There is no other book in the Bible like the Acts of the Apostles or Acts for short. The Wesley Study Bible commentary says that Acts provides “a bridge between the Gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Here one finds fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel, which also extends to all nations. The result is a redefinition of the ‘people of God,’ so that all peoples are included in God’s work of salvation.”

Dr. Matthew L. Skinner wrote a book about Acts and gave it this title: Intrusive God, Disruptive Gospel. That gives you an idea of what we’ll encounter while reading this book.

Jesus ascends into heaven in chapter 1 and chapter 2 is the story of Pentecost- the giving of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the book is about what the followers of “the Way” of Jesus do as they spread the message of Jesus.  Skinner writes, “Frequently those who announce the gospel of Jesus Christ do things that create or lead to large-scale disturbances. In one instance, a complaint ominously accuses them of ‘turning the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6). What they teach about Jesus Christ asks people to embrace new religious, social, political, and economic values, sometimes putting both the proclaimers and their audiences at odds with the established social order.”

Acts is the second of two books written by Luke.  Luke writes both his gospel and Acts to “Theophilus” which means lover of God. I chose Acts for the season of Easter (the 50 days after Easter Sunday) because Acts happens after the resurrection of Jesus.  I also chose Acts because the stories contained in this book are often unfamiliar to us.  Acts doesn’t come up often in the Lectionary and very few of the stories in Acts are covered by children’s curriculum or vacation Bible school.

Skinner gives us an idea of what the situation for the church was like when Acts was written: “During the final decade or two of the first century CE, more than fifty years after the ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, many churches were thriving, even as most of them were navigating fresh and conceivably worrisome challenges…

“By and large the church had become mostly a gentile phenomenon.  Jews were largely unpersuaded by its messianic preaching, and in some settings strains and even contempt were intensifying between this emerging movement with Jewish origins and Jews who did not embrace Jesus as the Christ.

“Finally, Jesus had not returned in glory, despite traditions that taught believers to expect he would soon.  The perceived delay might have stoked confusion, disillusionment, or attrition.  Just one of those dynamics carried, at the very least, a potential to undermine the convictions and outlooks held by people committed to following Jesus.

“In that environment of change, discernment, and possible instability, the author of the Gospel according to Luke wrote a second narrative that might bolster the faith of his fellow believers, just as he expected his previous Gospel would. Eventually the wider church came to call this second narrative the Acts of the Apostles.”

The first verses of chapter 1 clue us into the fact that this is a second volume, the first being the Gospel according to Luke.

In Luke Jesus tells the disciples to stay in Jerusalem. In Luke 24 Jesus meets them in Jerusalem and in verse 49 Jesus tells them, “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

What do they mean when they ask, “is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” The disciples are still stuck on the idea that Jesus’ Messiahship means that he will lead an army to kick Roman out of the Promised Land. Remember Messiah in Hebrew means ‘anointed one.’ The way you made someone a king in ancient Israel was to anoint them with oil.  Christ means ‘anointed one’ in Greek. We get glimpses of this misunderstanding throughout the gospels and now in Luke. It was what the people longed for and what they expected of a Messiah.  But Jesus does things differently. You can see this clearly on Palm Sunday, when the people welcome Jesus to Jerusalem like they would a successful General.  But instead of a horse and sword Jesus comes on a donkey.

There has been great expectation for a Messiah since the exile and Luke helps that expectation along in the first chapter of his gospel. When the angel Gabriel comes to Mary to ask her to participate in God’s plan Gabriel says to her, “you will bear a son… he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” This can be interpreted in the traditional way- with a Messiah coming with military might, or the way Jesus came, preaching about the Kingdom of God and turning the world upside-down in unexpected ways.

So the eleven disciples and the other followers of Jesus get together and ask Jesus if it’s time to restore the kingdom to Israel and Jesus deflects and says, “It’s not for you to know. But the Holy Spirit is coming and you will be my witnesses.” So the followers of Jesus know who they are – they are empowered by the Holy Spirit to witness to Jesus and his teaching.

The eleven disciples and other followers of Jesus, women and men, stay together and pray.  There are about 120 people together.  They decided they need another disciple to take Judas’ place among the twelve.  They cast lots between Matthias and Joseph. We know from our reading of Exodus and Nehemiah that casting lots was a common way to discern the will of God. Matthias was chosen to replace Judas.

Judas is, understandably, cast in a negative light. He takes the money he received from betraying Jesus and buys a field.  The property somehow kills him as he falls and is disemboweled. Matthew Skinner writes, “Acts repeatedly signals that greed goes hand in hand with impure motives or a longing for power.” We must remember, as Willie James Jennings reminds us, “The last word on Judas will not come from Peter. It will come from Jesus. Judgement belongs to Jesus, not us.”

This may be a familiar story – the story of the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  Pentecost was a Jewish holiday, one that required all Jewish men to be in Jerusalem. It means “fiftieth day” as it was the fiftieth day after Passover.  It was a harvest celebration associated with covenant renewal. Because this is the holiday when the Holy Spirit was given, we celebrate it seven Sundays after Easter, marking the end of the Easter season.

