Acts 4:13-22. Peter and John have spent the night in jail and then have been questioned by the Jewish leaders, during which Peter boldly and convincingly proclaimed Jesus Christ as the source of the power that healed the lame man. The leaders can see that Peter and John are uneducated, common men, yet they are proclaiming with boldness, and the leaders realize that these are two of the men that were following Jesus. Given the fact that the lame man has been healed, the leaders have nothing to say to the apostles in opposition to their proclamations. When the leaders confer together, they agree that they cannot deny the miracle, but they do not want word of it to spread. So they tell Peter and John that the apostles are prohibited from speaking or teaching of Jesus. But Peter and John tell the leaders they cannot not proclaim Jesus, and "[w]hether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge."

Peter and John must proclaim what they have seen and heard. The leaders then threaten them further, but let them go, "finding no way to punish them, because of the people."

Peter and John are uneducated, common men, yet they have performed a miracle in the sight of many people in Jerusalem. How can this be? The Jewish leaders start getting an inkling when they realize that these two had been followers of Jesus. There is that name again! They thought they had solved the problem of Jesus by having him put to death, but they are realizing but all they really did was make his name stronger. His uneducated, common followers are now emboldened, and filled with the Holy Spirit. They are spreading the truth with power and at God's command, and they know it. The leaders have nothing to say in opposition to them because there is nothing to say - the apostles are right and the leaders are wrong. But the leaders do not see this yet, and may never. They are too attached to the things of the world and to invested in its power structures to be able to admit what they see with their own eyes. Power, position, even tradition, are blinding them. They can allow this massive of a change in things (and conversion always creates massive change in our lives), so they deny their own common sense.

We do this too. Look for the thing you are denying the truth in order to cling to. That is the very thing that you must be willing to give up. It may be your job, your health, your house, your fear, or even your family relationships. If anything requires you to deny evidence of truth that is right in front of you in order to maintain it, then it is a disordered attachment and you must separate yourself from it, not forever, necessarily, but long enough to get it back into right order in your life.