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Acts 8:5-25
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. (Acts 8.4-5)
I’ve had the good fortune to visit the city of Venice twice. The first was on a school trip during spring break with friends, and the second was with Sarah while traveling Italy as newlyweds (we’ve not been back, as our children have adjusted how we tend to vacation now). When planning our time in Venice, I relayed to Sarah what I had been told on my first visit. In Venice we won’t use a car and we won’t need trains, and up arrival that becomes clear enough. Venice is an island, or rather a group of over 100 islands, permeated by over 150 canals. You don’t travel by road or rail in Venice, but by waterway. Water is the lifeblood of the place, water is the way around place, water is simply the way of things. Once you set foot in Venice you learn to think and move differently. If you want to go to Venice, you had better get used to water, and that can take a little getting used to.
Our passage in Acts today is about the change which comes when the gospel is accepted by a certain place and people. It’s also about adapting to that change, learning to live in the new reality of God’s kingdom with God’s very presence directing and filling all who set foot in it. As water is to life Venice, so the Holy Spirit is to life in God’s kingdom. If you want to visit Venice, expect water, not roads or rail. If we’re going to live in the kingdom, expect a life in the Spirit, not the constructs which have previously dictated our ways of thinking and moving.
8.4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
In Acts 8 the gospel is spreading beyond Jerusalem into neighboring Samaria. Jesus’ words about his kingdom spreading in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth are becoming actualized. The why is simple – because Jesus said so. Jesus promised that his gospel (good news) was for all people, and that his disciples should expect it to spread everywhere. How this would happen, however, may have been less than expected. Acts tell us that the gospel’s spread is somewhat initiated by the persecution of the believers in Jerusalem and their scattering. That’s an important detail. God will accomplish what he has set out to, even through less than ideal circumstances. In fact, here in Acts 8, the gospel goes beyond Jerusalem as a ripple effect of persecution, not because of some noble impulse or visionary strategy from the first believers. In other words, the gospel gets legs beyond Jerusalem not despite the persecution and scattering of believers because of it.
Here’s a significant bit of application for us. What if God doesn’t need everything to line up exactly as we hope it will in order for his kingdom to grow through our lives? What if some of the very challenges and hardships we face don’t limit the growth of Jesus’ kingdom, but actually play a role in its expansion? What is inconvenient, what is hard to accept, even what is meant for evil, God may well repurpose in his new creation project. The believers in Acts would probably have rather avoided persecution and distance from one another, and yet the kingdom advances through those very events. This reality is at the very root of our faith. The cross was not appealing for Jesus, but became instrumental in the redemption and renewal of our world. So the next time we face something disappointing, inconvenient or even painful, it’s worth noting that nothing is irredeemable, un-renewable for the Lord. Perhaps the believer’s remembered the prayer Jesus had taught them, come what may, “your kingdom come, your will be done”.
5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
Philip is one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples and his travels to Samaria appear to be connected to the persecution and scattering of the believers in Jerusalem. Samaria would be a place of significant tension for an Israelite like Philip. The Samaritans were generally regarded as enemies, even worthy of despise. However, Philip had learned under Jesus, already seeing firsthand Jesus’ intention for his gospel to reach the Samaritans too. Jesus had even led his disciples through Samaria itself on at least one occasion (John 4). So Philip shares the gospel as Jesus’ instructed, even in Samaria, even among those he was culturally groomed to at best avoid, and at worst to hate. Safe to say Philip is likely well beyond his comfort zone in Samaria. Still, deliverances, healings and all manner of signs and wonders accompany Philip’s preaching, and, surprise, surprise, just as Jesus promised, the gospel begins to take root in Samaria too.
Here’s a very simple question: what happens when our comfort zones collide with Jesus’ kingdom? Is the kingdom limited to those whom we’re comfortable with, folks who might easily join the club without much disruption amongst the current membership? What if Jesus is far more committed to saving more people than he is concerned about the convenience of those who’ve already been welcomed in? Follow Jesus and soon enough we discover that he sets the terms of who’s invited to the kingdom party, not us. There has always been kind of holy inconvenience, messiness, awkwardness about the gospel, as everyone is invited. Churches, especially somewhat healthy churches can find this a challenge at times, because what is often deemed healthy or safe, can so easily become cozy or comfortable to the possible exclusion of the gospel mission. In Samaria Philip is sent to the door to the party, told to hand out invitations, and plenty of people start piling in. This is not Philip’s thing, but God’s. The same goes for us today. What gets more room, our comfort zones, or Jesus’ kingdom?