After the action of receiving the Holy Spirt, the speaking in all languages so everyone could understand, and the reaction of the Jewish folks outside- they were amazed, perplexed, disbelieving, Peter stands up and preaches.  He draws on Joel 2:28-32a while reshaping that scripture to fit the current situation.

The crowd asks, “what does this mean?” Skinner writes, “Peter replies: the unleashing of God’s Spirit indicates the beginning of a new day in human history. Here, in the days immediately following Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation, a new and ultimate chapter begins in the story of God’s interactions with humanity… Peter tells the crowd that the Spirit marks Jesus’s followers—each one—as belonging to God… Peter boldly answers that the foreign languages are not an instance of trickery or mass hysteria. God is present, equipping people to communicate truth about God’s deeds… The community of faith is a community of prophets here to speak, act, and interpret.”

The next question the crowd asks is, “what should we do?” Peter tells them to repent. When you hear the word “repent” or “repentance” what first comes to mind? What does repentance mean to you? Skinner writes, “‘Repentance’ refers primarily to adopting a new way of thinking or a new perception of reality. A changed mind might eventually lead to reformed behavior, but Peter instructs the crowd to follow his sermon’s argument and therefore understand Jesus differently than they did previously. He is the expected Christ who has been exalted to God’s ‘right hand’ and thus possesses authority to pour out the Holy Spirit.”

Starting in verse 42 we learn how the community of believers or followers of the Way of Jesus spend their time and resources.  What do you think of this vision of community – where they sell their possessions to distribute the money to all, as any had need? How is our church community like this? How does our community differ?

Chapter 3 begins with a healing story.  It reminds us of the healing stories of Jesus. It echoes Luke 4 when Jesus reads that bit of Isaiah that says, “the spirit of the Lord us upon me because God has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recover of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The disciples carry on Jesus’ mission.

Peter links what has happened – the healing of the man born lame – to Jesus and Jesus to God, God as in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Jesus.

In his sermon Peter also has some harsh words for the folks gathered in Solomon’s Portico. Skinner writes, “the sermon’s introduction of Jesus also calls attention to what the crowd did to him.  With an emphatic and plural ‘you,’ Peter tells his listeners that they bear responsibility for handing Jesus over for prosecution, rejecting him, and killing him. Indicating the crowd distorts the story that the gospels tell, and it misrepresents the historical and political realities to hold a random gathering of Jews to account for killing Jesus. Furthermore, it makes no sense for Peter to suppose that his entire audience in Solomon’s Portico was, many weeks previously, somehow ‘in the presence of Pilate’ and demanding that the Roman prefect release Barabbas the insurrectionist instead of Jesus.”

Peter quotes Moses. What he “quotes” is similar to Deuteronomy 18:19, but that verse has nothing about people being rooted out. Skinner writes that Acts portrays ‘Jesus as a divisive figure among first-century Jews.” The rhetoric used was probably harsh to get the people to respond decisively.

We get some conflict here as the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees are annoyed with Peter and John. Peter and John are arrested and the next day they stand before the rulers, elders, scribes, Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander.  They ask Peter and John, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and gives a speech giving glory to Jesus for the healing of the man born lame.

Of verse 12 Skinner writes, “it is important to clarify that Peter is not treating the ‘name’ of Jesus as a secret code or talisman. The statement should not generate pride in calling oneself ‘Christian,’ for it is about the power of Jesus, a power to save that he extends to benefit anyone in the world. No one can designate themselves the final arbiter of where and how that power operates. It’s up to Jesus. Peter’s statement rightly expands our imagination about the accessibility, breadth, and wonder of God’s salvation instead of limiting it.”

The apostles go unpunished, not because the rulers are convinced, but because of the people. Wall writes that verse 21-22 reveal a deep division between the people and the rulers as well as a deep theological division between the rulers and God.

In verses 23-31 we get a prayer that the believers pray together. What do you make of this prayer? How does this prayer reflect your own prayers? What can you learn about prayer from reading how these early disciples prayed? After the prayer there is a sort of mini-Pentecost – the place where they were was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.  What must that have been like? Spend a few moments imagining what that must have been like.

Chapter 4 closes with another look at how the community did life together. Skinner writes, “In following the resurrected and ascended Jesus Christ believers discover the need and the power to break down whatever creates divisions between them. People choose to lay down their wealth and advantages not to earn their salvation or to achieve prestige but because they are beginning to grasp the strangeness of the divine economy that corresponds to the church’s Easter proclamation which promises a transformed future that is already under way.”

We move from hearing all about how the disciples held everything in common to the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of property and instead of bringing the total proceeds to the apostles they kept some back for themselves. For some reason this story isn’t covered at Vacation Bible School.

Their story contrasts with Barnabas who we read about in chapter 4.  He was a Levite from Cyprus who sold a field and gave all the money to the apostles. His is a positive example of how to live in community.  Ananias’ and Sapphira’s story is a negative example.

