Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. - Acts 2:14,22-32
When will we accept that we were on the wrong side? Part of repentance is accepting that so much of my life consisted in patterns that were diametrically opposed to the God-centered life that God wants us to live. Repentance isn't about trying to explain the multitude of reasons why we ended up in a bad place vis-a-vis our relationship with God, but to admit that the final position, against God is a place we should never end up.
There were lots of reasons people were opposed to Jesus. Jesus was kryptonite; associate with him and you are pariah from the community of upstanding people. Jesus was full of himself, claiming status and authority that belonged to God alone. Jesus put himself above the words of God in the Torah. Jesus was a convicted criminal. Jesus brought the wrath of Rome down on good citizens. Jesus was radical but the type of radical that didn't really do anything.
But it was exactly in the blast radius of Jesus' culture bomb that you need to stand to chemo-therapy the self that is the cancer of our souls. Trying to identify those portions of the cancer-filled life that we want to hold on to is some ill-informed nostalgia.
And we know it. As Peter said to his audience: Jesus was "accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs...as you yourselves know." God gave them enough to know that Jesus was the real deal, but they crucified him rather than changing their lives. We know the truth but we don't want it. We prefer the lie. And this pattern, fills so many cracks and crevices of our characters that we aren't even sure what the whole version of us what looks life, more holes than substance.
This is why Isaiah said, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)
Yet Peter proclaimed that the weakness of our inconstant love is not enough to prevent God. Jesus still rose. God still saves. We are still renewed. Praised God
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