NOTES for Act 3:11-16

Today we have before us two situations of witness. In both cases, moreover, those who bear witness point to Christ as the One who is greater than they are. The disciples run to John the Baptist, annoyed that everyone is going with repentance not to their beloved teacher, but to someone (Someone) else. But John explains to them that everything is going as it should. He is the herald who yields the way to the Lord who has come. He is the friend of the bridegroom, whose role is to step modestly aside when the Bridegroom meets face to face with His Bride, with the one for whose sake He came - with each person who comes to Him...

When the apostles Peter and John preach in Solomon's Portico of the Jerusalem Temple, they too "move aside," because everyone runs together to them after hearing about the miracle they have performed. And it is possible that, in order to stop the growing fame that is moving in the wrong direction, the apostles have to "shake up" their listeners a little. Sometimes it becomes necessary to take by the shoulders, and almost lift off the ground, a child rushing headlong somewhere. The apostles show the crowd gathered around them that the matter is not in them at all, but in the One whom this crowd had not merely seen, but had even crucified. And that it is His name that heals and raises up. And that glory is fitting for Him, not for them...

Such is the humility of the saints, who are ready to "move over" and "rejoice with joy" when people turn to the One whose friends they are (see John 3:29).