Ananias deceives the community and Ananias is deceived, as Wall writes, “because he remains ignorant of the participatory nature of God’s ‘great grace.’ Peter tells him that the believer retains ownership of property and the personal freedom to do with it what he wants. Thus, if surrendered to the apostles it is by voluntary action and the result of an individual choice rather than by apostolic coercion. Ananias is not charged with failure to sell his property or to place the proceeds at the apostles’ feet, but with deception.”

Is deception a big part of your life?  Where do you see deception in your daily life or out in the world? How does deception cut one off from God’s great grace?

Skinner writes that Ananias and Sapphira’s offense, “entails misrepresenting the sale price for the purpose of fostering an impression that they are graciously handing over the full amount. Evidently, they want to appear to be making a greater sacrifice than they are, or to seem to be committing themselves to the ethos of mutual interdependence more fully that they really are.”

Peter’s question to Sapphira gives her an opportunity to confess and be restored to the community, but instead she chooses deception.

What do you think of this story? It feels extreme and out of place. Skinner writes, “This passage offers a vision of a church that many would be disinclined to join.” Including it might show how dangerous Luke thinks deception in the church community can be. Why do you think Luke includes this story in Acts?

Verses 12-17 remind us once again of Jesus ministry when we hear that people were bringing out the sick into the street in the hopes that Peter’s shadow might fall on them and heal them. Verse 16 sounds like it could be from a gospel- “A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.”

We pick up today where we left off last week.  The apostles are doing “many signs and wonders.”  People are being healed, in fact, folks are placing people who are sick and those with unclean spirits along Peter’s path so that his shadow might fall on them and heal them.

The high priest takes action. Earlier in chapter 4 the high priest, the chief justice of the Sanhedrin, and the leader of the Sadducees demand the apostles be silent. But they do not comply.  They gather in Solomon’s Portico and do those signs and wonders, and more and more people are added to their number.  So, the high priest has the apostles arrested and put in public prison.  But then an angel lets them out in the middle of the night. Wall writes, “The ‘prison escape’ is a literary theme that symbolizes the futile attempt to subvert the redemptive purposes of God by silencing God’s prophetic word.”

Luke makes the Sadducees into a caricature. They use their power to arrest the apostles.  When they show up to the prison expecting victory they come off as fools, as their prisoners are nowhere to be found.  Wall writes, “Indeed, at the very moment of humiliation, the apostles are teaching the people of Jerusalem in the Temple—the one place the Sadducees presumed to have control!”

What do you make of the advice given by Gamaliel in verses 35-39 especially, “So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”

They decide to release the apostles but flog them first. They are once again ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus.

The apostles do not follow the orders— “every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.”

Luke tells us the apostles “rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.” What a generous and gracious way to look at what they’d been through. We can only imagine what it must have been like to be thrown in prison and then later, to come before these powerful men and present a united front in what they say, so much so that the council became “enraged and wanted to kill them.” And then looking back on this experience to rejoice. It’s all in how you see things, isn’t it? How we decide what an experience means can affect so much of how we experience life. How else could the apostles have interpreted their experience?

Chapter 6 opens with a conflict in the church. There are some in the community, Hellenistic widows, who are not being served as they ought to be. To ensure they get what they need would mean the apostles would be bogged down with administrative duties and not free to minister in the way they are called – chiefly to prayer and to serving the word (Acts 6:4).

Wall writes, “Rapid growth imperils the performance of the biblical injunction to take special care to meet the material requirements of the community’s most vulnerable members—widows, orphans, resident aliens, the destitute, and the powerless (see Lev 19, Lev 25, Deut 16:11, Mal 3:5, 1 Tim 5:3-16, Jas 1:22-2:17). The prophets make clear that the treatment of its poor and powerless effectively gauges Israel’s relationship with God (Mal 3:5; Zech 7:10) and heralds repentant Israel’s renewed covenant with God (Isa 47:8). For this reason, the Hellenists were right to lodge their complaint.”

Who are the Hellenists?
The uses of the terms “Hellenist” and “Hebrews” can make us think there were two distinct groups, but Wall is quick to point out that they, “‘were of one heart and soul’ and in principle shared equally in the blessings of a restored Israel. The present complain stems from the realization that one group in practice has not yet fully participated in the community of goods according to its rule of faith.”  Probably these labels had to do with the language spoken.  Hellenists spoke Greek and Hebrews, Aramaic. The language barrier may be to blame for the poor distribution of food.

This is the first place we see the word “disciple” in Acts. A disciple is a follower or student of Jesus.

The apostles ask for nominations for seven men to be in charge of food distribution. Wall writes, “The number seven is not arbitrary but reflects the Jewish practice of choosing seven members to provide oversight to local congregations.” There are three character-traits that are most important for these seven to have – good standing, full of the Spirit, and full of wisdom.

It is interesting how Luke phrases verse 7, “The word of God continued to spread.” This highlights the fact that the message is spreading, not who is spreading it. Wall writes that this phrasing shifts, “the reader’s focus from the power and authority of those who preach it (the apostles) to the power and authority of what is preached (the word of God.)”

