Acts 12:1-19

Introduction

It does not take us long before we discover that life is not fair. Children at a young age complain that things are not fair. They sense a disconnect when someone gets something good that they didn’t get or if they get punished and someone else doesn’t. It just isn’t fair!

As we grow older, we do not lose the sense of the unfairness of life. Some people seem to be born with an advantage over others. Even when people are born with the same advantages, sometimes even the randomness of life creates different outcomes that seem unfair.

For people of faith, we have an added complication. It was one thing to say that life is not fair. But what if we believe that there is a God who is both powerful and good. Shouldn’t that provide a consistent prosperity across the board? But again we see different outcomes. Have you ever felt that God is sometimes unfair in the way he answers prayer? Does this mean God loves one person more than an other? Does the person who gets blessed have greater faith? These are hard questions. The Bible does not hid from these questions. The Bible shares the stories of many people, some having happier lives than others. It never seems to work out the same. But it also points us toward some healthy ways of responding to the seeming unfairness of life.

James and Peter

As we think about this, let us reflect upon the twelve apostles. Jesus called twelve to be his close companions. Judas betrayed him and he was replaced. Within the twelve, there were three apostles that were the inner circle. These were Peter and the two sons of Zebedee: James and John. By the way, the fact that Peter’s brother Andrew was not included is another example of something that seemed unfair. Whatever the reasons for that absence, it is obvious that Jesus had a special relationship with Peter, James and John.

Let us fast forward. Jesus has died, been raised and ascended to heaven. The church has been born and has gone through various trials and tribulation. But at least they still have the twelve, that important link to the earthly ministry of Jesus. Until now.

Herod, who was the grandson of Herod the Great, was the Roman-sponsored leader of this area. He wanted to curry favour with the Jews, especially those that were opposing the Jesus followers. So he arrested James and had him killed with the sword. The twelve was broken and we do not read about any replacing of James, unlike what happened with Judas.

Seeing that killing James helped Herod’s popularity, he decided to try it again. This time he arrested Peter. It looked like the church was going to lose another valued member of the twelve. The disciples were of course praying for him. While it doesn’t specify, we can safely assume that prayed just as hard for James. They prayed and prayed. Amazingly, God worked a miracle and freed Peter from jail. This was incredible. Literally, it lacked credibility as even the praying disciples didn’t believe that Peter had been freed.

The problem we have to face is: Why did God rescue Peter and not James? They were both parts of the inner three. The church had been praying for both of them. It feels a bit unfair. I can imagine James’ family thinking about this and feeling that God was not being consistent. Did God love Peter more than James? However, we should also remember that this rescue meant that Peter went through decades of more suffering for Jesus. Also, James died quickly by the sword and when Peter was eventually killed, tradition tells us that he was crucified upside down, which would have been a slow death. Perhaps God loved James more than Peter?

The truth is that the Bible doesn’t give us any answers. However, it does tell us that our level of suffering is not a measure of how much God loves us. That is the message of the book of Job. It is also the message of Jesus. The Father loved no one more than the Son and yet Jesus died before any of the twelve and he died a very painful death. Ultimately, the question is not about God loving Peter more than James. The Bible is much more pragmatic than that. The Bible is more about what we do in the situations we find ourselves. When James was arrested by Herod, he was put into a position where he had to respond to death with faith. When Peter was arrested by Herod, he had to take his path, which led to a couple more decades of ministry until he faced his own death in Rome during the reign of Nero.

Facing Unfairness

When we are talking about James and Peter in the book of Acts, we may be able to accept these principles. But what about when it is our own experience? What about when life, ore even God, seems unfair to us?

I cannot speak for any of you, even though small parts of many of your stories. I will say that my life has not turned out exactly as I expected. If God had given me the power to write my own story, many things would have been different. Don’t get me wrong, I have been blessed in many ways and I have an amazing wife and five wonderful children. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by how blessed I am.

At the same time, there are a few things that seem a bit unfair. I think of my parents who never got a chance to really watch their grandchildren grow up. My dad never met our three youngest and my mom died just before Faith’s first birthday. If life was fair, they would have had time to enjoy their grandchildren and many other grandparents are able to do. That is not fair.

Speaking of my children, it is not fair that I don’t get to see Logan and Abby as often as we would like. Other parents get to be with their children at that age, we are we this far away and why is there a pandemic that limits our visits?

Here is an example from my life that might be closer to the James and Peter story. I have mentioned before that I got a disease called sarcoidosis about seven years ago. Interestingly, one of my fellow students at Acadia Divinity College also came down with the same disease about a year before me. Her had his initial treatment and it knocked the sarcoidosis into remission and soon he was running marathons. That has not been my story. It has never fully gone into remission and I still take medication for it. I still experience flare-ups from time to time. Why did he have a better experience than I did? Is that fair?

The truth is that life is not a competition. My experience with God in this life is not to be compared to someone else’s experience. Why has my life turned out the way it has? I have no idea. The real question is: What will I do with the opportunities and challenges that come my way?

Conclusion

One of my favourite authors is J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings. There is an interesting exchange in that story that is relevant to what we are talking about here.

“Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Was it fair that the ring of power with all of its dangers came to Frodo? Not really. Notice how Gandalf responds. He acknowledges that Frodo’s feelings of frustration are normal. Then he reframes the situation from why to what. What matters here is what Frodo will do with the ring.

Was it fair that James was killed by Herod, while God rescued Peter from jail? From our perspective, not really. We want to know why this happened. But it is not about why, it is about what. What would James do as he faced death? What would Peter do as he faced freedom?

Is your life fair? It probably doesn’t always feel fair. Why did certain things turn out the way they did? We may never find out. We need to decide what we will do with where we find ourselves. It is not our understand that really matters, it is the way we take our next steps.