NOTES for Act 5:38-39

What can be the relationship of man to the Christ, and what - to the Church or to some of its members? The encounter with Jesus was always for each an event, obliging to make a decision, whether it is the meeting with Him during His earthly ministry or after the Resurrection. And it is clear: because in His person, man meets with the plenitude of God and with the plenitude of the Kingdom, it is impossible here to stand back, wait and especially to pretend that nothing happened. But is it how it happens, when somebody meets on his way a Christian? Sometimes it is the case, and then the meeting with the witness of Christ and the Kingdom means for him the same thing as the other meeting with the Risen. But sometimes it is different: the meeting touches in no way man, he remains indifferent to the witness, or being interested, he doesn’t hurry to make a decision. It is what happened with Gamaliel, the rabbi scholar and respected member of the Sanhedrin. Why is this happening? One can suppose of course that the problem is in the witness himself and his testimony, which for some reasons does not always affect the heart of the listeners. But one can’t say such a thing of the apostles: their sermon attracted many. Then what is the problem?

Indeed, Gamaliel, according to his words, was a person spiritually honest and sincere. What then disturbed him from accepting the Christ and from entering the Kingdom when he heard the apostles? The answer may seem paradoxical, but it is completely possible: it is in particular the spiritual honesty that stopped Gamaliel. He did not see what those who addressed saw, why - God is truth. And God doesn’t pull anyone into the Kingdom by force. He had nowhere to hurry, and He knows the human heart.

The history with Gamaliel, in essence, is a remarkable illustration of the words of the Savior saying that nobody can come to Him, if the Father does not allow him. Of course, at other moments many come to the Church more easily, without long hesitations and reflections. But such coming means the possibility also to exit so easily. Or what is even worse, the conservation of only the visibility of a Christian life. That often takes place especially where Christianity had become "a traditional religion", or, more exactly, engendered a religion which became traditional. It is easy to accept a religion, especially if it is traditional, but Christ – is not so easy.

And indeed, Gamaliel had to accept not the religion, but Christ. But God has not brought him to Christ yet. And he himself, as somebody spiritually honest, cannot and does not want to depict that which is not, even if to suppose that these people preaching the Messiah and the Kingdom were personally nice to him. And he says: leave them in peace, and let us see, if their work is of God. The choice is postponed. But the way to the Kingdom is not closed.