Acts 6:8 is the beginning of a section that will last until Acts 8:3. This is the last episode set in Jerusalem. It centers on Stephen, one of the seven chosen for the food distribution. Interestingly enough, he’s doing signs and wonders like the apostles. Many argue with him, which suggests he is called to ministry of the Word.

We’ll see the phrase “signs and wonders” repeated throughout this episode which brings us back to Acts 2- when Peter preaches after Pentecost and quotes the prophet Joel about “signs and wonders.”

Stephen’s opponents are described as belonging to the synagogue of the Freedmen.  This was a religious movement and here synagogue refers not to a building, but a way of thinking.  Stephen’s opponents stir up the people against Stephen, they say he is guilty because of “blasphemy against Moses” (which is not illegal), and they install false witnesses again Stephen.

Almost all of chapter 7, which we’ll read tomorrow, is Stephen’s speech during his court appearance.  What’s interesting is right before he speaks his face is like the face of an angel. This reminds us of Moses, in Exodus, when he would meet with God in the Tent of Meeting his face would glow. Wall writes that this shows “the irony that it is Stephen, accused of blasphemy against Moses, and not the Sanhedrin, who is Israel’s authorized interpreter of Moses.”  We’ll see this interpretation of Moses in Stephen’s speech tomorrow.

Stephen tells the story of Israel starting with Abraham. He summaries the stories as he puts his interpretive spin on them.

Verses 2-16 are a brief summary of Genesis.
Verses 17-44 are a brief summary of Exodus.
Verse 45a is an incredibly short summary of what happened in Joshua.
Verses 45b-50 summarize the Davidic Covenant, when David tries to build God a house (the Temple) but God says, no, God will build David a house (a dynasty) and will have a Davidic King rule Israel forever.  It’s left to Solomon, David’s son, to build the Temple. To read more about this go to 2 Samuel 7.

If you were summarizing Genesis or Exodus what would you include? What would you leave out?

Skinner writes, “Stephen’s speech has earned its reputation as a meandering piece of oratory. He devotes the majority to retelling and slightly embellishing episodes from biblical stories about Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon without always making it clear why he lingers over certain details—especially the passage of time in those stories—at the expense of others. As a result, interpreters find it difficult to agree about the speech’s specific rhetorical intentions. At least two general themes nonetheless anchor what Stephen says: God’s presence and faithfulness in places beyond the land of Israel, and the people’s inclinations toward disobeying God.”

Acts doesn’t go into the legal case against Stephen really.  All we know is that the mob is cruel. They take issue with Stephen’s interpretation, and they lash out and kill him.

At verse 54 Stephen’s speech is over, and we see the crowd and Stephen speak with one another.  Wall writes, “Nowhere in Acts is the contrast between those who disobey and those who obey God’s will more sharply drawn. The effect on the reader is to experience more concretely Stephen’s biblical retelling of Israel’s story as a history of disobedience.” All the while Saul stands by and watches.

Stephen’s last words make us think of Jesus’ words from the cross. Stephen says, “receive my spirit” and “do not hold this sin against them.”

Stephen’s death is a turning point in Acts. Things are different now- “that day a severe persecution began” (8:1). Now all the disciples are scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, all except the apostles.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells the disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We see that happening here.  But the reason the message is spreading, and the followers of Jesus are scattered around, is due to persecution.  Skinner writes, “the widened geographical scope Jesus promises in 1:8 becomes a reality, although not in a manner anyone would choose.”

If you were a disciple at Jesus’ ascension and heard that you would be Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, how would you picture that going?

Skinner continues, the persecution of the church and the subsequent scattering of the church, “urges readers to see that apparent setbacks may provide opportunities for people to experience growth and new discovery, which is a theme Acts returns to frequently.”

What “setbacks” have you experienced? What did they lead to?

In my reading on this chapter, I was really struck by a quote from Matthew Skinner.  When we read the Great Commission Jesus gives his disciples in Acts 1:8 about being witnesses to the ends of the earth, I’ve always read it and heard it interpreted as instructions Jesus gives us- “I’m telling you to go and make this happen.”  But listen to what Skinner writes, “As the story unfolds, Jesus’s words from 1:8 begin to look like a description of the ordinary consequences of following him as opposed to instructions for deliberately shaping the church’s day-to-day plans. In other words, bearing witness is what nearly everyone in the story seems to do, no matter where they end up.”  What do you think of that reframing? How do you interpret the Great Commission? How have you interpreted it?  If we go with Skinner’s reframing, it would follow that our job is to follow Jesus and see what happens as opposed to trying to make the world bend to our will (even if what we’re willing is the following of a commission from Jesus).

Among the seven selected to assist with food distribution are Stephen and Philip. We’ve heard Stephen’s story and now turn to Philip’s.

