Acts 4:13-22 New International Version (NIV)
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
Before Peter and John met Jesus, they were fishermen. The members in the Sanhedrin had gone to special schools where their, ‘rabbis’ had taught them everything about the Jewish religion and Moses’ Law. They thought that they were cleverer than Peter and John. So, they were very surprised. when Peter and John were very confident. Peter and John even explained the scriptures. Usually, only rabbis did this.
Then the men in the Sanhedrin remembered that Jesus had taught Peter and John. Jesus had not gone to a special school either (John 7:15). But everyone had listened to him. He had explained the scriptures as well. It does not matter to God whether we have gone to school or not. It does not matter to God whether we are clever or not. What does matter is that we obey God. He will show his power by means of us, if we let him do it.
People could see that Peter’s words about Jesus were true. The man who could now walk was standing in the court. He was the proof. The men in the Sanhedrin told Peter and John to leave the room. They wanted to talk privately about what to do.
The man who was standing in court had never been able to walk. Everyone in Jerusalem knew that. But he was walking! A miracle had happened. The men in the Sanhedrin could not argue about this.
Peter and John had not said anything wrong. Nor had they done anything wrong. The men in the Sanhedrin knew this. They could not keep Peter and John in prison. But they did not want the apostles to tell everyone that Jesus was alive. And they did not want the people to see the power that there was in Jesus’ name. So, they decided to warn Peter and John that they must not speak in Jesus’ name. Nor must they teach in his name. If they did this, bad things would happen to them.
Peter and John had to do what God wanted. Jesus had told them to go to people everywhere. And he had told them to make people into his disciples (Matthew 28:19). They could not stop talking about what they had seen. And they could not stop talking about what they had heard.
It is the same for Christians now. We know that the Lord Jesus is alive. We know him as our friend and our Saviour. We must share the good news, so that other people can know him too. We must not be afraid of what people might say about us.
The people in the court were praising God because he had done a wonderful thing. The man was more than 40 years old. Nobody had expected him to get well.
The men in the Sanhedrin knew that they must let Peter and John go. The only thing that they could do was to warn them again. They could not do anything else!