The Persecutors Who Refused to Ask: Is It True?

When the Jewish authorities arrested Peter and John in Solomon's porch, Maclaren identifies a startling feature of their opposition: they never asked the critical question. The priests resented the teaching because it threatened their official prerogative. The captain of the Temple feared disorder. The Sadducees burned with indignation at the doctrine of resurrection affirmed in Jesus—a belief they categorically denied.

Yet none of them paused to examine the fundamental claim: Is this preaching true or false? Instead, "like persecutors in all ages, they shut their eyes to the important question" and took "the easier course of laying hands on the preachers."

This inversion reveals the true nature of their resistance. Before Christ's Resurrection, the Pharisees led opposition; after it, the Sadducees did. The shift itself testifies to the Resurrection's proclamation from the first—for it was precisely this doctrine that provoked Sadducean fury. Yet their fury blinded them to evidence. When faith threatens established influence or cherished beliefs, the human heart defaults to suppression rather than investigation.

Maclaren's observation cuts deeper still: observe what the Apostles' arrest could not accomplish. Though Peter and John lay in custody, "five thousand rejoicing in Christ" marked that same day's work. The imprisonment of the messengers could not arrest the progress of the message. The persecutors had seized the preachers but not the truth they proclaimed—and truth, once loosed among eager hearts, multiplies beyond the reach of chains.