Philip ends up in Samaria.  We’ve got the region of Galilee in the north—that’s where Nazareth is, Jesus’ home region. We’ve got the region of Judea in the south—that’s where Jerusalem is. In between is Samaria.  Samaritans and Jews did not get along, which is why the story of the Good Samaritan is so subversive. A good Samaritan?! Unlikely! And that’s just where Philip ends up following Jesus. Skinner writes, “Philip’s willingness to go to Samaria and preach therefore expresses his willingness to cross profound divides of culture, identity, and historical grievances. Similar to the Pentecost events in chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit creates new expressions of connection and community among a multicultural collection of Jews from different lands, the Spirit’s work among Samaritans will enlarge the church but also have centripetal effects.”

Why doesn’t the Spirit show up at the Samaritan’s baptism?
Good question! It’s not clear why. Acts doesn’t tell us.  Elsewhere in Acts the Holy Spirit will show up before someone is baptized (in chapter 10) and sometimes new converts are not baptized, or at least we don’t get to know about it. There is no clear first you do this, then you do this, then the Holy Spirit arrives.
Skinner writes, “No rules or rituals constrain God’s Spirit. The church bears witness and responds to what it discerns to be God’s leading. The Spirit occasionally injects surprise. As a result, nothing appears to be wrong in this scene.  There is nothing inherently defective about either the Samaritans’ baptism or Philip’s ministry. The Holy Spirit has simply not shown up yet.”

And it does when Peter and John get there. Do they have some sort of special power? No.  It all goes back to creating a community of believers. The original church is in Jerusalem and it’s expanding.  But it’s not making other communities, there is one community.  It’s not the Jerusalem church and the Samaritan church; it’s the church in Jerusalem and the church in Samarian. Peter and John’s visit connects the Samaritans to the Jerusalem church, and to Jesus, who Peter and John are eye-witnesses to. Their visit and the Holy Spirit’s arrival is mutually beneficial for the apostles and the Samaritans.  Skinner writes, “Through Peter and John’s presence, the Samaritan believers encounter the original community of Christ-followers to whom they are connected in their new identity. When the two apostles experience the Spirit’s arrival in such a tactile manner, they witness firsthand God’s action of including the Samaritans as full beneficiaries of salvation.”

What do you make of Simon the magician? Does his story remind you of others we’ve read so far in Acts? Peter rebukes him and Simon’s response is to ask Peter to pray for him. We do not know how his story ends. It reminds me of the story of the rich young ruler from Matthew 19. The rich, young ruler asks Jesus “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” After some conversation Jesus tells him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. We know as much about how it turned out for the rich, young ruler as we do about Simon the magician.

We finish out chapter 8 with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Of their encounter Skinner writes that it shows that the gospel, “really does have potential to disrupt the whole world, one interaction at a time.”

What is a eunuch?
Skinner tells us, “his genitalia have been mutilated or removed, probably to prevent him from fathering children, hinder his sexual desire, keep him from becoming too strong, or limit his ability to amass honor. A combination of those reasons is possible.”
“His identity as a eunuch  could have made him widely despised or mocked by the ancient readers of Acts, even as it also appears to accentuate his status as a trusted insider in the Candace’s realm, for eunuchs could be counted on to fulfill certain duties with little rise of defiling royal bloodlines.”

For the ancient people in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee “Ethiopia” represented the far reaches of the world. Skinner writes, “if anyone in Acts represents, from the perspective of certain cultural stereotypes, the ‘other’ or someone who dwells at the ‘edges,’ it is this figure.”

Their conversation goes so well, and they see water and the eunuch asks, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” probably worded that way because the implied answer is, “Nothing!”

Take a minute to read another part of Isaiah- chapter 56:3-8. How does this relate to our eunuch?

And then all of a sudden Philip is taken by the Holy Spirit to Azotus, continuing to spread the good news as he goes.

Saul, later called Paul, moves from persecutor to proclaimer in this half of chapter 9.

Is this a familiar story to you? So often familiar Bible stories are hard to study because we come with preconceived notions about them.  We’ve heard so many sermons on them, so many Sunday School lessons, what more is there to say? To learn?

If it is a familiar story to you, maybe write down what you know about it, what God is doing with the call of Saul. Do you have any ‘baggage’ around this story?

This is the first time we get this story in Acts. Paul (the name Acts uses for Saul after chapter 12) retells this story in chapters 22 and 26. Skinner writes, “what happens to Saul during his journey to Damascus stands at the center of his understanding of who God is and what God expects from him.”

What stand at the center of YOUR understanding of who God is and what God expects from YOU?

We first heard about Saul at Stephen’s stoning. He is behind the persecution that drives the disciples out of Jerusalem. And now he goes out of Jerusalem to bring followers of Jesus back to Jerusalem in chains.

Damascus is a city in Syria over one hundred miles to the northeast of Jerusalem. As he goes there is a blinding light and Jesus asks why Saul persecutes him, not the church, but Jesus himself.

What follows shows a theme that is prevalent throughout Luke and Acts which is reversal.

