Saturday of Easter Week
April 18, 2026
We Cannot Stop Speaking
Acts 4:13-21 | Mark
16:9-15
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| Photo created using Google AI Image Creator. |
Today's
Readings
Acts
4:13-21 The
Sanhedrin saw the boldness of Peter and John and were astonished; they were
uneducated, ordinary men. They commanded them to stop speaking in the name of
Jesus. Peter and John replied: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to obey
you rather than God, you be the judge. It is impossible for us not to speak
about what we have seen and heard."
Mark
16:9-15 Jesus
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, then to two disciples, then to the Eleven. He
rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart. Then He said: Go into the whole
world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Today's
Thread: Impossible not to speak.
Peter and John were
not trained theologians. They were fishermen who had walked with Jesus. The
authorities could see that something had happened to them, something that could
not be explained by education or position. The Resurrection had changed them
from the inside out.
And their response
to being silenced is one of the most defining statements in all of Acts: it is
impossible for us not to speak. Not defiance. Not rebellion. Simply, this is
who we are now.
Living
It Today:
You carry that same
fire. Not everyone will welcome it. Not everyone welcomed it from Peter and
John either. But the call today is not to be clever or persuasive; it is simply
to be someone for whom speaking about Jesus is as natural as breathing.
The Great
Commission at the end of Mark is not reserved for priests and religious. Jesus
said go into the whole world. Your world. Your neighborhood, your family table,
your workplace, your phone. Go there. Speak.
Something
to sit with today:
The
religious leaders saw it immediately. These were ordinary men, no credentials,
no formal training. Yet something about them was undeniable. They had been with
Jesus, and it showed. So threatened power did what it always does: it warned
them, drew a line, and dared them to cross it. Peter and John didn't flinch.
Not because they were reckless, but because they weren't arguing a position,
they were reporting a reality. And you can silence an opinion, but you cannot
silence a witness.
Their
boldness wasn't something they worked up. It was testimony they simply couldn't
contain. "We cannot help
speaking about what we have seen and heard." That one sentence
is both their defense and their dare. The council threatened them and let them
go, unable to punish men for simply telling the truth about something real that
had happened to them.
If
someone told you to stop talking about your faith, what would they actually be
asking you to give up? And would you stop?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
