We have heard, this morning, from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, something that happened very early in the life of our Church.  The Apostles Peter and John are arrested for telling people about Jesus.  . . . What you did not hear is what happened to the apostles after they were arrested.  Further on in the Book of Acts we are told that after Peter had explained about Jesus to the rulers and elders and scribes who had arrested them . . . the apostles were sent out of the room so that everyone could confer.  And once the council of Jewish rulers and elders and scribes had arrived at a decision,

they . . . called in the apostles [the Book of Acts tells us]; they . . . called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.  (Acts 5:40)

Now, . . . how do you think the apostles responded to this treatment?  . . . How would you respond to it?  Would you be offended that religious authorities should treat you so badly, and would you resolve to have nothing further to do with God or Jesus?  . . . Would you find a good lawyer and sue the pants off the Jewish council?  . . . Or would you feel so sorry for yourself that you buy a half-keg of beer to drown your sorrows?  How would you respond to being beaten with canes for telling people about Jesus?  . . . Well, the Book of Acts says that the apostles

left the presence of the council, rejoicing; . . . [the apostles] left the presence of the council rejoicing, that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name [of Jesus]  (Acts 5:41)

The apostles were happy to be treated so harshly by the religious authorities.  They were so happy that they went from the place of their beating rejoicing; . . . rejoicing in the pain, . . . rejoicing in the blood; . . . rejoicing in the threats of even worse punishment.  . . . Why?  . . . Why did they behave so strangely after being treated so badly?  . . . Because they are Christians; . . . they are Christians doing what Jesus had been doing when He was arrested . . . and beaten with whips . . . and nailed to a Cross . . . and, when He had died, was laid in a Tomb.  . . . The apostles rejoiced that their own lives should share the same sort of humiliation as Jesus suffered, doing the same work that Jesus was sent by His heavenly Father to do:  . . . declaring “that God is light and in him is no darkness at all”; exhorting everyone to walk toward the light . . . to walk toward God . . . to walk toward God by keeping His Commandments and living transparent lives that are honorable and truthful and reverent.  . . . And declaring that if anyone stumble in keeping God’s Commandments . . . there are no worries (as the  Australians say), because “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous”; Whose “blood . . . cleanses us from all sin”, because His sacred death upon the Cross is “the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

    The apostles rejoiced; . . . they were happy to have suffered humiliation, like Jesus, for having shared this truth about God with everyone.  . . . “But wait a minute,” you might say.  “How did the apostles know they were telling the truth about God; . . . how did they know all that forgiveness and light and life stuff was true?  After all, they were ignorant fishermen, for goodness sake; they had no scientific proof that any of this was true.”  . . . And you would be right; the apostles were unsophisticated, unscientific fishermen.  . . . But Saint Luke tells us that on the day when the Tomb where the dead body of Jesus had been placed was discovered to be empty; . . . on the day we call Easter, . . . the apostles were all together discussing this distressing turn of events, when suddenly

. . . Jesus himself stood among them.  But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit.  And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts?  See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

And while it is true that first century fishermen didn’t have much scientific acumen, . . . they were smart enough to know (probably better than you or me); . . . they were smart enough to know the difference between a living man . . . and an unscientific ghost.  . . . And so, Jesus, Who was dead but has risen from the Tomb, a living and transfigured man of grace, the living Son of God; . . . Jesus says to His apostles . . . and to us; . . . the living Jesus says,

These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, . . . that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations [ . . . so that they might come to the light and become sons and daughters of God . . . and not die but live].  . . . You are witnesses of these things.

And in obedience to the risen Christ’s commission to preach repentance and life, the apostles went out and did as John tells us they did,

that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And when the apostles did this; . . . when the apostles spoke as Jesus instructed them, . . . a wonderful thing happened:  . . . people to whom the apostles spoke prayed in fellowship with the apostles and one another, . . . and they encountered the living Jesus; people were baptized and shared the sacred bread and sacred wine in fellowship with one another . . . and they encountered the living Jesus.  People encountered the living Jesus when they met disciples whose lives were so simple and transparent that they could rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name of Jesus.  . . . And when people encountered Jesus, their lives changed!  Jesus changes lives when a way is provided for people to see Him.  . . . It has been going on for two thousand years now.  . . . And so, the risen and living Jesus has commissioned, first His apostles, and now us . . . to be witnesses; to provide a way for people to encounter Jesus by the simplicity and transparency of our own living . . . and by speaking the truth to friends and acquaintances as God gives us occasion.

    It is into this relationship of friendship with Jesus and the simple living as a child of light that we bring Liliana Madolyn today.  . . . We didn’t baptize Lili during Lent, when she first asked to be baptized, because after Ash Wednesday the Church waits for this fifty day festival of Eastertide to baptize Her children; . . . we wait until we have gone through the darkness of Christ’s Crucifixion and emerged into the light and life of Jesus risen.  . . . Lili, of your own choosing, today you are turning away from darkness and beginning the walk toward light; . . . the walk toward God; . . . the walk toward Jesus.  You live in a culture, Lili, where not everyone likes the light; . . . there are people who will sneer at you for being a Christian.  But today, like the apostles, you shall choose to be a Christian; . . . you shall choose to be a Christian, in spite of the stinkers who will sneer at you; . . . you shall choose to be a Christian and rejoice in the Name of Jesus, . . . because, you see, when you rejoice in the Name of Jesus, He will always, always, always be with you, . . . in good times . . . and in bad.  Alleluia!