Repent - Acts 3:12-19

There is this group of standing around Peter, John, and the guy that was just healed and Peter’s response to them is more nonchalant then I would have expected. He asks the people basically, “why are you guys surprised by this? Do you think that we did this through our own power?” Again, seeing the “Son of God” do miracles is one thing, but when a regular Joe-Shmoe is doing the same thing, then it sends a different message. Peter reminds them that it was through the power of “Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.” He’s speaking to people in the temple which would surely consist of some of those who were complicit in Jesus’ death. Peter recognizes that “through ignorance ye have done this, as also your rulers,” they didn’t have a full knowledge of what they were doing when Jesus was crucified, but that doesn’t give them a free pass on what they did.

Peter’s command to them then is, interestingly, the same as it is for the rest of us, with one tiny difference. He tells them “repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” The tiny difference here is that he doesn’t say “repent and be baptized” like the command usually is, it’s “repent and be converted.” The IM quotes the Prophet Joseph Smith as teaching, “(Peter) did not say to them, ‘Repent and be baptized, for the remission of your sins;’ but he said, ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.’.. They could not be baptized for the remission of sins for they had shed innocent blood.”
The concept of “shedding innocent blood” can be so complicated, because you have war and you have self-defense, etc. It can get messy, but I guess that these people knew that Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong and demanded he be crucified anyway, so that’s pretty clear. But let’s think about this again for a second. In an article entitled, “Why did the crowds shout ‘Crucify Him!’ when Pilate wanted to release Jesus?’ from gotquestions.org we are reminded that “in an effort to hide their move against Jesus from His many supporters, the Jewish leaders arrested and tried Jesus in the middle of the night. When Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate- the only one with authority to order a crucifixion- it was still early in the morning.” Let’s keep in mind that the arrest and execution of the Savior was so sudden that even all his disciples that were with him 24/7 didn’t see it coming despite him warning them. So for the general public that liked Jesus, listening to him in the temple one day and then having him murdered less than 24 hours earlier was not reasonable. Even if there were those who were courageous enough to show their support for Jesus during this sentencing process, they wouldn’t have known when and where to go, and they wouldn’t have suspected to be on the look out for a middle of the night trial.
While the “trial” and sentencing of Jesus was going on, there were the chief priests, the Sanhedrin, of which there were 72 members, the Herodians, the scribes, the Pharisees, and any other member of the Jewish leadership from all around because they would have been in Jerusalem for the Passover. So considering that there are 72 members of the Sanhedrin, plus all the other prominent Jewish leaders, then add in all their servants, of whom we know there were many because they were all standing around warming themselves by the fire and recognized Peter. The article comments, “Also, it’s quite possible that the crowd gathered before Pilate at that early hour had been assembled and suborned by the Jewish leaders.” I can’t find it right now, so I’m going to have to speculate, but we know that there is a “Court of Women” where the women are allowed to go, and there is the “Court of the Gentiles” where the gentiles are allowed to go, so who would be left to go into Solomon’s porch?
I would think that it would comprise mostly devout Jewish men. And also considering that this is probably at least several days after the festival of Pentecost, most of the non-Jerusalem dwellers would probably have gone home, leaving Solomon’s porch full of devout Jewish men who lived and worked in Jerusalem, and because it’s in the middle of the day, it is also likely that these devout Jewish Jerusalem-ites worked in the temple or earned their living in the clergy. If this is in fact the case, and it is possible that I’m completely wrong, then the group of people surrounding Peter, John, and the healed man would probably have consisted of those very men who called for “Crucify him!” thus making the statement of Joseph Smith true, that they had in fact called for and been complicit in the shedding of innocent blood.