“They had been with Jesus.”
In preparation for the soon-to-be-expanded Briefing blog (stay tuned!), I've been spending a bit more time in the blogosphere looking at other blogs and seeing what people are up to. On one blog, I bumped into a comment on Acts 4:13. Acts 4:13 records the bit in Acts where the first-century Jewish leaders who persecuted the early church are astonished by the evangelistic boldness of Peter and John, recognizing that “they had been with Jesus”. The blog commenter wrote:
I find that phrase such a challenge and such an inspiration. “They had been with Jesus.” It is inspiring to know that the source of the disciples' boldness and confidence was not anything in themselves, but was a direct result of the time they had spent with Jesus.
Now it so happened that I had just read this snippet from Martin Luther's Table Talk a day earlier:
I know nothing of Jesus Christ but only his name; I have not heard or seen him corporally, yet I have, God be praised, learned so much out of the Scriptures, that I am well and thoroughly satisfied; therefore I desire neither to see nor to hear him in the body. (Table Talk, ‘Of Jesus Christ’, CCXXXII.)
Like Luther, I'm not persuaded that having been with Jesus in his incarnation is of any great spiritual advantage. Nor, I think, did the disciples themselves see it this way. I appreciate Matthew's honesty when he records the disciples' response to Jesus' resurrection: “And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted” (Matt 28:17). Jesus himself said, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).
The mystery of the disciples' boldness is unlocked not by looking at the time they spent with Jesus when he was on earth. After three years with Jesus under imminent threat, the boldest disciple turned out to be Judas. He, more than any of the others, showed great initiative and independent thought—by going to the High Priest with an offer to betray his Lord.
On the other hand, the disciples became bold because of Jesus' promise. He said “[Y]ou will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This same boldness is available to anyone who trusts Jesus for forgiveness and receives his Holy Spirit.