that we would repent and receive Him and the Father. But the fact that He also rises in order to "give repentance to Israel" (and then to all who live) can escape our attention.

On the other hand, how else could it be? A mission is a mission, and it is carried out by every possible means. Indeed, when we look at the events described in Acts and at the increase of believers in the Church (see, for example, Acts 2:41, 5:14, 17:4), we see that people repent precisely after hearing the message about the crucified and risen Lord. The message that Someone came for your salvation and was killed through your own fault, yet rose in spite of it, strikes a person deeply. And if he listens to this message and truly hears it, acknowledging Jesus as Savior, the Lord does not delay His joy over the hundredth sheep that has been found (see Matt. 18:12-14).