Acts 2:14-41 | God's Rescue MissionSample

Crucifixion was Rome’s way of executing the worst. Thieves and slaves and societies’ dregs. Upstart revolutionaries and rebels instigating any sort of disloyalty or treason against Rome. Rome killed Jesus that way.

Jesus was killed as a criminal. But now Peter says that these people who are gathered are the criminals. He tells them, “You killed God!”

What do you do when you’ve had a hand in it? Bad enough to consent to the degradation, torture, and execution of someone who seemingly deserves it. How much worse when you find that this person is the very incarnation of God who is now king, judge of the world, and judge of you?

It’s no wonder the people panicked. We did this to Jesus!

But how about the others? Chances are some of those people gathering around Peter on Pentecost weren’t even there at Jesus’s crucifixion. Peter includes them as culpable too.

Perhaps you didn’t crack the whip, shout “Crucify him,” raise him on the cross, hammer the nail, or jeer him. Perhaps you didn’t stand silently by or run away when all this was happening. But our sin is what put him there. He died because of me.

What do you do when you realize what you’ve done to Jesus? What you’re responsible for? And that you should be judged for it?

You throw yourself on God’s mercy. You come to your senses, come out clean, and beg for forgiveness. You don’t try to downplay it. You hope for grace and pardon instead.

That’s what Peter means when he says “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus the King for the forgiveness of your sins.” Turn to Jesus. Confess to Jesus. Pledge your allegiance to Jesus and immerse yourself in him. Not only does he promise forgiveness, he even gives you his Spirit. That’s God’s radical rescue.

That’s what God does. He seeks and saves. We can listen and respond. Or we can sneer, reject, or turn away. Listen and respond!