Along with this, notice the pattern here in Samaria, seen previously in the gospels and in Acts. Signs and wonders, impressive as they are, happen not as an end to themselves, but to validate the message about the crucified and resurrected Jesus. We’ll hear more on that in a moment, but important to note that for all our interest in signs and wonders, we shouldn’t miss the point. Every sign points to the main sign of the cross, every wonder is a breadcrumb to the hope founded on Jesus’ death and resurrection. So, via the signs and wonders and preaching, the authority of Jesus is realized in Samaria, just as it had been in Jerusalem. And when the gospel is welcomed, we see that very familiar reaction of joy. God has come, God has saved, and the Samaritans get in on it too.
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
We’ve learned to expect a reaction of joy when the gospel is welcomed, but we also consistently see other dynamics at play when the authority of Jesus rolls into a place. Any power which is not God’s power, must face the reality that it is in fact a counterfeit power.
Our youngest daughter loves stuffed animals, especially puppies and cats. She squeezes them with genuine love. She even has one which is battery powered and shrieked with joy when we first fired it up. But I am certain that if I were I to bring home a real, live puppy she would lose almost immediate interest in the knockoffs and gravitate to the real deal. The puppy would take up its rightful place in our home, and though the stuffed animals might remain on the periphery, there would be no real competition for attention, affection and indeed relationship. The live puppy might even make short work of its battery powered knockoff. This same dynamic is at play here in Samaria. The people are enamoured with counterfeit powers, until they get a taste of the real thing. The Samaritans trade their idolatry of lesser powers for relationship the one who made them, and the life-giving presence of their very Creator himself.
This includes a prominent man among them named Simon, who has spent his life, you could say, dealing in knockoffs. But whatever he’s been dealing in doesn’t hold a candle to the authority of Jesus’ name and the power of his Spirit. So Simon is baptized along with others. He loses interest in the counterfeits and gravitates to the real thing. The magic man of Samaria trusts the gospel and becomes obsessed with what on earth is going on through Philip. Which only makes sense. Simon knows something about spiritual power and the effect it can have on people, but he’s never seen anything like this.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Philip’s work in Samaria makes enough of a racket that word reaches those left in Jerusalem, and a couple of the other disciples turn up to help. Notice that Peter and John have always been on the forefront, but it seems they had remained focused on what was happening in Jerusalem until now. They would increasingly need to start pay attention to what God was doing beyond them, which will be a growing theme in Acts. Jesus is interested in everyone.
When Peter and John turn up in Samaria, something perfectly normal happens as has been in the pattern in Acts thus far. They note these new believers are genuine, having been baptized in water, so the very next and natural step was for these folks to receive the Holy Spirit. This is one of the examples in Acts which reminds us of the regular reception of the Holy Spirit for the first believers. It doesn’t seem the Samarians had been believers for very long, nor had they received a diploma in theology, nor had they reached a level of piety worthy of God’s presence to move in. For the first believers, Spirit fullness was just expected, natural in a life devoted to Jesus. Peter and John see right away that these folks will need more than acceptance of the gospel and baptism, but they will need the presence of the living God coursing through their lives. For the first believers this is normal and necessary. As regular as a river street in Venice.