Skinner writes, “Saul embodies reversal; or reversal happens to him when Jesus disrupts his expectation. Saul changes from seeing to being blind. His confident persecutor’s zeal gives way to confessed ignorance about the ‘Lord’ he cannot recognize on his own.
He changes from a man intending to lead captives to Jerusalem in chains to one forced to be led into Damascus by others. His authority over others’ bodies transforms into his own dependence.
He changes from a man on a mission to one who must wait to learn what to do next. Previously he actively petitioned the high priest in Jerusalem to endorse his plans, but now he fasts in anticipation of receiving further instruction.
He changes from a man exercising great power over the church to one overpowered by Jesus.
In what ways can such reversals enact the gospel?”

Look over this list of reversals.  What do the befores have in common with each other and what do the afters have in common with each other? Do you see any themes? What are they?

Have you ever experienced a reversal in strong conviction? What was it? What reversed your opinion/beliefs? What is all of a sudden like Saul or was it a gradual coming to understand?

What do you think of Ananias? If you’re familiar with this story, what have you been taught about him and his role in Saul’s story?

We pick up here where we left off last week. Saul had his extraordinary, life-transforming experience on the road to Damascus.  His life is turned upside down.  Now, instead of breathing threats and murder against the disciples he is a disciple of Jesus. He stays in Damascus to spend time with the disciples there, instead of taking them back to Jerusalem in chains.  Then he starts to preach in the synagogues about Jesus saying, “He is the Son of God.” Everyone is very confused and points out the reversals in Saul’s life.

This sharp transformation opens Saul up to claims of hypocrisy. Where do you see hypocrisy in daily life? Who is accused of hypocrisy and why?  What do you think when others have one opinion and then later take the reverse opinion?  Is this good or bad or does it depend? What does it depend on?

We started reading when Saul escapes Damascus because some Jewish folks plot to kill him.  Very often Acts will refer to “the Jews.”  This sounds like Acts is referring to all Jewish people everywhere, but really this means a group of people who happened to be Jewish.

When Saul gets to Jerusalem the followers of Jesus there are afraid of him. Why is this? How would you react to Saul all of a sudden wanting to be considered a disciple? Barnabus steps in and vouches for Saul.

We read about Hellenists last week.  The Hellenists referred to here are Greek-speaking nonbelievers. Because of this conflict Saul is sent to Tarsus and the focus shifts to Peter.

Peter heals a paralyzed man and raises a woman from the dead in Lydda and Joppa, two cities northwest of Jerusalem.

Notices the words Peter says during the healing of Aeneas, “Jesus Christ heals you.” Wall writes, “Peter removes himself as a broker of the Lord’s healing grace and asserts that the Lord heals Aeneas.”

Then Peter is called to Joppa. A prominent disciple there has died, Tabitha or Dorcas. Both names mean “gazelle” in Aramaic and Greek respectively. Tabitha was “devoted to good works and acts of charity.” The widows around her deathbed show the clothes Tabitha made for them. In the raising of Tabitha, Acts is careful to communicate that it is not under his own power that Peter brings her back from the dead, but the power of Jesus. Peter prays before telling her to get up. Skinner writes, “Peter does not replace Jesus; he acts as a channel through whom Jesus’s ministry continues.”

Acts shows Peter and Saul/Paul in similar stories to Jesus.  This story is similar to when Paul brings a dead person back to life in Acts 20 and when Jesus does in Luke 7 and 8. Skinner writes, “The work of the church in Acts is not a new thing; it is a continuation. Jesus continues to be active in the world through the deeds of his followers…Jesus remains present, then, through the church. Yet Acts refuses to imply that the church or its prominent members replace Jesus or stand on par with him.”

On healing stories
Skinner writes, “The Bible’s miracle stories elicit various reactions from us. Because they evoke wonder, they occupy prominent places in children’s Sunday school curricula and children’s Bibles. They can encourage people who have lost hope or who cling to fading faith in God’s ability to illuminate a way out of suffering and powerlessness. They make others skeptical, wondering how much the stories stem from legends, superstitions, or ancient ignorance about how the world really works. Sometimes, honestly, they worry us, making us wonder if the comparatively bland Christianity we practice today bears enough resemblance to what the Christian life might have been like back in the day, when apostles healed the sick and raise the dead.”

What do you think about healing stories? Are they a source of comfort, disappointment, confusion, or anger? Why do you think that is?

We continue with the theme of reversals, this time with Peter as the main character.  All of Peter’s life he has taken scripture seriously. When he’s having the vision on the roof and is told to kill and eat he says, “By no means Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.”

I’ve not ever gone into a trance and had a vision on top of a roof, but I think if I did, I don’t know that I would argue with what I was being told to do.  That is how strong Peter’s conviction is that he cannot eat unclean food. Food prohibitions were deeply ingrained in Peter.

Dietary laws are found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. What does it mean that Peter is ordered to completely disregard these laws? What does that mean for us?

Matthew Skinner’s chapter on Acts 10 in his book Intrusive God, Disruptive Gospel is called Old Boundaries Obliterated. In it he writes, “Certainly the most dramatic, formational, and unexpected thing that happened during the first three decades of the Christian church’s history was the movement’s transition from communities comprising Jews and proselytes to Judaism into communities that included gentiles on equal terms and with no preconditions as fellow members and co-beneficiaries of God’s grace.”

