Year 7, Day 241: Acts 8

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Acts 8 is a great chapter for analytics.  We start low in the chapter with the story of Saul.  Saul is breathing threats against the church.  He is persecuting the followers of Christ.  He is preparing to get permission to go around all of the surrounding area, look for Christians, and drag them back to Jerusalem to be put on trial for their convictions.  It seems like such a dark story.

On the other hand, it is exactly this story that causes the spread of Christianity.  Christians start fleeing Jerusalem by the droves.  Because of the persecution, Christianity takes off like wildfire in the neighboring areas.  Granted, Saul isn’t being obedient to God; don’t hear me praising Saul or trying to justify his actions.  But God can use the persecution to bring about His will.  God uses Saul as an antagonist to spread the Gospel, it’s only fitting that in a few chapters He’ll be using the same man to spread the Gospel through his witness, too.

Then we move on to the story of Simon the sorcerer.  Here is a man who clearly responds to the faith.  He’s been known to have some minor powers in the past.  But when he sees Christians coming into town and performing incredible acts of faith, he jumps on the bandwagon.  But there’s a problem with how he jumps on the bandwagon.  He sees people receiving the Holy Spirit for free, yet he wants to pay for it.  We don’t know why.  We simply aren’t told.  It could be that Simon thinks if he buys it he’ll get more power.  It could be that if he offers to pay for it he’ll create a debt that he can cash in on later.  Maybe he thinks that buying his way in will allow him to rise to the top more quickly.  We don’t really know.  To be fair, though, Simon is doing this because God has caught his attention.

Peter rebukes Simon.  He tells Simon that he needs to repent.  I love this part of the story.  For Peter, the relationship is marred but it isn’t over.  There is always room for repentance until we die.  It shouldn’t surprise us that the disciple who is given a second chance after denying Christ three times before the crucifixion is the same disciple who here gives Simon a second chance.

We aren’t told that Simon repented, but he does at least ask Peter to pray for him.  The story isn’t exactly a happy one, but there are some really neat dynamics at work.

Then we turn to Philip and the eunuch.  I love this story.  Here is a eunuch, who because of his nature as a eunuch has been kept out of the inner portions of the temple.  He’s returning home from Jerusalem.  Philip goes out to this eunuch at the leading of the Holy Spirit.  The eunuch is willing to listen.  The eunuch is willing to ask questions.  The eunuch is willing to wonder at what God is doing in the world.  Philip follows the leading of the Holy Spirit and opens up scripture in his presence.  The eunuch receives.

This is such a contrasting story to the opening ones.  Philip doesn’t reject the eunuch because of his nature, he embraces him because of his curiosity.  The eunuch doesn’t try to buy his way into relationship with God, he humbly accepts the free gift that is offered to him.  When challenged, the eunuch submits and finds himself changed.  There ismuch inspiration in both Philip and the eunuch.

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