The Saturday after the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 30, 2025 by under
Scripture: Acts 4:13-20 (NKJV)
4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”
18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Devotion
Today’s reading looks ahead to the Epistle lesson for this upcoming Sunday (Trinity 11). Just as the Sanhedrin was faced with the undeniable fact of a miracle performed through Peter and John, so Paul presents us with the undeniable fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He writes: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins… was buried, and that he rose again the third day… And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once…” (1 Cor. 15:3-6). Just as the Sanhedrin could not deny the reality of the lame man’s healing, so the reality of Jesus’ resurrection cannot be denied either. The evidence is too great; there were hundreds of eye-witnesses.
Peter and John declared that they could not but speak the things which they had heard and seen. So also, pastors cannot but speak the doctrine which they have received in the Holy Scriptures. When it comes to preaching and teaching, pastors are a one track record. They have no other doctrine to preach than what has been handed down in the Church through these eyewitnesses. This is why false doctrine cannot be permitted. The temple must be cleansed from all corruptions and additions, since only the truth is acceptable before God; only the truth can make us free.
Collect: O God, Who declarest Thine Almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Thy grace, that we, running the way of Thy commandments, may obtain Thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of Thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
