Please read this passage before reading this homily.
Gamaliel was a Pharisee. Some other well-known Pharisees were Paul the apostle and Nicodemus. Some scholars teach that in his theology and attitude, Jesus himself was by orientation a Pharisee.
Gamaliel was very respected. He was Paul’s teacher. He came from a famous and revered family. When he spoke, people listened; and when he said the Council should go into executive session, they took the Apostles outside.
Gamaliel gave the council a lesson in history. He mentioned Judas and Theudas, both of whom Josephus mentioned in his Jewish history of the time. He mentioned their revolutionary activities and how their movements had collapsed when their leaders were killed.
Gamaliel is wise, as were the majority of Pharisees. We are not told what Gamaliel though about the Jesus Movement, but we are told the wisdom of his advice.
I contemplate the idea that if an idea does not come from God, it will perish and only movements that come from God will succeed. I think back to statistic I learned many years ago. It is that the lifetime of every democracy has been two hundred years. If our form of government does not come from God, it will perish. I say this, not to frighten us, but to encourage us to make our social programs, laws and judgments flow from our devotion to God and not to our selfishness. We need greater humility and generosity and less pride and arrogance.