Our lives are lived in weariness. Weariness is the daily context of life
for many Americans. Many unmarried are weary of loneliness. Many married
are weary of "let's pretend," faked relationships. Many parents are weary
of unappreciative children. Many children are weary of parents who do not
comprehend their world. Many are weary of pleasure's emptiness. Many are
weary of hypocrisy. Most of us are weary of the illusions of the American
lifestyle. Most of us are just plain tired, and the future's road appears
to wind through exhaustion.
If we conclude weariness in "postmodern" American culture is unique, we
deceive ourselves. Acts' second sermon was delivered to Israelites
assembled at the Jerusalem temple. Israelites had a 1500 year history of
weariness: the weariness of Egyptian slavery, the weariness of the exodus,
the weariness of Canaan's conquest, the weariness of the judges' rule, the
weariness of the kings, the weariness of a divided kingdom, the weariness of
the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, the weariness of the return to their
homeland, and the weariness of Roman occupation.
Peter's first sermon (Acts 2) emphasized God [by intent and design] made
Jesus Lord and Christ. Peter's second sermon (Acts 3) emphasized Israel's
need to repent. God's people needed to repent! God's chosen people needed
to repent! Abraham's descendants, heirs of God's promises, needed to
repent!
What an emphasis! Why not talk to people about (a) idolaters' need to
repent or (b) atheists' need to repent or (c) wicked Israelites need to
repent or (d) rebellious Israelites need to repent or (e) unethical
Israelites need to repent? Did not those groups need to repent? Certainly!
Then why tell people assembled to pray to the living God they needed to
repent? (1) If other people needing repentance repented, their repentance
could not remove these people's need to repent. (2) The people at the
temple could not have their sins "wiped away" unless they repented. (3)
They could not experience God's "times of refreshing" unless they repented.
The long journey of weariness would continue if these people who believed in
God, who assembled because of faith in God, who came to pray to God refused
to repent. God could end their journey into weariness if they allowed Jesus
to be their Christ. To accept the fact that Jesus was the Christ was not
enough. They had to allow Jesus to be Christ in their relationship to God.
For the same reasons, we desperately need a total redirection of life. God
cannot replace our weariness with the "time of refreshing" until we permit
Jesus to be Christ in our lives. As long as Jesus Christ is nothing more
than a fact, our journey into weariness will continue.
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