The poor have been oppressed and even jailed for the convenience of the elite. It has gone on for centuries and may continue for many more.

Joseph, of the coat of many colors fame, wound up in prison at the pleasure of a beautiful woman of a well-connected family.

It was not long after Easter when two Christians wound up in jail at the convenience of rulers of the Temple who considered them to be “unschooled, ordinary men.”

“They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. It was as if they said, “Let’s go home and have a nice evening with our families. These ordinary fellows will be waiting for us tomorrow after we have had a nice breakfast.”

What was this all about? They had healed a lame man and were interrogated the next morning.

They were admonished to tell who or what gave this unschooled pair the authority to do this.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!  If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed,  then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.”

The elite were astonished at such an answer from ordinary men and t let them go with a stern warning not to continue preaching the good news of Jesus.

Easter has just reminded us again that Jesus is the way, and the truth that lives on.

Do we possess the courage of Peter and John as they faced the “authorities?”

In the USA today there are a few atheists who want everyone to become practical atheists. Our religion must be hidden while they openly practice theirs. Will we have the courage of Peter and John even it means going to jail for the truth of our faith? There was no denying that the lame man was healed. There he stood as testimony.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, though the strife may be long and strong.  Easter is right. We serve a risen Savior; he is in the world today. There may be a price to pay. God grant us the faith and courage to pay it.