NOTES for Act 4:13-21

How familiar to many of us is what happens in the hearts of the scribes and elders sitting in the Sanhedrin. Having seen a miracle, they are closed and unready to receive it like children. Instead of praise, they immediately turn on their reason, calculating how this miracle may harm or help them. And reason at once orders Peter and John to be driven out of the Sanhedrin so they will not hear their conversation. Even now they want to cover an unclean conscience. But the miracle remains a miracle; more than that, outside the window the people are rejoicing, "glorifying God for what had happened."

And what benefit is there in all this? It is much calmer and safer when the people listen quietly, without questioning a single word of yours. These people, the elders, understand perfectly well that a person moved by the Holy Spirit obeys only Him and will not think about their welfare, authority, or "truth." Fearing that the masses may be seized by the Spirit, they try to cut this phenomenon off "at the root," forcing Peter and John to be silent. But the Spirit "breathes" (see John 3:8), and the apostles faithful to the Lord carry His sparks away in their hearts, to share them with those to whom the Lord will send them and who will want to receive Him.