Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

Good morning. OK so everybody was upset. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel (Paul’s mentor), a  teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up in the council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. He then gives two instances of men who had followers. When they died, their followers dispersed. So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God. They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. In other words, this is a warning of what will happen to you if you don’t listen to us. And so the apostles went away bawling and squalling – not! So they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. It is not very likely that we would do that. We would probably think that it was a sign from God that we had done something we should not have, and should mind our own business. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. This is true in general. When people try to forcibly silence others, sometimes it backfires, and gives even more incentive to speak out. Father help us to proclaim Your word without fear of the consequences.