Is this a familiar story to you? Because we do not share the same symbolic worldview as Peter and other Jewish folks at the time, we do not feel how scandalous and outrageous it was to order a practicing Jew to eat unclean food. It would have felt wrong, wrong, wrong to Peter and any Jewish readers or listeners of this story. Peter even says to Cornelius, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile.” As outsiders to this law and expectation, how does that boundary strike you?

If this sort of situation were to happen today, what would Peter be ordered to do? What boundaries are currently set up that do not serve the mission of the Kingdom of God?

In this story we see both Cornelius and Peter putting God at the center of what they do. Cornelius falls at Peter’s feet to worship him, but Peter makes him stand up and says, “I am only a mortal.” When Cornelius tells the story of why he called for Peter, he frames it in a way that shows Cornelius responding to God, not Cornelius as the main actor. Peter comes to a fuller understanding of who God is through this experience.  He says, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.”

We end the chapter with a sort of Gentile Pentecost.  The Spirit descends on them and it sounds a lot like what happened in chapter 2 to the disciples. Here the Holy Spirit is given before they are baptized. Reminding us that the Holy Spirit cannot be controlled by human action.

Skinner writes, “How did the early church come to realize that gentiles could be full members without having to become Torah observant? Acts answers that complicated historical question with simplicity: Jewish Christ-followers share the word of God with gentiles, and the Holy Spirit shows up. Acts also tells the story as one of divine prompting. In other words, members of the church view the phenomenon as a new reality God introduces. They obediently bear witness to Christ, but the Spirit bestows true belonging and urges the church to expand its sense of its boundaries and possibility.”

What an interesting response the apostles and believers have who heard that the gentiles had also accepted the word of God. Instead of greeting this news with rejoicing and celebration they are wary.  It makes them uncomfortable and hesitant, not sure if this is will please God or not. When Peter gets back to Jerusalem they say, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”
If you were Peter, how would you receive that question, as the first thing they say to you? You’d have just been part of something miraculous, inclusive, and wonderful – a second Pentecost! and your fellows start out by saying, “Why did you even go there?”

Maybe Peter could understand where they are coming from because Acts tells us he, “began to explain it to them, step by step.”

Peter summaries what we read yesterday and adds his thoughts about when the Holy Spirit descended on the gentiles. He tells those in Jerusalem that when the Holy Spirit descended he remembered what Jesus said-how John (the Baptist) would baptize with water, but that they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. He finishes by saying, “If then God gave them the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”  And they were all silent.  And then we get the rejoicing and celebration! “They all praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’”  I love how their response is phrased, it’s as if as they say it, they are realizing how much bigger God and God’s purposes are than they ever imagined.

How do we hinder God today?

Skinner writes, “If God’s Holy Spirit is present among gentiles, they are holy. God drives away any impurity that could stand in the way. Cornelius and other gentiles deserve, consequently, to be recognized as full participants in God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.”

In verse 19 we’re drawn back to the followers of Jesus who were scattered due to the persecution described in chapter 8. These Jesus followers speak to Greek-speaking gentiles in Antioch and they become followers of Jesus. Barnabus is sent there and rejoices at their belief.  He goes to Tarsus and gets Paul and the two of them stay in Antioch for a year.  Acts tells us, “It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians.’”

I wonder, without Peter’s vision of the sheet and his experience at Cornelius’ house and his report of it to the Jerusalem church, how would Barnabus have reacted to the gentiles in Antioch following Jesus?

Have you ever changed your mind about an issue? Did anyone pave the way for your change of mind?

At the end of chapter 11 we have a little note about a prophet announcing a food shortage (relatively common in that time and place).  The church in Antioch makes plans to support the church elsewhere with food. This shows how interconnected the church is in both places.

We have the second prison exit in Acts, the first one being the apostles put in prison by the high priest in Acts 5.

Chapter 12 opens with Herod having James, the brother of John, killed. Skinner writes, “This James was one of the original twelve apostles whom Jesus chose. Why would Herod engage in state-sponsored persecution? Presumably to weaken or destroy the church in Jerusalem by eliminating its leadership, a move that, Acts says, ‘pleased the Jews’ referring to the Jewish leadership in the city, the aristocratic, temple-based officiants who troubled the believers in Acts 4-5.”

Herod next plans to make Peter a martyr but his plans are thwarted by God. The time of year is meaningful- during the Festival of Unleavened Bread leading into the Passover.  This was the time when Jesus was executed.  These festivals also celebrate the liberation of the people by God from a “tyrant’s oppressive hand.” We remember this from our Rooted Reading in February, when we read Exodus and saw how God liberated the people from slavery in Egypt under Pharoah.

The church gathers to pray fervently for Peter.  When have you prayed fervently? Were you by yourself or with others? Is gathering together for the sole purpose of praying something you are interested in? Is it something you already do?

Peter is freed from prison through miraculous action.  Skinner writes, “not until Peter passes through the city gate, which opens on its own, and the angel leaves does he recognize what is happening. His entire outlook changes in verse 11, when at last he ‘came to himself.’ His new outlook is an overtly theological discovery: ‘the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me.’ Nothing else can explain how he moved from such peril to the middle of a Jerusalem street.”

