“You are an illiterate ignoramus.” This was the response of a group of religious leaders to a zealous young evangelist. People have called me a lot of names through the years but thankfully, this hasn’t been one of them. That young minister was none other than Peter. The group was the Sanhedrin. Illiterate ignoramus is the exact translation of the words uneducated and untrained in Acts 4:13. Yet, even while calling them this, these leader were amazed and speechless (vv13, 14) as they gazed at the forty year old man standing next to Peter and John who had never stood in his life, let alone walked. Even they could not deny this notable miracle. I imagine every man on that Counsel had strolled by this lame man in the Temple Court. Some may have even given him a few coins.
At some point during their interrogation, these leaders realized that Peter and John were two of the men who they had seen with Jesus. The Counsel had no explanation to this miracle but they had to figure out a way to stop this from happening again. Over 5,000 men had accepted Jesus because of this miracle. All they could do for now was order them to leave.
Maybe not in the same wording, illiterate ignoramus, but Peter and John didn’t receive education beyond a grammar school level. They weren’t trained scholars. But God requires neither of these qualifications. God chooses the foolish things and the weak things and the base [no family pedigree] and the despised, (1Co 1:27, 28). When the Holy Spirit illuminated that to me years ago, I shouted, “Praise God, I’m qualified”.
I will always remember going to my interview for the first phase before ordination. I was still a young Christian and had no church upbringing. Except for my mother, there weren’t any committed Christians in my family. Here I was in a waiting room, listening to young men talk about their Dads who were Bishops and prominent leaders or a relative who was a well-known evangelist. They were decked out in expensive suits and had already mastered the preacher’s holy voice and vocabulary. Here I was, a poor farm boy, son of a car painter, in my J.C. Penny’s off-the-rack suit, and was still working on getting the word “ain’t” out of my vocabulary. “What am I doing here? I’m just a no-body”, I thought. Believe me, I felt like an illiterate ignoramus. But I struggled on through the process because I knew God had called me. It was much later before I discovered this passage about whom God chooses. It’s still easier to quote that scripture than it is to live it. Our world is geared toward the wise and strong and those with a family pedigree. Too often, we let other people’s opinions leave us feeling substandard. As a result, we fear trying to do anything for God.
The Sanhedrin labeled Peter as an illiterate ignoramus. Yet, here was a young Galilean under 30 years old (legal age of a rabbi), probably dressed in the cheap clothes standing boldly before the highest court in Jewish society defiant of their order not to preach or to teach again in “that name”. Peter literally told them that they didn’t have the power to stop sharing what they had seen and heard. This was because he had met and been filled with the highest power in the universe. This left these leaders speechless. Oh by the way, several of those in that room with me years ago are selling cars today.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Don’t let the opinion of others stop you from accomplishing what God can do with you. And don’t worry – even if you are foolish, weak, or have no family pedigree, you are still qualified!