Peter and John kept getting in trouble. They had previously been taken before the high priest and several of the other leaders and accused by the Sadducees of preaching of the resurrection. Now, they have been hauled before the Sanhedrin, the entire Jewish leadership council, to receive their judgment and punishment for having continued to preach and teach in Jesus’s name.

In the end, Gamaliel convinced the leaders in the Sanhedrin to let them go, saying that if what they are doing is from God, even they as the leaders of Israel wouldn’t be able to stop them. How right he was!

So they were beaten. Peter and John were flogged there in the Sanhedrin. And what did they do as they left? They didn’t go out complaining or licking their wounds that they had received as a result of the beating that they took.

They went rejoicing!

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 5:41-42

How many of us would do the same? Most of our lives are built around trying to avoid pain. Most of our lives are built around trying to avoid shame, to avoid embarrassment.

But Peter and John knew that couldn’t be the story of their lives. They knew that they had experienced a new life, an eternal life. Even if their life would be cut short here on the earth, they had an eternal life to which they would look forward. Even if their life was considered to be an embarrassment by others here on the earth, they had an eternal life to which they would look ahead.

They rejoiced for the fact that they could be beaten, that they could be shamed, that they could be disgraced on account of Jesus’s name.

Did it feel good? Of course not. Were they masochists and want to keep receiving pain? I would assume they would not.

But in the end, did it matter to them? No. The only thing that mattered was the glory of Christ and that as many as possible could be saved and bring glory to Jesus’s name as well. That is what mattered, and is what still matters even today. And so we also should rejoice, even if – or maybe especially if – we are disgraced for the name of Jesus.