What in your life can you look back on and attribute what happened to God’s hand?

The incident with Rhoda reminds us of the women coming to the disciples to tell them the tomb is empty on Easter morning and being met with disbelief. Luke tells us about that in chapter 24 of his gospel, “They remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to the rest…but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”

How interesting that the people in Mary’s house are praying for Peter, presumably for his deliverance, and they do not believe when Rhoda tells them it’s happened!

So much of chapter 12 has to do with recognition. How do you help yourself to notice and recognize all that God is doing in the world?  Skinner writes, “As with Peter, Cornelius, and company in Acts 10-11, recognizing God takes time and usually happens after the fact, when we have better perspective on a situation. We make and declare such recognitions with healthy doses of fear and uncertainty, acknowledging we may be disappointed in the end. We might be wrong. Circumstances might change. When the church in Mary’s house opens the gate for Peter, they open themselves to the possibility of embracing a new or unexpected reality. They act more on a hunch than on settled confidence, on longing more than certainty.  This is never easy. Our ability to take such steps depends much on who we imagine God to be. We gain more strength and courage if we believe that God delights in surprises or that God is willing to reorder our expectations into greater conformity with the gospel.”

Who do you imagine God to be?

Chapter 12 ends with a dramatic death for Herod. His death makes us feel like there is some order in the world – the good guy (Peter) escapes death while the bad guy (Herod) meets death. We are on Peter’s side, so it feels good and fitting for our opponents to be squashed. But doesn’t that sound like what Herod was working for? Skinner writes, “Some of us, when faced with conflict and competing visions of what’s possible, think it’s up to us to rush in and fix everything. As a result, we sometimes respond more like Herod than like the prayerful believers in Mary’s house. And the Rhodas in our midst, those who can actually see what’s going on, still have a hard time getting our attention.”

Our focus shifts to Paul and Barnabus in Acts 13. These two are sent out, commissioned, with the laying on of hands.  Have you ever been commissioned to do something? Churches will commission a group of people leaving for a mission trip, new Sunday school teachers, or members of the Leadership Board.

If you were commissioned, what was it like? Have you ever experienced the laying on of hands during prayer? What was that experience like? Have you ever prayed for someone and laid your hand on their should or head or hand?

Paul and Barnabus sail to Salamis and meet a magician Bar-Jesus (also called Elymas) with Sergius Paulus. The magician did not want Sergius Paulus to believe the message of Paul and Barnabus. Paul calls him out and says he’ll be blind for awhile. The magician does become blind, and Sergius Paulus believes. It’s interesting that the consequences for Bar-Jesus are the same as they were for Saul/Paul (see chapter 9), temporary blindness.  Why do you think that is?

Bar means Son. Jesus was a common name among first-century Jews, so there is no reason to assume the Jesus in his name has anything to do with Jesus Christ. Skinner writes, “In a narrative that places such value on prophecy as a hallmark of Christ’s followers the entrance of a ‘false prophet’ looks all the more sinister, especially since Bar-Jesus, like Paul and Barnabus, is a Jew. Acts implies that Bar-Jesus’s wickedness stems not from spiritual ignorance, then, but from his desire for influence and spiritual authority over the one true God, making his ways an especially vivid and repulsive contrast to the power of the Holy Spirit that animates Jesus’s followers.”

How do you tell the difference between a prophet and a false prophet?

Paul and Barnabus go to the synagogue in Antioch. During the service, after the scripture is read, the officials ask Paul and Barnabus if they have any word of exhortation to please share it. Paul walks them through scripture, arriving at the stories of John the Baptist, Jesus, and Jesus’ death and resurrection.  He proclaims that Jesus offers forgiveness of sins.

Their message is well received, and the people ask them to come back next week.  They do and, “almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.”

Jealousy among the Jewish leaders creates conflict.  This cements for Paul and Barnabus their calling to preach the good news to the gentiles.  Skinner writes, “the Jewish leaders’ objections might dissuade the curious masses, and so they provoke Paul and Barnabas’s ire.  That would explain why Acts refers to the Jewish leaders as ‘blaspheming’ in this instance; evidently in opposing Paul and Barnabus they are effectively opposing the Holy Spirit.”

As we’ll see in the following chapters, the Jewish leaders in Pisidian Antioch continue to work to discredit Paul and Barnabus.

Skinner writes about the ongoing conflict between Jewish leaders and those who spread the message of Jesus, “The prophetic perspective of Acts understands the good news about Jesus to be divisive, which is not the same thing as condemnatory. The book’s theological rhetoric does not stage the preaching of ‘the word of the Lord’ as a duel in which no more than one party can survive intact. Any theology, wherever its origins, that understands divine blessings and curses to operate on a zero-sum calculus shows itself to be out of step with a story that, on the whole, otherwise insists on God’s unshakable fidelity and on the church as an expansive, inclusive society that experiences God-given salvation.”

The Kingdom of God is marked by abundance, after all- more than enough for everyone!