Might I ask us, how normal and necessary we trust the Spirit to be? The presence and fullness of God’s Spirit was not a strange doctrine added on later, or an experience whipped up in early 20th century revivals – it’s right here and clear at the beginning of our story. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is normal and necessary for us too, not something to be avoided or an optional add on. So if you’ve not heard this before, or maybe you’ve been somewhat avoidant about the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life, let me encourage you to take note of what we’re reading here. We too can expect to receive the Spirit, normal and necessary to life with Jesus in his new creation kingdom. It’s not complicated, but perfectly central to life in Jesus.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Now, we might think, there’s the problem. All this Holy Spirit stuff has at times gotten out of hand. Some people misrepresent God’s character while claiming to walk in the Spirit and that causes damage. And if you’ve ever thought that you’d be right. Here in Acts 8 is one of the first examples. No sooner had Jesus’ Spirit arrived among the Samaritans, someone’s trying to turn a profit from it. Simon the shady televangelist preacher. He might have become a believer (even baptized!) but his motivations and methods are stuck in the wrong kingdom. He thinks he can buy and deal in God. Simon is trying to drive a car around a city saturated by canals and he will have to let go of his old modes of operating and broken paradigms. Being full of the Spirit isn’t an advantage for opportunism. Housing God’s Spirit isn’t about exercising power over other people. Being full of the Spirit means housing God’s very presence which brings renewal to us and through us for others. As Simon misses the point, Peter steps in to re-direct him. Notice again that money is set up as an opposing power-vehicle to the Spirit. The believers in Samaria will learn what those in Jerusalem had earlier with the episode of Ananias and Sapphira. Let go of all your tricks and maneuverings – God’s kingdom and Spirit will not be co-opted by our little power games or attempts to wield self-serving influence. Simon is about to hear that clearly.
20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” 24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
Peter gives a spiritual rebuke, and it’s not particularly gentle. Simon, turn around right now, because you’re Jesus’ kingdom now, but your heart is full of wicked motivations. Get out of the car, Simon, or you’ll end up at the bottom of the canal with nothing but a trunk of soggy, worthless cash. Now that might sound harsh, because Simon was just learning to live in this new reality, but just because he’s new to the kingdom, doesn’t mean he’s exempt from the truth and what’s good for both him and others. In this case, Peter makes it clear that the Spirit won’t be degraded by crooked human manipulation or power grabbing. As sisters and brothers, if we’re out of line, sometimes the best thing we can do for one another is just to speak the truth, calling each other into alignment with Jesus. And, thankfully, Simon gets in line. He turns, his thinking is changed, and he begins to live rightly in Jesus’ new kingdom landscape.
We touched on this a moment ago, but a word about folks acting in the name of Jesus, claiming the Spirit’s power, but co-opting the “spiritual” opportunistically to line their pockets or inflate their egos. Bad teaching, abuses of power, this happens. And that sort of thing often turns people off from an openness to the Holy Spirit to begin with. But consider this for a moment – it was never Jesus and his Spirit who was doing the manipulating. The Holy Spirit isn’t among us to control or abuse, but the opposite. It is true that there are things done in Jesus’ name, even labeled the work of the Spirit, which are antithetical to God’s character and ways, so we should never be shy about speaking truth to that kind of corrupt power. But even as we do so, we might also ask ourselves whom we’re going to let set the agenda, to hold sway in our relationship to the Lord. Will we close ourselves off entirely to God’s life-giving presence because of these errors or abuses? Will we let fear set the terms of our relationship to the one who made us and wants to make us flourish? Or will we welcome the presence of the Lord Jesus into the deep recesses of our beings, trusting that he is the authority, he sets the terms of our relationship, not the abuses or errors of others.
That is part of what we’re hearing in this story, the authority of Jesus’ over against the broken methods and abuses of human power. This does not mean the complexity, disappointment or even pain we may have experienced around spiritual error or abuse is minimized, just that the error or abuse needn’t have the last word.
When it comes to the Holy Spirit we might feel unfamiliar, or hesitant because of past negative experiences, even second-hand stories which have kept us at arm’s length. Because of this the Spirit’s fullness in us hasn’t been something we’re open to or have asked for in prayer. Or sometimes, to be honest, we may have simply become comfortable with playing church. We turn up, try to live a good life, but we can’t say we know the reality of God’s life-giving presence to fill, empower and guide. We’re just trying do that for ourselves. Loved ones, we were never meant to.
When believers live with the Holy Spirit at arm’s length, it is like arriving in Venice but ignoring the waterways. We may not be trying to foolishly drive a car around the city, damaging things, but we have grown somewhat content with just walking the pathways and crossing the bridges. We’ve not stepped into a gondola. We keep our distance from the water which permeates and shapes and brings life to the city. We live in the kingdom without recognizing the very nature of the landscape in which we now live. We’re surround by a fresh way to think, and move and live, yet we keep our distance.
You don’t live in Venice never to step into a boat. The fullness of the Spirit for all believers is normal and necessary. As water is to Venice, so the Spirit is to the kingdom. We needn’t fear nor ignore Jesus’ presence. We can step in.
Luke Knight 