“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36)
Despite the allegations that he and the rest of the company are drunk, Peter is unperturbed: “It’s only nine in the morning!” (v. 15) He who had forsaken his friend, Lord, and Savior just weeks ago now stands up in an uncharacteristic boldness. Invoking both the prophet Joel and King David, Peter ascends to the fore to stand against “this corrupt generation,” (v. 40) with both earnest pleading and urgent warnings: repent and be baptized (v. 38). He both confronts his countrymen and pleads with them, acting as both opponent and mediator.
This is what God’s messengers have always been, and ever will be, both an enemy to the wicked world (“friendship with the world means enmity against God,” James 4:4) and a friend to guilty sinners (“We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God,” 2 Corinthians 5:20).
But the whole point of Peter’s proclamation comes to the crux: “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah,” (v. 36). What an offensive, tactless message to proclaim in the heart of Judaism and Jerusalem! You are the enemies to God’s anointed Messiah – enemies of God Himself!
What is Peter thinking? Doesn’t he realize Christ has just been crucified for this very claim? Will this not result in the same treatment and predictable end that his Lord and master has just endured? But Peter has no time to entertain such fear. He is a man recalibrated by the resurrection: the fear of death and man have nothing on him!
“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” (Acts 2:32)
The Spirit not only speaks through him, it also readies the hearts to receive it: “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” (v. 37) The pointedness of Peter’s proclamation drives the crux home: you are the ones who crucified the Lord’s Messiah. Their contrition is essential to their repentance. Without it, they cannot truly receive this stumbling block of a message. All of this is by design, for only the humble of heart can accept the bitter message of the Gospel: you are the ones who put Christ on the cross.
Until we see ourselves as among those responsible for the crucifixion, we lack the contrition that is needed for genuine repentance:
Behold the man upon a cross
My sin upon his shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held him there
(Stuart Townend, How Deep the Father’s Love)
Nothing less can cut to the core of the human heart, that thing above all which God is desirous to possess and restore.
